INSIDE THE GAME BEN GOESSLING
PHILADELPHIA – The fact the Vikings were here at all, a week after the miraculous finish that defied six decades of precedent, was enough to suggest that things might really be different this time, that the franchise’s sixth NFC Championship Game after its fourth Super Bowl defeat would be something more than yet another exercise in heartbreak.
The Vikings marched into Philadelphia as three-point favorites, with the NFL’s top-ranked defense against a backup quarterback that hadn’t thrown for more than 300 yards in a game since 2014. One game away from becoming the first team in NFL history to play a Super Bowl in tis home stadium, Minnesota had given its fans reason to believe the payoff was finally here, that Charlie Brown’s right foot would finally meet the pigskin squarely and send it soaring.