Once again, and customarily around November, we settle down to the slow, tragic crawl of our favorite NFL football team and the realization that the Minnesota Vikings will probably not qualify for the playoffs this year either. And so, traditionally about the time when grinning pumpkins pop into the windows and kiddies run around yelling “trick or treat”, our focus shift to beating Green Bay Packers instead.
The Vikes went up against the New England Patriots last Monday night. The result was that the Patriots outperformed them – on the Vikings home field – with a humiliating score of 31-7. Which means that we (the Vikings) are now 4-3, just one win ahead of the Packers 3-4.
We saw a funny T-shirt when I was in Minnesota this year: “I root for the Vikings and whoever is playing the Packers.” The friendly animosity between Minnesota and Green Bay is well-known. And somehow, every year, it all comes down to whichever team is going to crawl across the finish line between the two. With the Chicago Bears running a 7-0 record this year, even crawling across the finish line seems out of reach.
But at least, at least let’s beat the Packers. After all, this is the ultimate defeat: Losing against a bunch of cheeseheads.