Never have so many people’s spirits been lifted so rapidly as the spirits of people in Minnnesota during the last ten seconds of the Minnesota Vikings game with the New Orleans Saints.

Minnesotans have grown used to the Vikings snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in the playoffs over the years. We hoped for the best as the Vikings, down 24-23 to New Orleans after a Saints field goal with 25 seconds left on the clock, started out from their own 25. With 10 seconds to play, from their own 39, the Vikings had one more shot. Who really expected them to pull it out? We hoped they could get a completed pass downfield and out of bounds to stop the clock for one last field goal attempt.

Who really expected Case Keenum would hit Stefon Diggs at the 34, that the Saints defenders would knock each other down and that Diggs would sprint untouched into the end zone.

The screams of delight from Minnesota may have been heard all the way over in Green Bay.

The pain is still there of four Super Bowl losses, the 1975 Dallas debacle, the missed field goals in playoff and the interception that ended that Super Bowl dream in 2009. But now we can dare to hope that the Vikings curse is over, if there really was one. One more game in Philadelphia stands between the Vikings and a historic home field Super Bowl game. We now have reason to believe it could actually happen.