Sports bars and living rooms across the Twin Cities simultaneously erupted Thursday night in a deliciously ironic mixture of joy, hope and anticipation.
Yes, the Vikings are very much alive in the Andrew Luck sweepstakes, if they can only stink a little bit longer. That possibility has their fans feeling positively giddy.
Talk about an upside-down season.
The Indianapolis Colts opened the door for the Vikings possibly to claim the No. 1 overall pick in the draft by shooting themselves in the foot with a last-minute victory against the Houston Texans. That left the Colts, Vikings and St. Louis Rams all with two victories.
The winner -- or is it loser? -- in the race for last gets a shot at Luck, the Stanford quarterback who is being hailed as a once-in-a-generation talent. The No. 1 pick also could bring a bounty from teams desperate to trade up and get their hands on Luck.
Imagine the possible headlines: "Better to be Luck-y than good." "Luck is for losers."
The Colts still control their own destiny, if you will, because they will secure the No. 1 pick by losing to Jacksonville in the season finale, according to NFL tiebreaker rules. But at least the Vikings have hope now. A season that has revealed widespread ineptitude suddenly is strangely fascinating.
Even Vikings diehards, the ones who wear horns on their heads to games and swear they bleed purple, are faced with the cold, hard reality that they need their team to lose the final two games -- at Washington and against Chicago at home -- for the greater cause.