'The sky was never falling' for the Vikings as improbable season continues

This doesn't make sense. All that has happened. The totality of it.

Start the season 0-3. Now fans are singing Creed's song "Higher" as the final seconds tick off the clock on a fifth consecutive win.

Lose Justin Jefferson to injury for five games (and counting). The team plays better and hasn't lost since he left.

Lose Kirk Cousins for the season. The winning streak keeps rolling along with a quarterback who might not know the entire playbook but plays the position like Harry Houdini.

The Vikings finished Sunday's 27-19 win over the New Orleans Saints without their top three quarterbacks on the preseason depth chart, two of their top three receivers, their top two running backs, several defensive starters and their No. 1 tight end battered and bruised.

Every excuse imaginable is available to them.

The Vikings just keep winning.

"Football is a crazy sport, right?" fullback C.J. Ham said.

Yes, but the Vikings' rise-from-the-grave act stretches the bounds of the NFL's reputation as an unpredictable league.

There were calls for the organization to tank the season after the 0-3 start. To tank after Jefferson went on injured reserve after the Chiefs' loss dropped them to 1-4.

The visitors' locker room at Lambeau Field after their Oct. 29 win felt more like a locker room after a demoralizing defeat as coaches and players processed Cousins' Achilles injury. Players were quiet and glum. Some cried.

The 2023 season gave the appearance of being hopelessly doomed on three separate occasions. The Vikings have walked out of the smoldering mess with a pep in their step.

"The sky was never falling to those guys in that locker room," coach Kevin O'Connell said.

Winning five games in a row in the NFL is never an easy thing for any team. The league is set up for parity and inconsistent performances and outcomes.

Anyone who suggested the Vikings could or would win five in a row without Jefferson would have been laughed out of the state. Then Cousins' injury felt like a death knell on the season.

Now here we are. Everything feels remarkably different. The vibe. The outlook. The optimism.

The first half versus the Saints turned into a party with the Passtronaut, Joshua Dobbs, producing breathtaking escapes from the pocket, turning quarterback scrambles into performance art, and now, suddenly, anything seems possible.

The season is very much alive.

"Man, it's been a roller coaster," left tackle Christian Darrisaw said. "We never gave up. We knew what we had in this locker room from the beginning."

Well, they didn't have Dobbs at the beginning. The rest of the puzzle is a testament to roster building, coaching and players refusing to compromise their competitive nature when things looked bleak.

No matter how far O'Connell reaches down the depth chart to plug a hole, the next-man-up credo is in full effect inside the locker room.

"If you put on a jersey and a helmet on Sunday," Ham said, "expect to play, and expect to make a play when you're called upon."

Veteran safety Harrison Smith used the word "fluid" to describe the team's nature, meaning many different players are making critical plays, and it's never obvious who it will be in that moment. He knows where credit for that starts.

"Pretty fantastic coaching across the board, starting with the head guy on down," Smith said. "If you can gain some advantages here and there, it's a pretty big deal in the NFL because everybody is good. It doesn't matter what your record is."

O'Connell provided a masterclass on not panicking when hit with adversity. With his team 0-3, he told his players to view the situation as an opportunity. With his quarterback situation in chaos, he calmly guided Dobbs to back-to-back victories.

"I am of the belief that we can continue to go out and write our story," O'Connell said. "We're holding the pen."

The veteran Smith has seen a lot of stories in his Vikings tenure. Good, bad and truly bizarre.

This one has been eventful. Almost too eventful to believe.

"I'll say this: I'm not trying to dissect it too much," Smith said. "I know enough to know that this should be enjoyed and lived in the present and see where it goes."