The Minnesota Vikings could make history by being the first NFL team to play the Super Bowl in their home stadium.
Stefon Diggs catch against the Saints put the Vikings one game away from playing in the Super Bowl.
The 2018 Super Bowl marks the 52nd edition of the big game, and no team has ever played in their home stadium in the more than 50 years of the game’s existence. According to ESPN, two teams have played in the game close to home, but not in their own stadium. In 1984, the San Francisco 49ers played in Super Bowl XIX in Palo Alto, California. The Los Angeles Rams also played close to a home game when they played Super Bowl XIV in the Rose Bowl.
The Vikings have already made history by being the first team to make a conference title game in the same year their city is hosting the Super Bowl. ESPN details the mixed results teams have had in the seasons their city has hosted the big game.
Seven teams that have hosted the Super Bowl in their city won 10 or more games their host season. [Prior to the 2017 Vikings] The most wins in a season is 11 by the 2014 Cardinals and 1978 Dolphins. Neither team won their first playoff game, which occurred in the wild-card round.
The 2016 Texans were the first host team to win a playoff game since the 1998 Dolphins when they defeated the Raiders at home in the AFC wild card game. Miami also hosted a Super Bowl in 1994 but didn’t make it out of the divisional round that year.
Minneapolis will host Super Bowl LII in U. S. Bank Stadium, which opened in 2016. Fans can expect the price of 2018 Super Bowl tickets to skyrocket if the Vikings do end up playing in the big game.
“Let’s just say that if the Vikings win, there will be a lot of bass fishing boats for sale next week in Minnesota,” one ticket broker told Yahoo Sports .
Ticket King president Michael Nowakowski spoke with Twin Cities Pioneer Press about what could be expected if the Vikings make history.
“That [Vikings win over Saints] got people hyped,” Nowakowski told Twin Cities Pioneer Press . “Now a lot fans feel like it’s a destiny situation. The way they won… they’re like, ‘Wait a minute, I’m going to pay whatever it takes to go. This is the year.’”
The Vikings players seem locked in on taking advantage of the historic opportunity. Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen spoke to Twin Cities Pioneer Press on their mindset this season.
“This is what we’ve bene working for,” Griffen told Twin Cities Pioneer Press . “This season we put it upon ourselves to say, ‘This is our destiny’, to make it this far. That’s what our [defensive] line coach [Andre Patterson] talks to us about all the time, ‘This is our destiny.’ We have to capitalize [on] the moment.”
Publicly, Vikings coach Mike Zimmer has tried to downplay the magnitude of the NFC Championship.
“I try not to even think about the magnitude of the game,” Zimmer told the Star Tribune . “Even last week, the second round of the playoffs, I hadn’t been there in a while [21 years]. I look at it as a football game.”
After Stefon Diggs magical catch, more than a few Vikings fans have allowed themselves to dream of a hometown Super Bowl.
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