We forget that when the ball went through the legs of Bill Buckner in the 1986 World Series that game was already tied at 5-5. The narrative it cost the Red Sox the World Series is false, all it would have done is send it to extra innings. Bob Stanley threw the wild-pitch under Mookie Wilson’s feet that tied the game
We forget that Darrin Nelson dropping the ball against the Washington Redskins in the 1987/88 NFC Championship Game didn’t cost the Vikings a trip to the Super Bowl, it only cost them a chance to get it to overtime, because they were trailing 17-10 and the two-point conversion wasn’t in the NFL yet. Who knows what would have happened in overtime.
We forget that Randy Moss dropped a touchdown so the Vikings settled for a field-goal and Robert Griffith dropped an interception in regulation that would have stopped us from always thinking about Gary Anderson’s missed kick against Atlanta in the 1998-99 NFC Championship Game.
Sunday we saw a duplication of a playoff game where the kicker missed a field goal in the closing seconds when the Bears lost to the Eagles, much like a few years ago when the Vikings lost to the Seahawks at TCF Bank Stadium.
All of Minnesota to this day blames Blair Walsh and now all of Chicago will blame Cody Parkey, even though Walsh accounted for all the points for the Vikings that day and Sunday Parkey was good up to the end of the game. Not to mention the Bears vaunted defense couldn’t stop the Eagles in a key spot and Viking fans forget that Adrian Peterson fumbled against Seattle in a crucial part of the game to set up the Seahawk’s game winning field goal. It is easier to blame one person or one situation. It’s a lack of critical thinking by many of us.
