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NFC Divisional Playoff · January 14, 2018
Ten seconds on the clock. Third and ten from their own 39. One play left in the 2017 season — and 61 yards between Minnesota and the end zone.
NFC Divisional Playoff · U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis · Sunday,
Scroll for the final drive, snap by snap
Setting the scene
Minnesota went 13–3 in 2017, won the NFC North and took the conference’s number two seed and a first-round bye. The stakes were unusual even by playoff standards: Super Bowl LII was scheduled for U.S. Bank Stadium, and no team had ever played a Super Bowl in its own building.
The divisional game looked settled early. The Vikings led 17–0 at half-time on a Jerick McKinnon touchdown run, a Kai Forbath field goal and a Latavius Murray touchdown run. Then New Orleans came back, outscoring Minnesota 24–6 across the third and fourth quarters. With 25 seconds left, Wil Lutz kicked a 43-yard field goal and the Saints led 24–23 for the first time all day.
The final drive
Minnesota took the ball at its own 25 with one timeout in hand, no points on the board since the third quarter, and a one-point deficit. Every beat below is taken from the official play-by-play of the game.
0:25 New Orleans · 3rd & 5 at NO 35
Wil Lutz kicks a 43-yard field goal. It is the first New Orleans lead of the afternoon, and it comes with 25 seconds left on a comeback from 17–0 down.
Saints 24 – Vikings 23
0:25 Kickoff
Lutz kicks 65 yards from the New Orleans 35 into the end zone. No return. Minnesota will start on its own 25 needing at least a field goal, with one timeout left.
0:25 1st & 10 at MIN 25
Right tackle Mike Remmers is flagged for a false start. Five yards the wrong way, and the drive has not started yet.
Now 1st & 15 at MIN 20
0:25 1st & 15 at MIN 20
Case Keenum throws deep middle to Stefon Diggs for 19 yards, out to the Minnesota 39. Minnesota calls its last timeout with 18 seconds showing.
1st & 10 at MIN 39 · no timeouts left
0:18 1st & 10 at MIN 39
Keenum throws deep right for Jarius Wright. The pass falls incomplete. New Orleans spends a timeout of its own with 14 seconds left.
0:14 2nd & 10 at MIN 39
Keenum throws short left to Jerick McKinnon. Incomplete again, and the clock stops at ten.
3rd & 10 · 0:10 · 61 yards to the end zone
0:10 3rd & 10 at MIN 39 · last play of the game
61yards · touchdown
Keenum takes a deep drop, steps up in the pocket and throws for the right sideline. Diggs goes up for it at the New Orleans 34 — a 27-yard pass — with rookie safety Marcus Williams arriving. Williams dives low and misses, rolling underneath Diggs without touching him. Diggs comes down, keeps both feet in bounds, finds his balance and runs the last 34 yards untouched. The clock reaches zero while he is still running.
Keenum has since described the call as Gun Buffalo Right Key Left 7 Heaven: Diggs at Z on the deep corner, Kyle Rudolph on a quick out, Jarius Wright on an intermediate out.
Vikings 29 – Saints 24
0:00 The try
The touchdown had already decided the game, but under the rules in force that day a try still had to be attempted — the reason being point differential rather than anything to do with betting lines. Much of the New Orleans squad had already left the field. Both teams came back out, Keenum took the snap and knelt, and no point was added.
That is why the final score reads 29–24 rather than 30–24. At its annual meetings that March, the NFL removed the requirement to attempt a try after a game-winning touchdown scored with no time remaining.
Where the name came from
The play did not get its name from a network, a headline writer or the league. It got it from Paul Allen, the Vikings’ radio play-by-play voice on KFAN, who reached for the phrase live as Diggs crossed the goal line. The clip travelled overnight, and “Minneapolis Miracle” stuck to both the play and the game.
It’s a Minneapolis Miracle!
Allen called the play alongside analyst Pete Bercich. The call runs from a flat description of the drop-back to a shout in the space of about three seconds, and the “Minneapolis Miracle” line arrives after Diggs is already in the end zone.
The game was on Fox, with Joe Buck on play-by-play and Troy Aikman analysing. Buck’s call of the finish is a handful of clipped words over a stadium that has stopped being able to hear itself. We have not been able to confirm one authoritative word-for-word transcript of it, so it is not quoted on this page.
What happened next
The Minneapolis Miracle did not lead anywhere. On 21 January 2018 the Vikings travelled to Lincoln Financial Field for the NFC Championship Game and were beaten 38–7 by the Philadelphia Eagles. Minnesota did not reach Super Bowl LII, and did not become the first team to play a Super Bowl in its own stadium.
Philadelphia went on to win that Super Bowl — at U.S. Bank Stadium, on 4 February 2018, in the building Minnesota had spent the season hoping to occupy. The Vikings have not appeared in a Super Bowl since January 1977.
Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia
How this page was checked
Clock times, downs, distances, field positions and play descriptions on this page come from the official play-by-play of the game. Where sources disagree — most notably on the exact wording of the broadcast calls — the page describes rather than quotes. Nothing here is reconstructed from memory.
This is an independent fan page. It is not affiliated with the Minnesota Vikings or the NFL.
