Police issue official warning over Eagles-Vikings NFC title game
The AFC championship game features an NFL blue blood in the New England Patriots and an upstart Jacksonville Jaguars team.
One team definitely has been there before, while the other gives off a whiff of just being happy to be there.
The NFC championship game? That’s a rather different story.
Nowhere outside of Cleveland and Buffalo will one find more tortured NFL fan bases than those of the Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles.
The two teams both have passionate fan bases, painful playoff histories and a grand total of zero Super Bowl wins between them.
The Vikings haven’t made a Super Bowl since 1976, when they were beaten soundly in Super Bowl XI by the Oakland Raiders 32-14.
The Eagles made Super Bowl XXXIX in 2004 and lost an agonizingly close game to the Patriots 24-21.
Minnesota has endured some painful losses, particularly at the hands of Vikings kickers. It’s difficult not to draw a depressed sigh when mentioning Blair Walsh or Gary Anderson in the city of Minneapolis.
The Eagles, meanwhile, went through a painful string of losses in the conference championship games in the early 2000s.
This year, Philadelphia and Minnesota both saw their starting quarterbacks lost for the season to injuries.
Simply put, both teams’ fans are really ready for another crack at the Super Bowl.
And with the Eagles having home-field advantage in the game, the Philadelphia Police Department has sent out a notice to local businesses warning them of potential chaos after the game.
Philly police are warning businesses to prepare for chaos if the Eagles win on Sunday. https://t.co/nU285ToCoY pic.twitter.com/JRLP8L5PSi
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) January 18, 2018
It’s a rather foreboding warning.
If the Eagles win, business owners will have to brace for swathes of inebriated fans celebrating a Super Bowl berth.
If the Vikings win, business owners will have to brace for swathes of inebriated fans mourning the loss of a Super Bowl berth.
And considering Philadelphia sports fans are the same fans who once pelted Santa Claus with snowballs, it’s almost guaranteed that the Eagles faithful will have a visceral response.
https://twitter.com/AviAdelman/status/954057523258109957
Rest assured, win or lose, the Philadelphia police will have their hands full.
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