It’s only a game…

The Minnesota Vikings season ended with fans in disbelief after kicker Blair Walsh missed a “chip-shot” of a field goal that would have given the team a 12-10 win over the Seattle Seahawks Sunday afternoon.

Longtime Vikings fans likely watched the play unfold with a sense of foreboding, remembering four Super Bowl losses, the Drew Pearson push-off, Darren Nelson’s dropped pass in the end zone, Gary Anderson’s missed field goal against Atlanta, the 41-donut loss to New York and Brett Favre being abused by the New Orleans defense as past playoff failures.

Walsh could have shrugged it off after the loss. He could have blamed a bad snap or a bad hold, the sub-zero temperatures or any number of other factors in missing the field goal.

He didn’t. He owned up to his missed opportunity. He admitted his failure and refused to put the blame anywhere but on himself, even as teammates were supporting him and some were taking their share of the blame.

Still, some fans weren’t satisfied. Some so-called fans felt the need to go on Twitter to target Walsh with profane messages and wishing him ill, or worse.

Folks, It’s just a game. Sure, sports fans put a lot of effort and faith into their teams. We want them to succeed. We live vicariously through their successes and we share our grief over their failures.

But it’s just a game. Get over it. There are 32 teams in the National Football League. Twenty of those teams saw their season end without even making the playoffs. The Vikings were one of four whose season ended last week, with four more teams shutting down after this coming weekend and two more the week after.

Only one team gets to win the Super Bowl.

If a football team’s playoff loss drives you into depression or causes you to wish a player to die, you have serious issues. You need to find a new hobby, because chances are, you are going to be disappointed by your team again and again.