I saw this trend going around X and as a Minnesota sports fan it’s impossible not to participate. Minnesota sports has so many moments that it’s hard to choose just five. Here are my personal top-five that hurt me a little extra.
5. 2015 Gophers vs. Michigan
This was my senior year at the U. Just days earlier Jerry Kill had an emotional press conference and retired out of nowhere due to health issues. At the time Kill was beloved at the U for turning around the Gophers and fixing the mess that Tim Brewster created.
Let me set the scene for you for this game. It was Halloween night and the game was being broadcast on ESPN in primetime. The Little Brown Jug was on the line and Michigan was ranked #15 in the country in Jim Harbaugh’s first year as coach. And there was extra emotion inside a packed TCF Bank Stadium in the first game after Kill’s sudden retirement.
Now let’s fast forward to the 4th quarter. The Gophers are down 29-26 when Mitch Leidner hits Drew Wolitarsky near the end zone for what everyone believes is a touchdown. The crowd goes nuts as everyone believes the Gophers just won the game. Except… replay would rule him down at the one. No big deal, right? 19 seconds and a timeout means we can just punch the ball into the end zone.
Except the Gophers offensive staff didn’t realize the clock was going to run once they were lined up. After a bunch of pre-snap shifts and motions took valuable seconds off the clock, the Gophers failed to score on an incomplete pass. That one play took 17 seconds off the clock, leaving just two seconds left for one final play. The Gophers tried a QB sneak that went nowhere and Michigan hung on to win the game.
What makes this one so painful is everyone in the stadium thought the game was won when Leidner hit Wolitarsky. That moment was one of the most euphoric moments I have felt inside that stadium. And then to lose the way we did, with the Gophers completely falling on their face with a chance to win the game by mis-managing the clock.
Pain.
4. 2024 WCF Game 2: Timberwolves vs. Mavericks
When the Timberwolves beat the Nuggets in that dramatic Game 7 to advance to the Western Conference Finals, I thought it was a done deal that the Wolves were going to the NBA Finals. The Nuggets were arguably the best team in the West that year, and the Wolves just beat them on their own court. Now they’re playing the Mavericks, a lower-seeded team, with home-court advantage?? I thought we’d win that series in five, maybe six games.
(Side note- I remember having this anxious and almost panicked feeling thinking about the Wolves making the Finals. I had never seen one of our core-four men’s teams play for a championship. I literally could not wrap my mind around the idea of the Wolves playing in the NBA Finals.)
That should have been my first red flag. Minnesota sports fans *should* know to never, ever get ahead of the 8-ball when it comes to our teams. Once you start getting ahead of yourself, they’ll find a way to break your heart.
And that’s exactly what the Wolves did. Dallas came into Target Center and stole Game 1, showing us that it wasn’t going to be as easy as we thought. So Game 2 was basically a must win as the Wolves could not go to Dallas down 0-2.
Game 2 was another back-and-forth dog fight with the Mavericks. The Wolves were up two points in the final ten seconds when Luka Doncic hit a stepback three over Rudy Gobert to take a two-point lead with just three seconds left. The Wolves failed to score on the last possession and the Mavericks left Minnesota with a 2-0 series lead.
Yes, it was entirely possible the Wolves could have gone down to Dallas and won two games to get back into the series. But I think most fans knew when Luka buried that three that the series was basically over. Just days ago we thought we were destined for the Finals. And before we knew it the season was on life support.
3. 2019 Gophers vs. Wisconsin
Ahh yes, the magical 2019 Gophers season. The win over Penn State at home was the best game I have ever seen in-person. It remains my peak moment as not just a Gopher fan, but a Minnesota fan in general.
The Gophers and Wisconsin went into the season finale in what was basically a winner take all game. The winner of that game would win the Big Ten West, advance to the Big Ten Championship game, and most likely head to the Rose Bowl. Yes, that Rose Bowl that the Gophers have not been to since 1962.
College Gameday was on campus. Lee Corso picked the Gophers and put the Goldy head on. TCF Bank Stadium was sold out and there were even snowflakes falling. The atmosphere was perfect.
After forcing a Wisconsin three-and-out on their opening drive, the Gophers scored on their first possession on a Rashod Bateman deep slant to strike first and take a 7-0 lead.
Rose Bowl here we come?! Not exactly.
After that Bateman touchdown, not much seemed to go right for the Gophers. Wisconsin seemed to move the ball at will and the Gophers offense struggled to get anything going. Gopher fans had to listen to drunk and arrogant Wisconsin fans the entire second half as they taunted the Gopher fans for falling short again.
Final score: Wisconsin 38 – Minnesota 17.
We thought our dreams of a Rose Bowl and a shot at the Big Ten Championship were going to come true. We watched Rashod Bateman streak towards the end zone and dreamed of roses. Instead we got to watch the Badgers chop down the goal posts with the Axe.
I’ve had a lot of sad walks to the car leaving that stadium, but I think this one was the worst.
2. 2017 NFC Championship: Vikings vs. Eagles
This one is dubbed “The Philly Massacre” and I’m not even sure that does this game justice.
Vikings fans were coming off the high of the Minneapolis Miracle the week before. It felt like destiny that this team was headed to the Super Bowl after pulling a rabbit out of their hat at home against the Saints. And to top it off? The Super Bowl that year was being hosted in Minnesota at US Bank Stadium.
Because the Eagles had lost Carson Wentz to injury earlier in the season, the Vikings were going to be facing a backup in Nick Foles. Once again, it was easy for Vikings fans to get ahead of themselves and think we were going to march into Philly and win decisively.
Similar to the Gophers-Wisconsin game above, the Vikings came out and scored on their opening drive to take a 7-0 lead. They marched right down the field like they owned the place and quieted those crazy Eagles fans in a hurry.
And similar to that Gophers-Badgers game, nothing went right afterward.
Case Keenum threw a pick-six on the next drive which woke the Eagles and their nutty fans to tie the game at 7-7. The tide swung after that interception and never swung back in the Vikings favor. The Eagles would score 17 more points in the first half to lead 24-7, and eventually won the game 38-7.
Once again, Minnesota fans felt like this was our year. This was the year the Vikings would finally get back to the Super Bowl. Everything was falling in our favor. Yeah, we had to go to Philly but we’re taking on a backup QB and we have Mike Zimmer’s defense. What’s the big deal?
The hardest part about this one is we were so close to the Super Bowl, yet you knew it was going to be awhile before we’d sniff a Super Bowl again. The Vikings average an NFC Championship appearance about once every 8-10 years, so it was likely we weren’t going to get close to that for awhile.
And not only did we lose, we fell flat on our face. In front of the world. In typical Minnesota sports fashion.
2015 NFC Wild Card: Vikings vs. Seahawks
This one doesn’t need any introduction, every Minnesota fan knows what this is all about.
After a couple of down years, the Vikings were relevant again. Behind Mike Zimmer’s defense and Teddy Bridgewater at QB, the Vikings went 11-5 in 2015 and won the NFL North.
The Vikings faced the Seahawks in the Wild Card round outdoors at TCF Bank Stadium. And nobody needs to be reminded that the game was being played in the bitter cold, with the wind chill as low as -25 degrees.
Anyways, the Vikings were down 10-9 late in the fourth and marched down the field to set up Blair Walsh for a game-winning chip shot 27-yard field goal. No problem, right?
And just like that, the season was over. We went from thinking the game was won, to the season is over in the snap of a finger.
It was just the most Minnesota sports thing to ever happen. A missed 27-yard field goal to lose a playoff game?? That only happens here in Minnesota. Nowhere else.
I posted a video earlier this year too pointing out how the Vikings had ample opportunities to win the game before that infamous kick but just could not get it done. The football gods were not in Minnesota’s favor that game (when have they ever been?).
Honorable Mentions
Brett Favre throw across the body
This one was hard to leave off. The Vikings should have made the Super Bowl in 2009. That 2009 NFC Championship Game was filled with missed opportunities and self-inflicted errors. But even after the interception, the Vikings still had a chance to win in OT.
Gary Anderson wide-left
I was a little too young to remember this one but I know all of the details. Again, the Vikings had numerous opportunities to win this game after the missed kick (kneeling the clock out with that offense was an interesting choice…) and still had a seven point lead after that missed kick.
2015 WC Semis- Wild vs Blackhawks Game 6
This was the Patrick Kane goal in OT that to seal the series. If you need a reminder, the puck took a funny hop off the stanchion and landed right on Kane’s stick, who buried the goal. I wouldn’t have expected the Wild to win in Chicago in Game 7, but to lose that way in their own arena just felt cruel.
2026 WC Semis- Wild vs Avalanche Game 5
The Avalanche score two in the final 3:33 to send the game into OT and then win it just minutes into OT to win the series. Not how you want your season to end.
2023 NCAA Men’s Hockey National Championship – Gophers vs Quinnipiac
The Gophers fail to hold a third period lead and then lose seconds into OT. The prevent defense in the third period, and having Brock Faber on the bench to start OT was inexcusable. Plus, look at how many future NHL players were on that team…
The Teddy Bridgewater knee injury
Coming off that 2015 playoff appearance, the Vikings had high expectations going into the 2016 season. And we thought we had finally found our franchise quarterback in Teddy Bridgewater. And then he suffers a gruesome, fluke knee injury in training camp in which he almost had to have his leg amputated? Only the Vikings, and only in Minnesota…
That’s all I have for now. Maybe I’ll make this an annual exercise around State Fair time because I’m sure we’ll have some more heartbreaking moments this year because that’s just what Minnesota sports does.
The favre one should be on the list. I still haven’t recovered
Favre and Gary Anderson should be 1 & 2. No need to put the gophers on here they’re irrelevant
the twins had some bad playoff losses too
[…] Minnesota sports fan means many moments of heartbreak and sadness. I wrote a blog last week called “The Five Minnesota Sports Moments That About Killed Me” that was difficult to whittle down to just five moments. But there have also been many moments that […]