It was Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. My birthday.

My daughter gave me a new Vikings jacket for my birthday. I thanked her, but I said all I really want for my birthday is a Vikings victory over the Atlanta Falcons in a game about to start in a few minutes.

The response from those present was, “Not likely going to happen.”

I knew they were right. But it was my birthday, after all.

Whenever the Vikings play the Falcons my thoughts go back to the infamous 1998-99 season when Atlanta upset the Vikings 30-27 in overtime in the NFC Championship game in January of 1999. Vikings kicker Gary Anderson, who had not missed a kick in two years, missed a kick at the end of regulation which would have given the Vikings a win.

This season started off pretty bad, with an 0-4 start and Vikings fans thinking the season was over.

The only people I felt more sorry for other than myself were Green Bay Packers fan Tom Warmka and Chicago Bears fan Norm Hall. Because their teams were admittedly even worse than the Vikes.

But I digress.

This past Sunday the Vikings were definitely not slated to win. Their two best players, at two key positions, were injured and not going to play. Quarterback Kirk Cousins and wide receiver Justin Jefferson.

Yet somehow, when the game ended, the Vikings had indeed won.

The football pundits called it “improbable.” Others called it incredible. Vikings fans called it another “Minnesota Miracle,” even though the game was played in Georgia.

I called it the best birthday present ever.

It looked pretty grim for a while. The Vikings started a rookie quarterback nobody really knew anything about and he was not doing much. Then he got hurt, had a concussion, and had to leave the game.

So, another quarterback nobody had really ever heard about came in. He had been with the team for like four days.

One of the first things he did was to get sacked in the endzone and give Atlanta two free points. Uffda!

It was bad.

The Vikings’ running game was nearly non-existent. They were lucky to gain a positive yard, with most plays losing yardage. Most of us knew it was tough to run against the Falcons.

Bad luck continued. Relatively new Vikings running back Cam Akers finally gets a good run or two and then is injured and has to leave the game. Wide receiver K.J. Osborn starts catching a pass or two and he gets injured and has to leave the game. Tight end T.J. Hockenson is catching the most passes and he gets a rib injury, but toughs it out and stays in the game.

The Vikings are dropping like flies.

I even spot a Vikings player lining up at wide receiver with an unlucky number 13 on his back and his name “Harry” on his jersey. “Who the heck is number 13?” I asked my game co-watchers. Nobody knew. They guessed we were down to our third, fourth or fifth backup wide receiver. I guessed they pulled someone out of the stands and gave him a jersey because they were running out of players.

But the Vikings defense was keeping them in the game. The new Vikings hero, quarterback Joshua Dobbs, started throwing passes to whatever receivers and running backs were still left in the game.

And, Dobbs showed he could run if he had to. He scrambled around, he somehow escaped a sure sack, he ran for a first down on a long fourth down play and then even scored a running touchdown, not from the goal line but from about 20 yards out.

When was the last time the Vikings had a quarterback come into the game off the bench and scramble around, throw incredible passes and win the game?

Well, I don’t know if it was the last time, but the first time was the very first Vikings game ever, in 1961, when they stunned the Chicago Bears 37-13. (Sorry Norm.) Quarterback Fran Tarkenton came into the game off the bench and led the team to victory in his first ever NFL game.

Sound familiar? A little bit of deja vu all over again…

If you have been a Vikings fan for a while you remember the ups and downs. The Purple People Eaters defense, the four Super Bowl losses, the memorable battles against the Packers.

There was the nail-biter season last year, with so many games won at the end of regulation or in overtime. Then this year’s losses by less than one score. Until the miraculous wins returned.

Including last Sunday.

The moral of this story might be to never give up, never lose hope. Or it might be that sometimes even the most impossible of birthday wishes can actually come true.