NFL Playoffs: Nick Foles vs. Case Keenum

The Vikings would have traveled anywhere to play in their first Super Bowl since 1977.

They’ll face a Philadelphia Eagles team looking for their first Lombardi Trophy.

Sunday marked the first conference championship game featuring two starting quarterbacks who were backups at the beginning of the season. The Patriots advanced with a 24-20 victory over Jacksonville in the earlier game Sunday.

The Eagles are headed to Minneapolis for Super Bowl LII at U.S. Bank Stadium on February 4.

The Eagles pass rush started attacking Keenum, and no play came as big as when an arm struck the Vikings quarterback on the pass, causing a slow, wobbling duck into the hands of Patrick Robinson, who did a punt-return style crossing of the field for a 50-yard touchdown, igniting the crowd, and the Birds.

A win would mean the Vikings would head back home for their first Super Bowl appearance in 41 years.

In two weeks, it will be Brady, the greatest quarterback in National Football League history, going up against Eagles backup Nick Foles, who somehow guided the Eagles to the biggest game of their lives after MVP candidate Carson Wentz went down with a season-ending knee injury in December.

Oddsmakers at the William Hill chain also made the Patriots a 9-2 favorite to win next year’s Super Bowl in Atlanta, followed by the Eagles at 17-2.

The Vikings did not look anything like the team that went 13-3 during the regular season behind strong play on both sides of the ball.

Minnesota’s best hope was to make Nick Foles beat them, and Foles responded by playing the game of his life.

The Vikings started the game well enough, scoring a touchdown on their opening possession, with a nine-play, 75-yard drive ending with quarterback Case Keenum finding tight end Kyle Rudolph in the endzone.

The Eagles do not have a player on their roster who has amassed 1,000 yards from scrimmage this season.

– City crews dubbing themselves the Crisco Cops were greasing light poles around Philadelphia Sunday to prevent Eagles fans from climbing after the NFC Championship game. It’s obviously a great honor, a great opportunity faced in front of us and we just attack each day the same. Once the Vikings were down by more than two scores, it felt like the game was over, because it was. Their only stumble since September was a 27-20 loss at the Dolphins on December 11. He played the entire game against Philadelphia, making three catches for 28 yards.

And, with the game – and the season – possibly on the line, the Patriots star came up big again.

“That’s the most frustrating part is we know the little things we did to win games were the things that hurt us today”, Thielen said. It was a insane injury.