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On Sunday, NFL fans witnessed one of the craziest endings to a game in playoff history when the Minnesota Vikings managed to steal their divisional matchup against the New Orleans Saints after Stefon Diggs took a 61-yard pass to the house as time expired in what has since been dubbed the “The Minneapolis Miracle.”
The Vikings were forced to overcome the fact that they gave up the 17-point lead they had at the half— a half which featured a touchdown-saving tackle made by Saints punter Thomas Morstead during a return during the first quarter. Morstead reaffirmed the stereotype of kickers everywhere when he suffered a rib injury on the player, but he managed to gut it out and continued to punt despite being in obvious pain.
Morstead was also the first player to reappear on the field after the two teams were told the Vikings had to attempt the truly idiotic and utter meaningless extra point attempt required to end the game, and Vikings fans have decided to repay the punter for his gutsy effort on the field in a major way.
Hours after the end of the game, Morstead was informed that his charity— What You Give Will Grow— was receiving an unusual trickling of donations from people with mailing addresses in Minnesota. Over the past few days, that trickle has turned into a flood, and as of this writing, the foundation has received $70,000 in donations (a number that is increasing at an incredibly rapid pace).
Morstead’s charity is especially devoted to supporting children with cancer, and the Saint— who is providing updates on Twitter— has pledged to fly up to Minneapolis to present a check to Children’s Minnesota if the donations managed to surpass the six-figure mark (which appears to be a guarantee at this point).
Over $25K now.
I’ll fly up to Minneapolis week of the Super Bowl to personally do a check presentation with @childrensmn if we get to $100K https://t.co/CqTjsmnT4E— Thomas Morstead (@thomasmorstead) January 17, 2018
Vikings supporters are following in the footsteps of Buffalo Bills fans who donated over $300,000 to Andy Dalton’s foundation as a thank you for his role in ending the team’s 19-year playoff drought.
Here’s to hoping this trend continues to stay as hot as it is.