“This is the first time ever I’m out of words,” defensive end Everson Griffen said. And though such statements, made in such moments, usually reek of hyperbole, they often contain a kernel of truth. He stammered as questions kept coming his way, and he ultimately composed himself enough to say that he intended to watch “Remember the Titans” when he got home, to preserve the high.

“This is unbelievable,” Griffen said. “About time. About time.”

Only some of these Vikings played on the 2015 team that lost to the Seattle Seahawks when Blair Walsh hooked a short field goal, but many have heard about the other inglorious moments in Minnesota playoff history: the miss by Gary Anderson in the 1999 N.F.C. championship game, the overtime kick by Garrett Hartley that escorted New Orleans into the 2010 Super Bowl, Darrin Nelson’s drop in the 1987 N.F.C. title game, and Drew Pearson’s Hail Mary push-off in 1975.

“1975?” Diggs said. “I think I was still swimming at the time.”

Their forebears may never have won a Super Bowl in four tries, but the Vikings are adamant that the curse does not extend to them. What transpired on a snowy afternoon here may be their best evidence: After they blew a 17-point lead but recovered, after 12 points were scored in the final 89 seconds of a matchup between New Orleans’s second-ranked offense and Minnesota’s top-ranked defense, the scoreboard showed the Vikings had more.