Last Sunday’s “Minneapolis Miracle” was inexplicable and magical because of the improbable steps that had to unfold over 10 seconds and 61 yards. The throw, the catch, the missed tackle and the run—all of them flew in the face of both basic football logic and decades of Minnesota Vikings postseason misery that said the desperation heave would fail miserably.

But something else made one of the unlikeliest plays in NFL history even unlikelier: the players who made it happen should have never been there in the first place.

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