What began as a scary occurrence that could have produced a serious accident turned into a hassle and nightmarish Friday evening that has roundly summed up 2016 for the Minnesota Vikings.
While taxiing after a safe landing in Appleton, Wisconsin, the Vikings' team plane slid off the runway and became stuck, the team announced. The Vikings faced an additional two-hour wait on the plane after the incident, NFL Network's Mike Garafolo reported, before a firetruck was dispatched to carry the passengers off the plane.
Linebacker Chad Greenway gave his social media following a first-person experience of what it's like to be rescued from an immobile plane via fire ladder, two at a time. Brian Robison chipped in with a video of his own, featuring ladder buddy Cordarrelle Patterson. And finally, just before midnight eastern (and just over 12 hours away from kickoff), the team's account tweeted that the Vikingswere indeed off the plane.
The Vikings are set to face the Packers in Green Bay on Saturday near the end of a season that started with a promising five-game win streak, but quickly careened off course, winning just two of their next nine games. As if matters couldn't get worse -- being stuck on a plane in Wisconsin with kickoff less than 24 hours away -- Patterson's potassium intake took a hit.
There's inherent irony in a team with a mascot of a group of people who were known for traveling by boat then becoming trapped on an airplane runway. They could have used the humor.
And then, with ration policies trailing the events that called for them by a wide margin, the unfortunate (and inevitable) happened.
Those media guides deserved a better fate. Perhaps an airport Santa could brave the cold, find a way to board the plane and spare a square.
Here's a sampling of what Vikings players were sharing on social media of what likely will be one road trip they'll never forget:
