GREAT JOB FEAR!
As a season ticket holder, I was lucky enough to attend all of the playoff games, including Super Bowl XVII, following that strike-shortened 1982 campaign. I'll never forget that NFC Championship Game and those bouncing stands across the way.
I was pretty confident going into that game, mainly because it was at home and because we were forcing them to wear their "unlucky" blue road jerseys that they seldom wore.
Everything just seemed to fall into place. Riggo ran wild. The Smurfs delivered. The Fun Bunch jumped and Dexter knocked out Danny White. In came Gary Hogeboom for that Coup de Grace pick six by Darryl Grant and victory was ours.
While this game may be reminiscent of that 1982 NFC Championship Game, it's also eerily reminiscent of the final game of the 1979 season. The win or go home scenario came into play thanks to the Cardinals rolling over in a 42-6 loss to the Bears which gave the Bears the wildcard tiebreaker in point differential (we were dead even on all other tiereakers). Had the Skins won that game, they would have won the division with an 11-5 record. While Ron Jaworski's Eagles also finished 11-5, the Skins would have had the tiebreaker and thus, would have taken the NFC East crown. Instead, they lost 35-34 on a late TD pass from Roger Staubach to Tony Hill.
By the time this game is played Sunday night, we'll already know whether or not the Vikings and Bears won but I'm fairly certain they both won't lose. That means this really IS the first playoff game of the 2012 season. Win and we get to host a playoff game for the first time since 1999. Win and we have a shot at a FOURTH Lombardi Trophy and RG3 increases his chances of winning ROY. Lose and that effing team from Texas gets playoff bragging rights while Luck or Wilson wins ROY. I don't think I could stand that.
As many great memories as I have of that NFC Championship victory over Dallas, I'm still haunted by that loss in 1979. Euphoria or death? THAT'S HOW BIG THIS GAME IS.