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"There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come. ... Our time is now."

That was the message from coach Brad Childress that was attached to each player's locker stall when the Vikings played the Saints in the NFC Championship Game at the Superdome on Jan. 24, 2010.

Looking back on it 23 months later, Childress' words take on a certain cryptic tone. They were right, but not in the way Childress had intended them.

When the Vikings didn't seize their moment -- ruining a dominating performance with five turnovers in a 31-28 overtime loss -- few, if any, suspected that the window of opportunity for Childress and that particular team slammed shut the moment Garrett Hartley's game-winning 40-yard field goal cleared the crossbar.

"In my mind, that seems like eons ago," said current coach Leslie Frazier, whose Vikings (2-11) play the Saints (10-3) on Sunday at Mall of America Field. "So much has transpired between that time and where we are today."

Since that game, the Vikings are 8-21. The Saints, meanwhile, are 22-9, including a Super Bowl victory and two playoff berths.

Vikings, Saints go separate ways | StarTribune.com

"A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."