It is a frailty of the human condition that we have a hard time learning life lessons through the grace of near-misses.
Almost getting into a car accident while texting might make a distracted driver feel fortunate, but it tends not to change the behavior the same was as would the real thing.
Oh, if only football teams — made of toughness hardened through sacrifice — were not just, in the end, comprised of humans afflicted with that same frailty.
Perhaps then the Vikings might be in a different position now with their defense than the one they are in.