Harrison Smith stood behind the end zone at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, Fla., unwinding after a Pro Bowl practice in January, when that ugly trigger word came up.
Kickers.
Ah, yes. Freaking kickers.
Smith could empathize with what the Bears had gone through 19 days earlier, dropping through a playoff trapdoor when Cody Parkey's potential game-winning 43-yard field-goal attempt against the Eagles clanged into the left upright at Soldier Field, then ricocheted a second time off the crossbar.
In January 2016, Smith and the Vikings experienced something similar, something so unbelievable and agonizing, when their chances to win an NFC wild-card game disintegrated in midair with a 27-yard Blair Walsh pull job, a Ricky Vaughn-like misfire that turned a certain home victory over the Seahawks into a soul-crushing 10-9 defeat.
"No one," Smith said, "even considered the possibility of that kick not going through."
Smith knew the stages of grief the Bears were experiencing and the patience-testing journey they had to continue. But most of all, the Vikings safety said, he had full appreciation for what happened the previous weekend in the NFC championship game.
The Rams won a Super Bowl LIII invitation thanks to Greg Zuerlein's 48-yard tying field goal in the final seconds of regulation and a 57-yard walk-off bomb in overtime, a no-doubter that was right down the middle and deep into the net.
Must be nice.
"Just pure," Smith said. "And no one really emphasized just how clutch that was. ... When it goes right, those guys don't even get too much love. But when it goes wrong? Man. It's a nightmare."
The next support group meeting might come this weekend in Chicago.
The Vikings come to Soldier Field on Sunday afternoon for a key early NFC North matchup that seems certain to have playoff ramifications later. Like the Bears, the Vikings will take the field with an aggressive and united defense that has been carrying the team for a while now. Like the Bears, they have Super Bowl dreams but need their inconsistent starting quarterback to turn a corner soon.
Still, if the football gods have any sense of theater, Sunday's game will come down to the kickers. Has to, right? It's the only way to fully test the fortitude of two franchises tortured by placekicking problems for years.
Dan Bailey versus Eddy Pineiro. Bailey and Pineiro versus the conditions at Soldier Field.
Buckle in.
