From despair to euphoria, Sunday's Vikings game took an emotional toll on fans

When Case Keenum threw a "Hail Mary" to Stefon Diggs to give the Vikings a last second victory over the Saints, it wasn't just the crowd at US Bank Stadium who went wild.

Fans at the Xcel Energy Center couldn't contain their emotions when the "Minneapolis Miracle" played in the lobby before Sunday's wild game.

Social media, for that matter, is filled with videos of Vikings fans reacting to the game's improbable ending. The Vikings victory was enough to make even grown men cry.

"It's an opportunity that is socially acceptable to yell, to cry, to scream especially for our male population. It's encouraged. I think it's a great opportunity to let everything out there," sports psychologist, Dr. Allie Wagener said.

Wegner says with the Vikings history of heartbreak--from the original "Hail Mary" to Gary Anderson's missed field goal, from Brett Favre's interception to Blair Walsh's kick that went wide left--fans started reliving the emotions from those missed opportunities when the Saints game started to go south.

Wagener says going from the depths of despair to pure euphoria in a split-second prompted an intense emotional release for many fans.

"When that play happened, there was this difference between what we were expecting--'Here we go again,'--that it just erupted with surprise, shock and joy," Wagener said.

In fact, surviving the ups and downs of the Vikings last game turned out to be hazardous to some fans health.

Wagener says being emotionally invested in a sports team can be good for fans too.

"It helps us keep in the moment," Wagener said. "The play was amazing because we were right in the present. We were right there. I think in life we are so often thinking in the past or in the future, being in that moment we got to celebrate it."