As Vikings Enter Playoffs, Harrison Phillips Doesn't Want This Journey to End

Harrison Phillips has experienced playoff heartbreak before.

During his tenure with the Bills, Phillips had two seasons with Super Bowl expectations come to an end at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. Two years ago, it was a blowout loss in the AFC championship game. Last year, it was the famous "13 seconds" game in the divisional round, when the Chiefs improbably tied the score at the end of regulation and won on the opening possession of overtime.

Both times, Phillips sat at his locker after the game ended and cried. Part of the sadness came from knowing the Bills wouldn't win the Super Bowl that year. More of it came from the painful reality that the journey of a specific group of players — bonded together as brothers by the NFL grind — had come to an end.

"It wasn't just that my chance at this year's Super Bowl was over, it's that some of the best friends that I have in the whole world aren't going to be there next year," Phillips said. "Those relationships, as hard as you do try to keep them, life goes on and it's hard to keep up with all those relationships that you have. So you go from spending 8 to 10 hours a day with someone...to he's out of the league next year, he's on another team next year, you're on another team next year. And that's probably the hardest heartbreak for me."

With a team like the Bills, who have a superstar franchise quarterback, there could be confidence that they'd be back in the postseason the following year. But it wouldn't be the same team. Every year, rosters change. Over his four seasons in Buffalo, Phillips saw players he was close to leave every offseason. And then, this year, he was the one who ended up elsewhere, signing a three-year contract with the Vikings.

"You always believe in yourself, that you'll be on the team the following year, you'll have another chance to win the Super Bowl," Phillips said. "But you won't be able to do it with the same group, and I'm a big relationship guy. I look around at our locker room and I have so many people that are near and dear to my heart and I consider great friends of mine, and so, just the reality of the business is that not everyone will be here next year. You want to win it with the guys you're brothers with."

Back in March, Phillips was one of the first free agent pickups made by the Vikings' new regime, led by GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and head coach Kevin O'Connell. They needed a big, run-stuffing defensive tackle who could eat up blocks and make plays in the middle of new coordinator Ed Donatell's defensive front. That Phillips was known as a great locker room presence and someone who dedicates significant time giving back to the community didn't hurt, either.

In his first year with the Vikings, Phillips started all 17 games and paired excellently with Dalvin Tomlinson at defensive tackle. The defense had its ups and downs, but Phillips was a consistent force on a team that went 13-4 and won the NFC North. Not only was he a great fit on the field, he proved to be a great fit off of it as well. O'Connell helped transform the Vikings' culture, and Phillips has contributed to — and enjoyed — building an extremely tight-knit group.

"I was a little scared about that when I first left, because I had such great connections in my time with my former team," he said. "But I think a little bit of my personality is to try to mesh and to bond and be that guy that can mesh with the O-linemen and the corners and the receivers and try to bring commonality between everybody. But I don't know if I thought it was going be this quick, right? I'm getting my wedding invitation list planned out right now and there's a lot of Minnesota Vikings on there that I didn't plan for, and I'm looking at that budget like 'Oh, I didn't know I was going to be friends with this many guys!'"

This week, the Vikings are preparing for the team's first playoff game in three years; they'll face the Giants on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium. Young players like third-year superstar Justin Jefferson will get their first taste of the NFL postseason. Even a few veterans, like Tomlinson, will be making their playoff debuts. But the Vikings also have plenty of players with ample postseason experience. Harrison Smith, Eric Kendricks, Danielle Hunter, and Adam Thielen have played in at least five playoff games with the Vikings during their careers, and newcomers Phillips, Za'Darius Smith, and Chandon Sullivan were on different contending teams in recent years.

Although the Vikings are trying to mostly treat this week like it's any other game, they're also emphasizing the importance of seizing the opportunity.

"Every single snap is life and death," Phillips said of the postseason. "So when you’re out there, maybe in the regular season against a non-conference opponent, the play's over there, (you might think) 'Ah, somebody else will get it.' In the playoffs, no, you have to have the mindset that I’m the only person that can stop this play, or offensively, I have to make this block or this won’t get a touchdown."

Every NFL game is ultra-competitive. But in the playoffs, Phillips says, the win-or-go-home stakes add even a bit more intensity to the picture.

"Everyone is always giving their best, but I feel like, when the playoffs come, you just find a little bit extra, there's just a little more adrenaline," he said. "It's like that fight-or-flight kicks in and you realize, like, 'I don't want to go home tomorrow. I want to have my pads in my locker and hang out with my buddies tomorrow.' So there's just a lot more to fight for and somehow, whether it's momentum or some other thing, it just is more intense, and it's fun. It is so fun."

There's been a lot of talk this year about the connectivity of the Vikings' locker room and the positive culture that has been built in Minnesota. That's a real thing. Players have loved coming to work every day and being around their teammates, and going through such a dramatic, emotional season full of one-score victories has only added to that.

This is a Vikings team that loves being around each other and believes it can win the Super Bowl this year. Starting on Sunday, they'll try to extend their time together as long as possible and make that dream a reality.