Alfred Southerland

Be Case Keenum. > Grow up in West Texas. Two-star recruit. One scholarship offer. > Take it. Rewrite the NCAA record book at Houston. > Marry your high school sweetheart, the girl you took out for snow cones before any of this started. > Go undrafted anyway. > Spend your rookie season on the practice squad. > Get cut. Get claimed. Get traded. Start over. > Get your chance in Minnesota when the starter gets hurt. > Throw the Minneapolis Miracle. > Help take the Vikings within one win of the Super Bowl. > Keep moving after that, too. > Eight franchises. Different jerseys. Different playbooks. Another chance to prove you belong. > Through all those moves, keep building a life with the girl. > The girl from the snow-cone date becomes the mother of your two children. > Spend years preparing for opportunities that rarely come. > Go 1,009 days without a start. > Keep showing up. Keep doing the work. Stay ready. > Then, at 38, get the call. Chicago needs you. > Walk onto Monday Night Football. > Throw two touchdowns. Run for another. Beat the Eagles 27–7. > Do it with both your kids watching you play in person for the first time. > Finish the night on SportsCenter with your little girl beside you. All those years. All those moves. All those Sundays waiting for a chance. And when this one finally comes, you fucking crush it with your kids looking on. Imagine what that feels like. There are a lot of ways to teach your children to keep going. Letting them watch you do it has to be one of the best. Absolute legend! 🫡