Although the Vikings had a respectable club from ‘87 to ‘98, they were pretty much on the outside looking in. That all changed in 1998 with the addition of Randy Moss and the installation of Randall Cunningham at quarterback.
I often thought that the Vikings could have shed their offense and running game and just sent Moss out on a fly pattern every play. He was that dominant.
The Viking juggernaut was favored to win it all. In the conference finals, in spite of playing a lackluster game, the Vikings were ahead by a touchdown with two minutes left in the game when their kicker missed a 38-yard field goal despite not missing an attempt or extra point all season.
Their opponents scored a touchdown and then won in overtime when their kicker, also named Anderson, made a 38-yard field goal. Coach Dennis Green lost the respect of the media and most of the fans by not trying to score in the final seconds of regulation. It looked like he coached scared.
The next years, the Vikings remained a contending team with Randy Moss. Jeff George took over at quarterback. He was fascinating to watch.
George had the greatest arm and poorest technique I have ever seen. He could throw more than 50 yards with just a flick of the wrist. George sealed his doom by not going after a fumble he dropped.
A great physical specimen then took over at quarterback. Daunte Culpepper at 6-foot-4, weighing 240 pounds, looked like a tight end behind center.
Culpepper and the Vikings won the first playoff game and were favored to defeat the New York Giants in the NFC title game. They were humiliated 41-0. It looked like some of the Vikings gave up, including Moss. Things were never the same between Moss, the team and fans after that.
Mike Tice was brought in to coach and the Vikings never threatened to make the Super Bowl, although they did make the headlines with their love boat scandal. Because of previous Moss incidents and Tice scalping tickets, the Vikings lost much of Minnesota’s respect.
Zigi Wilf, New Jersey real estate mogul, bought the team and hired Brad Childress to coach. Childress also came under fire from the Twin Cities sports writers, but turned things around for a brief period when he lured Bret Favre out of retirement.
Favre, along with running back Adrian Peterson, took the Vikings to the conference finals where they lost to the New Orleans Saints due to a Favre interception and a coaching error in which the Vikings had 12 men on the field.
In spite of five turnovers, the Vikings were clearly the better team. The loss really rankled Viking fans when the Saints easily won the Super Bowl. Like 1998, the best team sat on the sidelines.
It’s not been easy being a Viking fan during the past 50 years. It’s a great deal like being a Chicago Cubs fan.
I think it’s a little bit harder to be a Vikings fan for the Cubs have not had the success the Vikings have had. If your team is good and it still doesn’t win the big game, it gets harder with each failure.
In the beginning, more that five decades ago, the team had several nicknames to choose from. One of the finalists was the Voyagers.
Perhaps that would have been better for our team. Voyagers means travelers and our Vikings are still traveling toward a winning Super Bowl. As long as they keep trying, I guess it’s still possible.
