Re-watched the 1998 NFC Championship game.........Gary Anderson isn't to blame

[Big Phil]

Sometimes when I have time I like going on Youtube and watching some old games and seeing them in their full entirety and not just the highlight reel stuff. One thing that always bugged me was how Gary Anderson, who missed a 39 yard field goal for the Vikings that would have put them up 10 points, is known for this loss as if nothing else factored into it.

Man oh man, did I ever forget just how bad the Vikings screwed this up even AFTER the Anderson miss.

To set it up, one of the most notorious games in NFL history is the 1998 NFC Championship game. The Vikings had the best offense in NFL history during that year with a rejuvenated Cunningham at QB and Cris Carter and rookie Randy Moss as receivers. Gary Anderson didn't miss a field goal all season, he was 100%, which is unheard of. With a couple minutes to go in the NFC championship game the Vikings are up 7 points and Anderson kicks a field goal attempt wide left. The Falcons storm back the other way and tie it with a touchdown but Minnesota has two timeouts left and are around their own 30 yard line with 30 seconds left. Coach Dennis Green has them take a knee and send the game into overtime which was a horrible call.

That was a bad play call by Green. The Vikings got the ball in overtime first, did nothing with it, punted it away. The Falcons then did nothing and punted. Vikings on their 2nd drive did n0thing and punted it away. On the Falcons' 2nd drive they got a field goal to win it. Game over, the Falcons are going to the Super Bowl and they are part of one of the most crushing defeats in history.

I had forgotten that not only did Minnesota take a knee to go into overtime but they got the ball twice and did jack with it. Three times - count 'em THREE - they had the ball after the Anderson miss and did nothing with it. Somehow everything comes back to Anderson again and he never gets forgiven for it. Even an episode of "How I Met Your Mother" focuses on Anderson.

Click to read more...

 

[Blitzkrug]

That's a whole lot of word to say something everyone knew already.

I guess you can't post about conspiracies now so you need something to rant about...

 

[Sports Enthusiast]

Anderson, Scott Norwood......

What was the yardage on 4th down? What yardline were they on? If it was like beyond the 40 or even around the 35 I may punt. Try to pin them. If its inside the 30 I may just go for it.

Not kneeling it is why the Patriots won their first SB.

 

[David Suzuki]

That's a whole lot of word to say something everyone knew already.

I mean, I was 5 in 1998 so I didn't know the background. Thanks @Big Phil

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

The Vikes D inability to stop Chris Chandler who absolutely torched them that day cost them game

 

[Sports Enthusiast]

I don't think the Vikings would have beat Denver though regardless.

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

I don't think the Vikings would have beat Denver though regardless.

I do.

 

[EpochLink]

Vikings the next year went toe to toe with the GSOT Rams and lost.
Year after that, they got torched by Kerry Collins and the Giants in the NFC Championship game.

 

[Roboturner913]

could've been worse, just ask Eugene Robinson

 

[Roboturner913]

Conspiracy theory is a CIA created term from the 60's that literally means anybody questioning common thought is crazy/ It sterilizes critical thinking.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines conspiracy theory as "the theory that an event or phenomenon occurs as a result of a conspiracy between interested parties; spec. a belief that some covert but influential agency (typically political in motivation and oppressive in intent) is responsible for an unexplained event". It cites a 1909 article in The American Historical Review as the earliest usage example,[6][7] although it also appears in journals as early as April 1870.[8] The word "conspiracy" derives from the Latin con- ("with, together") and spirare ("to breathe").

The CIA was formed in 1947.

 

[EpochLink]

I still think the Vikings should've went for it on the final drive.
2 times outs and 30 seconds left, you don't think Cunningham can heave a sling shot to Moss or Carter down the field for at least a FG try?

 

[Halladay]

Cursed franchise to go along with the Bengals, Browns, Bengals, Jets, Lions, and Chargers.

 

[Hasbro]

I do.

They killed the team that beat the Vikes.

 

[Halladay]

Vikings the next year went toe to toe with the GSOT Rams and lost.
Year after that, they got torched by Kerry Collins and the Giants in the NFC Championship game.

They have lost their last 6 conference championship games since making the Super Bowl in 1976. Including 41-0 and 38-7.

 

[HisIceness]

I don't remember who, but one of the Minnesota safeties dropped an interception right before the Falcons scored the tying TD. Dude catches that and no one remembers Anderson missing.

 

[EpochLink]

I don't remember who, but one of the Minnesota safeties dropped an interception right before the Falcons scored the tying TD. Dude catches that and no one remembers Anderson missing.

That was Robert Griffith, he had it then dropped it.

 

[Fish on The Sand]

I still think the Vikings should've went for it on the final drive.
2 times outs and 30 seconds left, you don't think Cunningham can heave a sling shot to Moss or Carter down the field for at least a FG try?

The Vikings were who we thought they were.

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

They killed the team that beat the Vikes.

It's an every given Sunday league. Minnestota and Denver were the two best teams that year. Atlanta was a very good team, but Minnesota didn't have their best game that day.

 

[Sports Enthusiast]

Cursed franchise to go along with the Bengals, Browns, Bengals, Jets, Lions, and Chargers.

I can get behind the Browns, maybe the Bengals. The Lions have never made the SB and I believe in their one NFC Title game got wiped out. The Jets, maybe. They have 3 AFC Titke game appearances since 69 and the only game I think I recall beking close was at Pittsburgh, they blew it late, they're usually bad. The only thing I recall about the Chargers is losing in 2OT to the Dolphins.

 

[Sports Enthusiast]

I still think the Vikings should've went for it on the final drive.
2 times outs and 30 seconds left, you don't think Cunningham can heave a sling shot to Moss or Carter down the field for at least a FG try?

But then that miss may have repeated itself, I suppose, ultimately not changing the narrative, interesting to think though.

 

[Sports Enthusiast]

Vikings the next year went toe to toe with the GSOT Rams and lost.
Year after that, they got torched by Kerry Collins and the Giants in the NFC Championship game.

I thought that was the Bucs who lost 11-6? I thought they blew Minnesota out?

 

[EpochLink]

I thought that was the Bucs who lost 11-6? I thought they blew Minnesota out?

The Bucs beat the Redskins in the divisional round.
Bucs/Rams was a defensive battle with an 11-6 outcome.

This game became famous because of the Bert Emmanual Rule.

 

[Big Phil]

That's a whole lot of word to say something everyone knew already.

I guess you can't post about conspiracies now so you need something to rant about...

You'd be a heck of a lot of fun at parties talking football. The NFL network to this day is obsessed with that game and never tells the full story of it and just basically puts the load on Anderson. People forget the ins and outs of this game. I even forgot about some things since it had been so long since I watched the complete 4th quarter.

 

[Big Phil]

I still think the Vikings should've went for it on the final drive.
2 times outs and 30 seconds left, you don't think Cunningham can heave a sling shot to Moss or Carter down the field for at least a FG try?

Cunningham tried a long bomb to Moss prior to overtime on 2nd down. He threw it too far. At that point they had two time outs with 30 seconds left and were at around their own 30. Two or three quick little chip passes and you are in field goal range again. It is doubtful Anderson misses two in a row if he gets the chance. The fans' reaction says it all when they took a knee. It was not a winning move.

Anderson, Scott Norwood......

What was the yardage on 4th down? What yardline were they on? If it was like beyond the 40 or even around the 35 I may punt. Try to pin them. If its inside the 30 I may just go for it.

Not kneeling it is why the Patriots won their first SB.

Exactly. Maybe that is a tale of two franchises. You had the greatest QB in history playing in his first Super Bowl (although Brady wasn't Brady yet of course) and they roll the dice and go for it. Brady even got told by Drew Bledsoe to just "sling it" and he sort of did. Then you have the Vikings playing it safe. One played to win, the other played NOT to lose. The latter is deadly in sports. I remember Madden repeatedly saying during the game the Patriots ought to just "take a knee". Super Bowl winning coach or not, he was wrong.

As for the situation with the Anderson field goal attempt it went like this: 3rd and 6 on the Falcons 21. Cunningham scrambles and then throws it away and the clock stops. Prior to the 2 minute warning. Anderson had kicked 122 consecutive field goals at the time. I think every coach would have had him come in, I would have too. They actually did pretty good clock management prior to that field goal bleeding lots of time off the clock. I wouldn't have punted it and I don't think anyone would have thought to do so, even to pin them deep. You are on the other teams' 21 yard line with a 7 point lead, regardless you are in the driver's seat. You can't lose that game, I don't care if the game is being played on the moon.

The Vikings were who we thought they were.

Ouch..........but yeah...........or at least their coach was.

 

[EpochLink]

Ouch..........but yeah...........or at least their coach was.

His teams were playoff contenders but that was it.
Never had a stable quarterback at the helm, if you remember in his early Viking years they would always lose in the Wild Card round.

Then during the late 90's run, he would get to the Divisional/NFC Championship game with no results.