Missing Rings- 1998 Vikings

**247cy** · 05-17-2011, 07:55 AM

What do you call it when there's something constricting or blocking your throat and it gets really hard to breathe the available air?

**Al_4_State** · 05-17-2011, 08:05 AM

They were better than the Broncos, but they would have lost. Because that's what the Vikings do.

**drmwevr08** · 05-17-2011, 08:16 AM

I certainly don't need to see that again. It was depressing enough then to last. I had a TV going at work (retail job at that time) and was quite a bear from what I recall the rest of the day. I pretty much relived it last year anyway with Favre. Oh, I love those Vikings.

**cyspike** · 05-17-2011, 08:21 AM

Originally Posted by ItsCYence

Watching this on NFL Network and it is bitter sweet watching this. Denny Green, Cris Carter, and John Randle were the right people to tell the story. The best season with the most heart breaking moment. That team was awesome.

Didn't Green get another woman besides his wife pregnant, and Carter was hooked on drugs, and Moss smoked weed and ran over meter maids?

**jdoggivjc** · 05-17-2011, 08:21 AM

I think what gets lost in this whole conversation is the quality of the Falcons team that the Vikings lost (choked, whatever) to that day. After 15 or so years people look back and say "they choked to the Falcons", as if they were some team that was lucky to be in the playoffs in the first place and didn't deserve to be playing against the Vikings in the Metrodome that day. Except this team wasn't the historical Atlanta Falcons - this was a 14-2 team, only one game worse than the Vikings that season. Yes, the Vikings, especially the offense, were amazing that year. But I think the abysmal Falcons' history puts blinders on people making them realize that the Vikings actually lost to a very good team that day.

As far as the Super Bowl goes, freaking Eugene Robinson, getting arrested the night before the Super Bowl for soliciting a prostitute. "1998 Bart Starr Award winner for high moral character" my arse (an award, ironically, he received that very morning). The very kind of distraction a team doesn't need before going into the biggest game of a franchise's history. Perhaps (even likely) the Falcons still lose to the Broncos in the Super Bowl even if Robinson lived up to the award he received that morning and was a "good boy" that night, but I don't think they get humiliated like they did.

**Dopey** · 05-17-2011, 08:51 AM

This was my favorite football game that didn't involve the Rams. The ending was perfect.

And then the 1999 Rams set the precedent for offensive powerhouses in the NFL the following year. Mostly because they didn't choke and won the Super Bowl.

**Al_4_State** · 05-17-2011, 08:55 AM

Originally Posted by cyspike

Didn't Green get another woman besides his wife pregnant, and Carter was hooked on drugs, and Moss smoked weed and ran over meter maids?

Carter had kicked his drug habit years before this. That was back when he was with the Eagles.

Moss's meter maid incident was a couple years after this. Who cares if he smoked grass?

Green WAS running around on his wife. I never liked Denny Green. Offensive genius, but he got so damn conservative at crunch times (like the end of the half here). His teams never seemed to have any mental toughness either. Later in his run w/Minnesota, the Minneapolis/St. Paul radio stations started referring to him as the "purple engorged tick".

**CyBroncos** · 05-17-2011, 09:23 AM

Originally Posted by Al_4_State

They were better than the Broncos, but they would have lost. Because that's what the Vikings do.

Hmmmmmmm, that's really debatable. Like I mentioned in a previous post, Denver's offense had just as much firepower and their defense wasn't bad either. They were the defending champs after beating a great Green Bay team and started the year 13-0 so although the Vikings had a dominant season, so did Denver.

The Vikings couldn't beat the Falcons at home...the Broncos then smacked around the Falcons. Elway was going out on top who matter who they played

**CyBroncos** · 05-17-2011, 09:29 AM

Originally Posted by Dopey

This was my favorite football game that didn't involve the Rams. The ending was perfect.

And then the 1999 Rams set the precedent for offensive powerhouses in the NFL the following year. Mostly because they didn't choke and won the Super Bowl.

That was a good few years for the NFL having great teams. Think about a Final Four with the 1999 Rams, the 1998 Broncos and Vikings and the 1996-97 Packers with Favre in his prime. That would have been fun.

**jay moe** · 05-17-2011, 10:36 AM

Originally Posted by ItsCYence

Not as bad as watching it when it happened.

When Anderson missed that FG, I knew the Vikes were screwed. There were also some questionable time management issues that happened late in the 4th qtr. Still can't believe the Falcons won.

**ca4cy** · 05-17-2011, 11:05 AM

Originally Posted by calclone

I maintain that Robert Smith lost the game for the Vikings. He ran out of bounds twice during the final drive, which left enought time for the Falcons to tie the game. Vikings had a lot of injuries in that game, would have been tought to beat Denver.

I often wonder why this doesn't get mentioned more. I said while watching the game that it would come back to bit them in the ***.....just blantantly stupid for such a good running back. There's always plenty of blame to go around when you lose a game like that, but Smith gets off easy as I hardly ever hear his name when Viking fans are commiserating over that one. That's the thing I'll always think of when I think of them losing that game.

I'll also throw in with those saying that the Falcons were a very good team and that the Vikes weren't beating the Broncos anyway.

**Dopey** · 05-17-2011, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by CyBroncos

That was a good few years for the NFL having great teams. Think about a Final Four with the 1999 Rams, the 1998 Broncos and Vikings and the 1996-97 Packers with Favre in his prime. That would have been fun.

People assume that the Rams defense wasn't very good that year, but in fact, it was very good. A lot of it was because their offense would get such a quick lead, but statistically, their defense was top 5 in the league that year.

The following years when Martz would draft the fastest kid in the draft from a D3 school in the first round was when the defense fell apart.....

**RING4CY** · 05-17-2011, 11:51 AM

Originally Posted by dualthreat

im not so sure the vikings would have beaten the broncos. the vikings were great, no doubt, but the falcons got whooped!

This.

The Falcons offense that year was 4th in the NFL in scoring offense scoring 27.6 points a game (the Vikings were 1st at 34.8 points a game.) The Falcons offense scored just 12 points against the Broncos in the Super Bowl, and the Falcons did not score an offensive touchdown until there was 2:04 remaining in the 4th quarter.

A Broncos-Vikings Super Bowl may have been epic, but the Broncos were just too stacked offensively and defensively at the time.

**Al_4_State** · 05-17-2011, 12:03 PM

I never said the Vikings would have beaten the Broncos. I think they were a better team.

They definitely would have lost that Super Bowl.

**jdoggivjc** · 05-17-2011, 01:30 PM

Originally Posted by RING4CY

This.

The Falcons offense that year was 4th in the NFL in scoring offense scoring 27.6 points a game (the Vikings were 1st at 34.8 points a game.) The Falcons offense scored just 12 points against the Broncos in the Super Bowl, and the Falcons did not score an offensive touchdown until there was 2:04 remaining in the 4th quarter.

A Broncos-Vikings Super Bowl may have been epic, but the Broncos were just too stacked offensively and defensively at the time.

I still believe that the Broncos still likely win that Super Bowl, but if Mr. "1998 Bart Starr Award winner for high moral character" Eugene Robinson doesn't get himself arrested for soliciting a blow job from an undercover police officer the night before the Super Bowl, that game is likely a much closer game. The Falcons clearly were not ready to play that game, and how could they be, when one of your team leaders does something that blatantly and utterly stupid.