Sportsnaut
The Minnesota Vikings have been playing football since 1961, and they’re still chasing their first Super Bowl win. The franchise’s best chance may have come back in 1998, when the team seemingly had it all.
Dennis Green led the Vikings to what still stands as their best record, a 15-1 finish, with the NFL’s highest-scoring offense and a defense that ranked sixth in points allowed. Randall Cunningham, Robert Smith, Randy Moss, Cris Carter, and Jake Reed. It was an All-Star cast that didn’t score fewer than 24 points all season long.
As noted, this team seemingly had it all, but once they got to the NFC Conference Championship with a victory in reach, things took a wicked turn.
Not only did the Vikings have the NFL’s highest-scoring offense thanks to arguably one of the best skill position groups of all time, but they also had one of football’s best kickers in Gary Anderson.
In addition to being a member of the Hall of Fame’s All-1980s team and the 1990s version, Anderson was a First-Team All-Pro and four-time Pro Bowler. That All-Pro season? It came in 1998, when Anderson amazingly made all 35 of his field goal attempts; it was the first and last time he made all his field goals throughout the course of a full season. In other words, he was locked in, and nothing could shake his confidence.
When the playoffs arrived, Anderson’s hot streak continued; he made all eight extra points and was a perfect 4-for-4 when the Vikings called upon him for what had been a routine 38-yard field goal to give Minnesota what would have been a commanding 10-point lead with less than 140 seconds to play.
But that’s when everything went wrong. Anderson’s kick missed, wide left. The Vikings crumbled, letting the Falcons march down the field and tie the game at 27. Morten Anderson would later drill, ironically, a 38-yard field goal in overtime to give the Atlanta Falcons the win. And the rest, is history.
Yet, now, nearly 30 years later, more information has come out about what may have been going through Anderson’s head before and during the kick.
Related: NFL Analyst Determines Minnesota Vikings Have Just Three Players Worth a First-Round Pick
Recently, the Vikings’ iconic ‘Three Deep’ receiver trio of Moss, Carter, and Jake Reed got together for a little fishing trip on one of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes, where they reflected on what could have been.
That’s when an unexpected topic came up, revealing that the Vikings’ kicker was apparently dealing with infidelity issues with his wife “stepping out” on him, possibly with a tennis player or trainer, according to Reed.
Carter remembers Anderson as being a “great dude.” But he doesn’t remember the rest.
“He (Gary) was a great dude,” Carter said. “Great teammate. Good...
