Warren Moon with a short pass on a short cross to Cris Carter (one of my favorite video game plays: reliable).
Carter gets a short pass on third down, shakes a tackler and runs up, diving for the sticks. First down, suckers.
Dave Wannstedt's mustache is something to admire. Start typing his name into Google, and "Dave Wannsteadt mustache" is pretty high up on the list of search choices, so evidently a lot of people admire it.
Qadry Ismail with a nice catch and run--the sort of play that made his potential seem so big.
Scottie Graham picking up good yardage. At what point do people choose between, say, Scott and Scottie? I can't imagine a Scott Pippen capturing my imagination.
There's Sean Salisbury on the sidelines. Was he ever not a tool?
Classic Brian Billick fun: all sorts of short underneath passes on 3rd and long.
Punting is the right move there: the Bears' offense isn't going 90 yards in Thunderdome.
Ed McDaniel storms through the line of scrimmage for a tackle for loss. No blocker at all.
3rd and 11 for the Steve Walsh Bears is like 3rd and 1,100.
Vikes get the ball at midfield, and I'm mildly excited.
And Moon just got drilled. Excitement depleting. I'm now fully prepared for a couple five yard outs then a punt.
Oof! Great pass out to Jake Reed, 23 yard gain on 3rd and 19.
Look at Scottie Graham go.
Remember football before that glowing yellow line? It was fine.
Denny Green was always a fan of the two-TE set.
Moon threw it into the chest of a Bear LB, but the ball bounces to the ground. And there's a guy behind Dave Wannstedt wearing Zubas, reminding me we're watching a game from 1994.
Fuad. If only he had still be around in '98, maybe things would have been different.
And now Walsh throws a pass to a defender's chest. Is that fun or something? I see why I might have gone outside to play basketball.
Jack Del Rio crushes the screen play, and John Randle gets called for roughing the passer. I can see why they made that call. Joe Theismann is incensed about it.
Vikes recover a fumble.
Nice catch by Cris Carter. That guy was good, wasn't he?
Lousy clock management by the Vikings. Nostalgia. Sure.
THROW IT DOWNFIELD! Just chuck it. You've got Jake Reed. All these dink and dunk plays. They're not even sending Cris Carter out on patterns.
Nice throw to Jake Reed.
Got into field goal position, but they really could have managed that clock better and tried for a TD. And they could have let Cris Carter go out on a pass pattern.
13-7 Viking lead at halftime. After a pretty putrid offensive performance most of the half, a six point lead feels pretty good. I mean, must have felt good to fans at the time. I couldn't possibly have warm feelings about a 13-7 halftime score of a game played 16 years ago. I'm not that deranged a fan. Right? Right?
Dang, 16 years ago. A whole driver ago, this game happened. I'm getting old. Last night my son was staring at the top of my head grinning for some reason. "Why are you looking at my head?" I asked him. "Daddy, you have a hole on your head. There's no hair right there." So there's that. I didn't have the heart to say "Guess what, kid: this is your DNA too. Bwha ha ha ha!"
Anyway, check back again sometime for the third quarter.
One thing I've been thinking about ever since John Randle was inducted into the Hall of Fame, and tell me if you agree with this...
ReplyDeleteBack in 1998, I never would have believed that Randall McDaniel and John Randle would be Hall of Famers before Cris Carter. Back then, I thought Carter was a sure-fire Hall of Famer, while McDaniel and Randle would have to wait their turn.
It's something to remember whenever you hear a player described as a "future Hall of Famer." You just never know how Hall of Fame voters are going to vote.
On a related note, I would love for a Hall of Fame voter to explain how Randle gets in before Carter. Randall McDaniel I can completely understand; great player, and I'm all for giving an offensive lineman his just due. But John Randle over Cris Carter? Those 1990s Vikings were almost all good offense-bad defense (after Dungy left). Not that that's Randle's fault necessarily, but who do you suppose was more valuable to those Viking teams? I was there, and I can tell you, it was Carter.