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| Randall Cunningham lead the Minnesota Vikings to their first postseason victory in nine years. |
Following the 1995 NFL season, Randall Cunningham retired following an 11-year stint with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Cunningham would spend the next year working as a television analyst until he was coaxed out of retirement by Minnesota Vikings head coach Dennis Green for the 1997 season.
Cunningham would serve as the backup quarterback to Brad Johnson until the 13th game of the season when Johnson was lost for the rest of the season due to a neck injury.
Cunningham would start the next three games going only 1-2 but securing a playoff spot with a 39-28 win over the Indianapolis Colts in the final week of the regular season.
The Vikings would travel to the Meadowlands to take on the New York Giants in a NFC Wild Card Game with Cunningham starting his first playoff game in five years.
The Vikings came into the 1997 NFL playoffs with a 9-7 record under head coach Dennis Green, who was making his fifth appearance in the playoffs since taking over as the Vikings' head coach in 1992.
However, Green's playoff record was 0-4 which included two home losses to the Washington Redskins in 1992 and Chicago Bears in 1994.
With a cast that featured wide receiver Cris Carter and defensive tackle John Randle, the Vikings hoped to break their postseason losing streak as they faced the Giants, a team that had eliminated the Vikings in 1993.
The Giants seemed to be a team on the rise under first-year head coach Jim Fassel who had led New York to a 10-5-1 record and the NFC East division title to send the Giants to the postseason for the first time in four years.
The Giants had a young nucleus in quarterback Danny Kanell, running back Tiki Barber, cornerback Jason Sehorn, and defensive end Michael Strahan who were all in their mid-to-late 20s.
Despite the Giants' playoff inexperience compared the Vikings' experience, New York was a five-point favorite as they hosted the Vikings at Giants Stadium, a place where the Giants never lost a postseason game entering their Wild Card clash with Minnesota.
After an exchange of punts to start the game, the Giants would get the first break of the game when Cunningham collided with fullback Charles Evans leading to a fumble that was recovered by defensive tackle Bernard Holsey to give New York the ball at the Vikings' 23-yard-line.
However, the Giants could not pick up a 1st down and were forced to settle for a 43-yard field goal by Brad Daluiso to give New York a 3-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
David Palmer would return the ensuing kickoff to the 50-yard-line to give the Vikings offense great field position only to have Cunningham fumble the football again which was recovered by Strahan to give the Giants the ball at the Minnesota 46-yard-line.
A 27-yard pass from Kanell to Charles Way help set up Daluiso's 22-yard field goal which increased the Giants' lead to 6-0 with 2:20 left in the first quarter.
Following a Vikings punt, the Giants got the ball back at their 44-yard-line as two running plays gained six yards to set up 3rd & 6 when Kanell connected with Barber for 11 yards and a 1st down at the Minnesota 39-yard-line.
That is when Kanell found David Patten for a 37-yard reception to set up 1st & goal at the Vikings' two-yard-line as two straight runs by Hampton netted zero yards to force 3rd down when Kanell found tight end Aaron Pierce in the end zone for a two-yard touchdown to push the New York lead to 13-0 with 11:33 left in the second quarter.
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| Giants quarterback Danny Kanell completed 16 of 32 passes for 199 yards and threw one touchdown. |
After another exchange of punts, the Vikings had the ball at their 34-yard-line when Cunningham was intercepted by Sehorn, whose 36-yard return gave the ball to the Giants at the Minnesota 47-yard-line.
The Giants would drive 23 yards before settling for another Daluiso field goal, this one from 41 yards out to increase the New York to 16-0.
The Giants defense would then force a three-and-out to seemingly got the ball back only to have Amani Toomer fumble the football after a short return which was recovered by Duane Butler to give the Vikings the ball at the Giants' 26-yard-line.
A 19-yard pass from Cunningham to Carter gave the Vikings a 1st & goal at the Giants' seven-yard-line but Minnesota would travel no further and would settle for a 24-yard field goal by Eddie Murray to put the Vikings on the scoreboard as they trailed 16-3 with 1:47 left before halftime.
The Giants would begin its next possession at their 40-yard-line following the kickoff which went out of bounds as New York would travel to the Minnesota 29-yard-line until three incomplete passes plus a false start penalty forced the Giants to settle for another field goal by Daluiso, this one from 51 yards out to make it 19-3 as the first half came to a close.
Despite the fact that Cunningham completed only five of 16 passes for 51 yards and committed three turnovers, he and the Vikings had to feel lucky they were only down 16 points as the Giants had to settle for four field goals in the first half.
The Vikings would get the ball to start the second half as they would drive 20 yards before punting the ball back to the Giants, who took over at their 20-yard-line.
Following a two-yard run by Barber on 1st down, Tiki got the ball again on 2nd down when Vikings defensive tackle Tony Williams jarred the ball loose leading to a recovery by Jerry Ball to give Minnesota the ball at the Giants' four-yard-line.
It would take only one play for the Vikings to get into the end zone as LeRoy Hoard punched it in for the four-yard touchdown to cut the Giants' lead to 19-10 with 10:26 left in the third quarter.
After a Giants three-and-out, the Vikings got the ball back at their 30-yard-line as a 33-yard pass from Cunningham to Jake Reed would help set up a 48-yard field goal attempt by Murray, which fell short of the goal posts to keep the score 19-10 with 5:10 remaining in the third quarter.
The Vikings would force another three-and-out to get the ball back at their 40-yard-line as Minnesota used the running game to help drive down to the Giants' eight-yard-line as the third quarter came to an end.
Two incomplete passes would force the Vikings to settle for another field goal attempt, which this time Murray made from 26 yards out to cut the Giants' lead to 19-13 just 15 seconds into the fourth quarter.
With their 16-point lead down to six points, the Giants needed to put together a drive that would result in some points as they began their ensuing possession at their 20-yard-line.
Kanell hit Patten for eight yards to start the drive only to lose those yards when Barber was dropped for a seven-yard loss on 2nd down to set up 3rd & 8 when Kanell found Patten again this time for 18 yards and a 1st down at the New York 40-yard-line.
Kanell would connect with Chris Calloway for 21 yards on the next play to put the Giants in Minnesota territory at the Vikings 39-yard-line when Barber carried the ball twice for six yards to set up 3rd & 4 when Kanell connected with Calloway again this time for four yards and a 1st down at the Minnesota 29-yard-line.
A 16-yard pass to Patten on 2nd & 11 would put the Giants at the Vikings' 14-yard-line as Kanell would find Calloway for seven yards plus a two-yard run by Way would set up Daluiso's 22-yard field goal which pushed the New York to 22-13 following a drive that took nearly eight minutes off the clock.
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| Brad Daluiso made accounted for 16 of the Giants' 22 points as he made five field goals and one extra point. |
Following a Minnesota punt, the Giants got the ball at their 16-yard-line with a chance to put the game away.
However, the Vikings' defense would force a three-and-out to get the ball back at the Giants' 49-yard-line with 2:06 left on the clock and needing two scores to win.
After an incomplete pass to start the drive, Cunningham hit Carter for 19 yards and a 1st down at the New York 30-yard-line as Cunningham would spike the ball to stop the clock to set up 2nd down.
That is when Cunningham went deep and hit Reed in the end zone for a 30-yard touchdown that with Murray's extra point brought the Vikings to within two points at 22-20 with 90 seconds left in the game.
Every one knew what was coming next as the Vikings would attempt an onside kick in hopes of recovering and driving for a potential game-winning field goal.
The Giants had their "Hands" team in anticipation of the onside kick as Murray's kick would bounce in the direction of Calloway, who could not handle the bouncing ball leading to Minnesota's Chris Walsh to recover the onside kick and give the Vikings the ball at their 39-yard-line with 85 seconds left and a chance to win the game.
The drive got off to an auspicious start with a false start penalty and an incomplete pass to force 2nd & 15 when Cunningham hit Andrew Glover for 11 yards to bring up 3rd & 4 when Cunningham connected with Carter for 21 yards and a 1st down at the Giants' 34-yard-line.
Following an incomplete pass on 1st down, Cunningham looked for Reed on 2nd down only to draw a pass interference penalty on Giants cornerback Philippi Starks to give the Vikings 13 yards and a 1st down at the Giants' 21-yard-line.
That is when the Vikings surprised the Giants as Cunningham handed the ball off to Robert Smith, who ran up the middle for 16 yards to set up 1st & goal at the New York five-yard-line as the Vikings called time out with 13 seconds left to send Murray onto the field to attempt the game-winning field goal.
Murray, who had missed a potential game-winning field goal in the final seconds of the Detroit Lions' 24-23 defeat to the San Francisco 49ers in the 1983 NFC Divisional Playoffs, would calmly make the 24-yard kick to give the Vikings their first lead of the game at 23-22 with 10 seconds to go.
The Giants would get one last chance at pulling off a miracle as they got the ball back at their 37-yard-line with seven seconds left only to have Kanell's "Hail Mary" pass fall incomplete to end the game with the Vikings on top 23-22.
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| The Vikings celebrate after Eddie Murray made his game-winning field goal in the final seconds. |
The Giants would fall back into mediocrity as they went 8-8 and 7-9 the following two seasons before putting together a surprise run to the Super Bowl in 2000 where they would be defeated by the Baltimore Ravens 34-7 in Super Bowl XXXV.
Fassel would coach the Giants for three more seasons after that which included another trip to the playoffs in 2002 when the Giants blew a 24-point lead against the 49ers to lose 39-38 in a NFC Wild Card game.
As for the Vikings, they would be eliminated the following week as they were defeated by the 49ers 38-22 in the Divisional Round.
Cunningham would return to the bench to start the 1998 season only to become the Vikings' starting quarterback following a ankle injury to Johnson.
With the help of Carter, Smith, Reed, and rookie wide receiver Randy Moss, Cunningham would have the best season of his NFL career as he threw for 3,704 yards and threw for 34 touchdowns in leading the Vikings to a 15-1 season in which they scored 556 points.
However, the Vikings' dream season would end in the NFC Championship Game when they were stunned by the Atlanta Falcons 30-27 in overtime as Gary Anderson, the Vikings' kicker who had missed a field goal or an extra point, would miss a crucial field goal late in the fourth quarter which provided the spark for the Falcons to come back and win.
Cunningham would go into the 1999 season as the Vikings' starter but would be benched in favor of Jeff George after six games and would leave Minnesota in the offseason as he would serve as the backup quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys in 2000 and Baltimore Ravens in 2001 before retiring for good in the offseason.
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