Usually, when we talk about our memories associated with the Minnesota Vikings, we make an effort to focus on the positive moments. However, inspired by a post from our friends at Mile High Report, I wanted to go in a slightly different direction to spark some discussion for this weekend.
What is the worst Minnesota Vikings game you’ve ever been in attendance for?
Now, as much as it saddens me to admit this, I haven’t really been to as many Vikings games as I would like over the course of my lifetime. A lot of that stems from not being in close proximity to the Twin Cities for much of my adult life, but I still haven’t gotten back as frequently as I would like to. However, one of the road games I managed to attend wound up being just awful.
The date was 29 September 2002. My wife and I had just gotten to Tacoma, Washington, as we were moving to our assignment at McChord Air Force Base, which is in the Tacoma area. The Vikings were making one of their (seemingly) annual trips to face the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday Night Football. My wife was feeling a bit under the weather, but she gave me the go-ahead to make the 45-minute trip to Seattle while she rested up at our hotel. So, I jumped in the car, got me a ticket so high up in the stands at Seahawks Stadium that I could damn near see Canada, and got there just before kickoff.
Things got off to a pretty rough start for the Vikings, as the Seahawks took the opening kickoff and went down the field with relatively little resistance, and Shaun Alexander went into the end zone on a short touchdown run. The Vikings then went three-and-out on their first possession, and the Seahawks went down the field again, as Alexander broke off a pair of long runs. . .a 43-yard blast followed by a 20-yard score to quickly make it 14-0.
(There’s going to be a theme developing here. See if you can find it.)
The Vikings got on the board on the next drive, thanks to a touchdown run by Daunte Culpepper to make it 14-7. The two teams then exchanged field goals to make it 17-10 with about three minutes left before halftime.
And then, all hell broke loose for the Vikings.
- On the first play after the Vikings got their field goal, Trent Dilfer hit Alexander on a screen pass that went for 80 yards and Alexander’s third touchdown of the night to make it 24-10.
- After that, Nick Davis fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and the Seahawks recovered inside the Minnesota 30. Three plays later, Alexander was in the end zone for his fourth touchdown of the night to make it 31-10.
- The Vikings then let D’Wayne Bates return the next kickoff. He fumbled, too, and the Seahawks recovered again. On the very next play, Alexander walked into the end zone for his fifth touchdown of the first half to make it 38-10.
- Minnesota managed to not fumble the next kickoff, but it didn’t matter much. Two plays into their drive, Culpepper’s pass intended for Randy Moss was intercepted by Reggie Tongue and returned 46 yards for a pick-six to make the score 45-10. At halftime.
At halftime, people. I paid money for a ticket for this.
To their credit, I didn’t take a lot of flak from the Seahawks fans around me in the stands. I think they were in as much of a state of disbelief as I was over what was happening.
But yes, that was, by far, the worst Minnesota Vikings game that I had ever, personally, been in attendance for. Seeing one guy score five touchdowns in one half of football and having a team drop nearly half a hundred on your team in one half of football in prime time in a stadium filled with the other team’s fans is not a lot of fun.
So, how about you folks? What is the worst Vikings game that you’ve ever been in attendance for?
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