Vikings quarterback Brad Johnson awoke in his suburban
Minneapolis home last Dec. 1, the day of a Monday-night showdown
against the Packers, with a jabbing pain in his neck. "It was
like a crick in my neck," Johnson said last week, "but it
bothered me so much as the day went on that my mom had to drive
me to the stadium." Minnesota's medical staff massaged the neck,
but the pain continued, and as that night's game progressed,
Johnson began losing the strength in his right hand. Twice
during the 27-11 loss to Green Bay, he lost his grip on the ball
as he went to throw, and in the fourth quarter he was replaced
by Randall Cunningham.
The Vikings are hoping Johnson can regain the
strength in his throwing hand.
(John Biever)
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The next day an MRI showed that Johnson had a herniated disk
near the top of his spine and a bone fragment was pinching the
nerves that control his right hand. Johnson was found to have
lost 75% of his strength in the hand. That night, he went to bed
not sure whether he would play football again. If doctors had to
fuse his fifth and sixth vertebrae, his career was probably
over. If they only had to clean up the disk and remove the bone
fragment, he would probably play again.
"You know what I was thinking, lying there before surgery?"
Johnson said last week at a Vikings minicamp. "That life's not
fair. But also I was thinking, I'd hate for my career to end
without people seeing what I could have done over the long haul.
Basically, I was just beginning."
A ninth-round pick from Florida State in 1992, Johnson replaced
the injured Warren Moon in Minnesota's lineup midway through the
'96 season. He was 5-3 as a starter, and in December of that
year, the Vikings rewarded Johnson with a four-year, $15.5
million extension.
Fortunately for Johnson, the surgeons didn't have to fuse his
vertebrae. However, his rehab has been agonizingly slow. His
right hand is still only 70% as strong as his left. At the
minicamp he lobbed passes of 10 or 15 yards to his receivers,
but he had no idea when he would be able to throw a fastball.
"Doctors tell me the nerves will heal, and I'll regain my
strength," Johnson said. "I'm confident I'll be ready for the
season, but no one knows how long it'll take. Will it be three
weeks or three months? Or longer?"
With Johnson, the Vikings might field the NFL's best offense. A
strong line returns intact. First-round pick Randy Moss
complements receiving stars Cris Carter and Jake Reed. The
backfield features the oft-injured Robert Smith, who ran for a
team-record 1,266 yards despite missing two games with a
sprained ankle. Johnson is the perfect maestro because he
doesn't care to be a star. Nevertheless, along with the 49ers'
Steve Young, the Packers' Brett Favre, the Broncos' John Elway,
the Patriots' Drew Bledsoe and the Jaguars' Mark Brunell, he's
one of only six players rated among the league's top 10 passers
in each of the last two years. In schematically similar
offenses, Johnson has fewer interceptions and a better
completion percentage in the last two seasons than Favre, the
three-time league MVP.
Issue date: May 11, 1998
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