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Breaks keep going Vikings' way
Posted: Monday January 04, 1999 08:55 PM
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) -- It's starting to seem that nothing can go wrong for the Minnesota Vikings this season. Even when they were sitting at home last weekend enjoying their first-round playoff bye, the Vikings watched as their road to the Super Bowl opened like a stretch of deserted highway. First, Arizona upset Dallas on Saturday, giving the Vikings the NFC's lowest-seeded team for their first game instead of San Francisco or Green Bay. Then, the 49ers stunned the Packers on Sunday, eliminating Minnesota's fiercest rival and the possibility of having to beat Green Bay a third time. There's no question that the Vikings (15-1) are good, but they've also been lucky during a season in which nearly every break has gone their way. "Fortuitous break? What we did is we went out and won 15 games and we got a bye," cornerback Jimmy Hitchcock said Monday. "Whatever happens on our bye week, we have no control over that. Whoever we're going to play next, we're going to have to play the best of those teams eventually anyway. We've just got a road that's different than others." Easier, too. But that's usually the way it is for the team with the NFL's best record. Although the Cardinals (10-7) dominated the Cowboys on the road Saturday for their first postseason victory since 1947, they needed to win their last three regular-season games in the waning seconds just to get into the playoffs. Minnesota is favored by 14 1/2 points in Sunday's game. Still, they have one of the league's best young quarterbacks in Jake Plummer, a talented receiving tandem in Rob Moore and Frank Sanders, two dangerous backs in Adrian Murrell and Larry Centers and a defense that sacked Troy Aikman four times Saturday. The Vikings say they figured they'd be playing the Cardnals, too. Cornerback Corey Fuller went so far as to call Cowboys cornerback Deion Sanders, a fellow Florida State product, to make that prediction.
"Honestly, I told Deion that Arizona was going to beat them," Fuller said. "I think they wanted it more." "I mean, you saw a spark in their eye," offensive tackle Todd Steussie said. "Dallas didn't seem to have that. [But] like always, it's how we play and how we approach the game. I mean, if we play our kind of game I feel like we can beat any team. But if we come out flat it could be a long day for us." The Vikings have given no indication over the last two months that they're going to come out flat, though. Since their only loss at Tampa Bay on Nov. 1, Minnesota has trailed only twice -- during the first quarter at Baltimore on Dec. 13 and at halftime at Tennessee on Dec. 26. They have won by an average of more than 17 points during their eight-game winning streak, including seven straight by at least 10 points. They did all that despite a steady string of injuries that, at one time or another, cost them the services of five starters on offense and two key backups -- quarterback Brad Johnson and offensive lineman Everett Lindsay. Now the Vikings are almost completely healthy. "I'm as healthy as I've been in my career, period, at this point in the season," quarterback Randall Cunningham said, showing off a significant decrease in swelling on the back of his broken left hand. "The hand's much better. I mean, even the purple came out of it." What passes for misfortune in Minnesota these days is the winter storm over the weekend that snarled air traffic in the Midwest. That kept a handful of players, including receiver Cris Carter and backup running back Leroy Hoard, from returning in time for Monday morning's practice. As they have all season long, the Vikings seemed Monday to be focusing in on the task at hand -- Sunday's game against Arizona, and picking up exactly where they left off two weeks ago. "With our mindset, I think we're going out there to destroy anybody in front of us," said receiver Randy Moss.
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