Blair Walsh and the 10 worst kicker moments in NFL playoff history
By David Rouben
2. Gary Anderson – Falcons vs. Vikings, 1999
If anything, Blair Walsh’s field goal miss only made Vikings fans temporarily forget about this part of their history. For a Vikings team that has never won a Super Bowl, no team was better equipped to do so than the Randall Cunningham-Randy Moss, 1998, 15-1 Vikings. Plus Gary Anderson, coming into this game, was literally perfect on field goal attempts. That he would miss a field goal, at home with a chance to send his team to the Super Bowl, was unthinkable. And yet it happened. One solitary miss undid all of Gary Anderson’s historic season.
Wind isn’t a reasonable excuse for missing the field goal because they were playing in a dome. Could it be that the pressure finally got to Anderson? Nobody can say for sure. And this is no knock on the Falcons, but everyone wanted to see the Vikings go up against John Elway and the Broncos in the Super Bowl. Instead, what we got was a whitewashing by Denver, making everyone wonder what could’ve been.
The Vikings, at least, stuck with Gary Anderson. He left the team in 2002 but not before finishing his career with the second most points in NFL history. But despite all that, he’ll forever be remembered for one miss.
Next: 1. Wide Right