Vikings Season Review – Top 10 Stories: #2 Randy Moss Returns For A Month

Randy Moss began the 2010 season acting like a buffoon. Following the New England Patriots beating of the Cincinnati Bengals, Moss rambled at length about how he didn’t feel appreciated by the Patriots, felt that he deserved a contract extension to stay in New England, then also stated that he felt his days eating clam chowder in the Northeast were numbered.

We all hoped at that very moment he’d come home.

Weeks went by. And as September passed, the Patriots ironed out their kinks to become one of the better teams in football while our beloved Vikings struggled. A main reason for our sluggishness on offense was not having a downfield wide receiver that could play the Z position with Sidney Rice hurt and Bernard Berrian continuing to disappoint. Yes, Percy Harvin is great at stretching the field, but has proven to be more of a natural in the Y (or slot) receiver position and will never be the bigger bodied type who can use his size or leaping ability to pull down deep throws. Many phone calls were made out west to San Diego to inquire on Vincent Jackson’s ability, but that never came to fruition. One phone call was placed out east to New England asking if Randy Moss was available.

The rest is history. On October 6th, Randy Moss was officially a member of the Minnesota Vikings again after being traded for a 3rd round pick in the 2011 draft. Vikings fans lost sleep out of joy and grown men exchanged gushy hugs. Purple #84 jerseys were also ordered immediately in God’s Country and fans were so proud that many wore them to the first ever Twins playoff game at Target Field versus the New York Yankees. Even Brett Favre cried.

Unfortunately, that was as good as it got. Moss went on to play four games to accumulate a pedestrian like 13 receptions for 193 yards and 2 TDs. He also acted like a mercenary player knowing he probably wouldn’t be back in purple for 2011, rarely hustled on the field, had another bizarre press conference following our loss to the Patriots where he again rambled without taking any questions and was then cut the following week.

Was Moss unprofessional in his last stint with the Vikings? Absolutely! With time are we going to forget his on the performance and just remember the ’98 to ’04 version of Moss? Again… Absolutely! But when it comes to off-the-field antics he did help pull one very big string. And it wasn’t exactly cursing out Gus Tinucci. Drumroll, please.

Jon Merckle may be followed on Twitter @thevikingpig