Minnesota Vikings: Top 20 games in franchise history

1. Ahmad Rashad catches Hail Mary to beat the Browns

Dec. 14, 1980. The Minnesota Vikings completed arguably the craziest comeback in NFL history when Tommy Kramer hit  Ahmad Rashad on a Hail Mary.

The Vikings trailed the Cleveland Browns 23-9 early in the fourth quarter at Metropolitan Stadium. It looked like Cleveland would breeze to an easy victory.

What ensued was one of the most insane series of events ever witnessed on a professional football field.

First, the Vikings had to get back to within striking distance. That happened when Ted Brown caught a 7-yard TD pass from Tommy Kramer to cut the deficit to 23-15.

Down two scores with just five minutes left in the game, the Vikings kicked off to Cleveland. The Browns managed to run the clock down to a little over two minutes but then did the Vikings a huge favor by attempting a pass.

The throw from QB Brian Sipe was picked off by Bobby Bryant, giving the Vikings new life.

Tommy Kramer led the Vikings down the field, hitting Ahmad Rashad for a 12-yard TD to cut the Cleveland lead to one.

With less than two minutes left the Vikings attempted an onside kick but the ball failed to go ten yards and Cleveland automatically took over.

However, the Vikings still had all three time outs remaining at this point, giving them three chances to stop the clock.

All Cleveland needed was a single first down and the game probably would have been over. But the Browns failed to convert and were forced to punt it back to Minnesota.

The Vikings got the ball back on their own 20 with only 14 seconds left on the clock and no time outs.

How do you score a TD from that position?

Simple: A completed pass followed by a hook-and-lateral. And then a Hail Mary pass to Ahmad Rashad who catches it with one hand.

Nothing to it, really.