18 years later, the Vikings loss to the Falcons still hurts

Tuesday marks the 18th anniversary of the Minnesota Vikings heartbreaking loss to the Atlanta Falcons in the 1999 NFC Championship Game.

It was supposed to be their year. It was supposed to be the answer to years of continuos let down and disappointment.

There was going to be a huge celebration in the streets of Minnesota’s twin cities no matter how many degrees below zero the temperature would be. Nothing would have stopped fans from celebrating a monumental moment courtesy of their favorite NFL team.

But unfortunately, the Minnesota Vikings created a different kind of moment on Jan. 17, 1999 in the NFC Championship Game against the Atlanta Falcons.

“Minnesota was so close to playing in the Super Bowl their players could practically smell the tanning lotion from the beaches of Miami.”

Coming into the matchup with a 15-1 regular season record and winners of 10 straight games at

home in front of the deafening crowds at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, the Falcons just seemed like another small bump in the Vikings’ road to the Super Bowl in Miami, Florida.

Well that bump turned out to actually be a sinkhole for Minnesota.

The Vikings were an 11-point favorite and at one time during the game, led Atlanta by 13 points. Minnesota was so close to playing in the Super Bowl their players could practically smell the tanning lotion from the beaches of Miami.

But something happened. Something happened that no one still has an answer for to this very day.

The Vikings’ defense allowed Atlanta to score a touchdown in the final minute of each half and the game eventually headed to overtime tied at 27 after four quarters of play. If the final minutes of each half were eliminated that day, Minnesota would have outscored the Falcons 27 to 13.

“It still stings worse than the feeling of pouring alcohol on an open sore.”

For 48 minutes, the Vikings played like the team that won 15 of their 16 games during the 1998

regular season. But for some reason, two minutes is all it took for Minnesota’s dream season to blow away with piles of snow sitting outside the stadium that day.

Sure, people can blame the Vikings’ loss on Gary Anderson for missing his very first kick of the year near the end of the fourth quarter that day. But football is constantly referred to as a team game for reasons like this, as every person on Minnesota’s roster and coaching staff was equally responsible for the team getting upset by the Falcons that day.

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Atlanta would go on to solicit undercover police officers for sexual acts and later get pummeled in the Super Bowl by the Denver Broncos during their time in Miami.

The Falcons loss to the Broncos certainly did not make any fans of the Vikings feel any better about a game they felt their team should have played in. In fact, Atlanta’s loss may have just been another twisting of the knife that was first lodged into their fans after the result of the NFC Championship Game.

For those who still continue to root for the Vikings each season, that game is still a sore subject for most. Mostly because it still stings worse than the feeling of pouring alcohol on an open sore.

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Will that day ever be forgotten in the team’s history? Probably not, but Mike Zimmer and the rest of the Vikings celebrating with the Lombardi trophy in a blizzard of confetti sooner than later certainly would make it much easier to talk about.