20 years after their magical season, what are some of the members of the 1998 Minnesota Vikings doing these days to stay busy?
For fans of the Minnesota Vikings, the 1998 NFL season is one that will likely be remembered forever by those who lucky enough to witness it.
Even though other Vikings teams actually had the chance to play in a Super Bowl, Minnesota’s 1998 team was arguably the most talented group of players the franchise had ever assembled. The Vikings’ roster that season consisted of 10 players that were voted to the Pro Bowl and five that earned a First-Team All-Pro selection.
Thanks to their incredibly talented roster, Minnesota won 15 games in 1998 (still the team record) and finished with the NFL’s top scoring offense. Unfortunately the Vikings’ dream season came to a close that year when the team came up one game short of an appearance in Super Bowl XXXIII.
It has now been 20 years since Minnesota’s magical 1998 season took place. Players from that year’s team have all gone their separate ways and some have ventured into completely new career fields.
So what are some of the players from the Vikings’ 1998 roster up to these days?
Randall Cunningham – QB
Would the 1998 season even be something to remember if not for the play of Cunningham? After Brad Johnson was knocked out for a few weeks with a broken bone in his left leg early in the year, the Vikings inserted Cunningham as their starting quarterback and the rest is history.
During the regular season, all Cunningham did was throw for 3,704 yards, 34 touchdowns, and just 10 interceptions while leading Minnesota to wins in 13 of his 14 starts. His touchdown pass total in 1998 is still the second-highest single-season amount ever by a Vikings quarterback.
After 1998, Cunningham went on to play for three more years in the NFL before retiring in 2002. Before Michael Vick arrived and broke all of his records, Cunningham retired as the league’s all-time leader in career rushing yards by a quarterback.
Following his playing days in the NFL, the former Minnesota quarterback has gone on to earn a degree in leisure studies from UNLV, become a pastor at his own church, get inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, and coach a high school football team in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Cunningham is no longer a high school football coach (despite leading his team to the playoffs in both years at the school), but he has not ruled out a return to coaching in the future. For now, the former quarterback is just focusing on his church supporting his three children who all excel in the sport of track and field.
Robert Griffith – SS
In his third season as a full-time starter on the Vikings defense, Griffith had arguably his best season as an NFL player in 1998.
In 16 games, the Minnesota safety finished with 89 total tackles, five interceptions, and two forced fumbles. Despite his efforts, Griffith was not one of the 10 Vikings who were voted to the Pro Bowl in 1998.
He ended up playing in Minnesota for another three seasons after 1998 before he finished off his career with the Cleveland Browns and Arizona Cardinals. After retiring in 2008, Griffith put his focus into Matador Enterprises Inc., a company that he founded in 2002.
Using Matador as a parent company, the former Vikings safety has invested in restaurants, real estate developments, and a wireless wholesale distributor among other things.
Since his playing days ended, Griffith has also attempted to stay involved in the world of football. He was a part of the coaching staff for the Sacramento Mountain Lions of the now defunct United Football League and in 2015, he was one of eight candidates to become the executive director of the NFLPA.
Corey Fuller – CB
Despite the 1998 season turning out to be Fuller’s last with the Vikings, it was arguably the best year of his career. As Minnesota’s starting left corner for 16 games, he ended the season with 79 total tackles, four interceptions and one sack.
After 1998, Fuller went on to play for six more years in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens. Following the 2004 season with the Ravens, the veteran corner retired from the NFL.
Since his career as a player came to a close, Fuller has found another purpose as a football coach. A few years after his retirement from the league, the former Vikings corner became the head football coach for East Gadsen High School in Havana, Florida.
After leading East Gadsen to a regional championship in 2011, Fuller was hired to be an assistant coach at Florida A&M University. He remained on the staff at Florida A&M for two years before he returned to the high school level again in 2016 to be the head coach of the football team at Godby High in Tallahassee, Florida.
With Fuller leading the way for the first time in 2017, Godby’s football team finished the season 11-2 and made it to the Class 5A Regional Semifinals. Not too bad considering the school only won two games in 2016.
Mitch Berger – P
There’s nothing like taking a bite out of a Snickers bar after booming a kick to the other side of the field for a touchback. This was something Berger did frequently in 1998 and during his other seasons with the Vikings.
The punter spent six years in Minnesota, including 1998, and his yards per punt average still ranks as the third-highest in team history. He was also the Vikings’ kickoff specialist during his time with the team and was known for his high frequency of touchbacks.
Since retiring from the NFL, Berger spends his time in both his native land of Canada and in the desert of Arizona. In the recent past, the former Minnesota punter has owned a handful of nightclubs and worked as an NFL analyst for both radio and television stations in Canada.
Berger is currently married to model Bambi Lashell, who he met on the Bravo TV show Millionaire Matchmaker in 2013.
Jake Reed – WR
After four straight years with at least 65 catches, 1,100 receiving yards, and four touchdowns, the 1998 season was actually the beginning of the end for Reed’s time with the Vikings. That year, he only appeared in 11 games and caught just 34 passes for 474 yards and four touchdowns.
Following the 1998 season, the receiver spent four more years in the NFL (two with Minnesota and two with the New Orleans Saints) before retiring in 2003.
During his retirement, Reed spent some of his time owning an arena league football team and a pizzeria. But now, the former Vikings receiver spends his time volunteering as a mentor for young high school boys in Texas and supporting his children as they compete in collegiate athletics.
Reed’s son J.R. is entering his junior year at the University of Georgia, where he plays safety for the school’s football team. The former Minnesota receiver also has a daughter, Jaevin, who is entering her junior year at Texas A&M University where she is a member of the school’s track and field team.
Todd Steussie – LT
A year after getting his first ever invite to the Pro Bowl in 1997, Steussie followed that up with another Pro Bowl season in 1998. The veteran left tackle was an integral piece of Minnesota’s offensive line in the late 1990s and he was a part of the unit in 1998 that only gave up 25 sacks.
Steussie went on to play for the Vikings until 2001 when he joined the Carolina Panthers. After spending time with the Panthers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and St. Louis Rams for the next few years, the offensive lineman retired in 2008.
These days, Steussie spends his time as the COO and executive vice president of PotentiaMetrics, which is an analytics firm that focuses primarily on healthcare. During an interview with The Viking Age last year, the former Minnesota offensive tackle revealed that he has been working on a new product for NFL teams to use that better utilizes player tracking data.
Steussie is an incredibly smart guy as he has an MBA from Northwestern University, a B.A. from the University of California, Berkley, and a number certificates from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University.
Jerry Ball – DT
Holding down the fort in the middle of the Vikings’ defensive line in 1998 was Ball. With his efforts that year, Minnesota finished the season with the NFL’s 11th-best run defense.
With a 300-plus pound frame, Ball was an All-Pro defensive tackle during the early portion of his career when he was with the Detroit Lions. But by the time he joined the Vikings, his time in the NFL was nearing its end.
Ball eventually retired in 2000 after spending 13 seasons in the league.
Currently, the former Minnesota defensive tackle is the chairman and CEO of Invictus Partners. The company is a consulting firm that has provided their services to a number of companies over the years including Exxon Mobil and IBM.
Leroy Hoard – RB
During his time with the team, Hoard developed into the ultimate short-yardage back for the Vikings. Of his 26 career rushing touchdowns in Minnesota, 20 of them were scored by him running five yards or less.
Hoard was an important part of the Vikings’ record-breaking offense in 1998. That season he led all Minnesota running backs with a total of 10 touchdowns (nine rushing, one receiving) and he averaged over four yards per carry.
During the Vikings’ blowout win over the Arizona Cardinals in the 1998 Divisional Round of the playoffs, Hoard was responsible for three of Minnesota’s five touchdowns that day.
His final season with the Vikings was in 1999 and it actually ended up being his final year in the NFL as well.
After his time in the league, Hoard attempted to find success working in the mortgage loan business. But that did not end up working out and now the former Minnesota running back spends his life as a sports radio host in Miami, Florida for 790 The Ticket.
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Hoard has said in the past that being able to talk sports on the radio is somewhat therapeutic for him. The former Vikings running back has struggled over the years with some of the effects from his playing days and talking sports everyday is something that has helped him find his purpose after football.