The history of the Minnesota Vikings and their kickers is not one that the franchise has many fond memories of, especially when they have needed them the most.
Ever since that fateful day in the 1998 NFC Championship when Minnesota Vikings kicker Gary Anderson missed a field goal that would have likely vaulted the team into the Super Bowl, there has been some sort of dark kicking cloud hanging over the franchise.
Many are aware of the major missed field goals by Anderson, Blair Walsh, and now Daniel Carlson over the years. But the Vikings have been dealing with kickers missing important field goals for most of the 21st century.
In 2002, Minnesota brought in veteran Doug Brien to replace Anderson. Well, Brien’s stint as the Vikings’ field goal kicker lasted a whole two games.
He made all of his kicks in Minnesota’s Week 1 game. But in Week 2, Brien missed a 44-yard field goal attempt and two extra point tries as the Vikings went on to lose in overtime to the Buffalo Bills.
After losing to the Bills, Minnesota gave Anderson a call and quickly re-signed the 43-year-old to come back and kick field goals for them.
Then came Aaron Elling in 2003. Signed as a free-agent, the Vikings took a chance on Elling, who had never kicked in an NFL regular season game prior to 2003.
Remember that infamous Week 17 loss that the Vikings had against the Arizona Cardinals that knocked Minnesota out of a spot in the playoffs? Well the Vikings lost that game by one point and Elling missing a kick in the second quarter could have prevented that from happening.
Even the talented Ryan Longwell couldn’t escape the grasp of Minnesota’s kicking curse.
Back in 2007, Longwell and the Vikings were facing the Detroit Lions in a Week 2 divisional matchup. With the game tied at 17 in the fourth quarter, Minnesota drove down to the Lions’ 34-yard line to attempt a game-winning 52-yard field goal.
But Longwell ended up missing the kick and the two teams went into overtime where Detroit was able to get a 20-17 win thanks to their kicker actually making a 37-yard field goal.
So this whole missing kicks thing isn’t just something the Vikings save for the playoffs. Minnesota’s kickers have ripped their fans’ hearts out on numerous occasions in the regular season over the past 15-plus years too.
Minnesota Vikings
After dealing with the downfall of Blair Walsh during the early part of his career with the team, Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer quickly made sure this week that Daniel Carlson was not about to be the next kicker to cost his team a chance at greatness this season.
To replace Carlson, Minnesota was able to sign veteran kicker Dan Bailey. Before joining the Vikings this week, Bailey spent the first seven seasons of his NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys where he made 88.2 percent of his field goal attempts (including 91.7 percent during games played indoors).
Zimmer commented on Wednesday that ever since he became Minnesota’s head coach in 2014, the team has been trying to get the kicking position, “solidified.” Breaking news coach, the franchise has been trying to fix their problem with kickers for a lot longer.
So will Bailey be what Zimmer is hoping for and actually provide the Vikings with a solid kicking performance in 2018?
Time will tell, but Minnesota’s new kicker has as good a chance as any before him to break the curse that has provided the franchise with way too many forgettable moments than they could have ever asked for.