3 playoff endings we hope the Vikings avoid in 2022

The Missed Field Goal

The Vikings are notorious for missed kicks and shaky kickers, and it has come back to bite them in the playoffs multiple times. This season they have a kicker who has been up and down and just seems primed to add another devastating missed kick to the lore of the Minnesota Vikings.

Before we talk more about Greg Joseph, let’s take a stroll down memory lane. The missed kick that still torments many Vikings fans’ souls and likely will until the end of time is Gary Anderson’s miss in the 1998 NFC Championship.

The Vikings were extremely special that year, with an offense that was one of the best ever assembled. Randy Moss broke into the league and was unstoppable, and the Vikings racked up 15 wins on the season.

They had the much inferior Atlanta Falcons coming to town and were huge favorites. The Vikings had a chance to seal the win with a field goal late in the fourth quarter, and Anderson, who was perfect on the season, pulled the kick left. The Falcons ended up tying the game and then won in overtime on a field goal of their own.

The kicker curse caught the Vikings again in 2016 in a freezing-cold Wild Card matchup with the Seahawks. The Seahawks were up 10-9, and the Vikings drove down the field.

They were set up for a chip-shot 27-yard field goal for kicker Blair Walsh to knock through to give them a 12-10 win. Instead of knocking the short kick through, Walsh pulled it left, and the Vikings had another heartbreaker on their hands.

Many Vikings fans will be extremely nervous if this situation rears its ugly head in this year’s playoffs. Joseph has had some great moments this season but has also missed a lot of kicks, especially extra points.

Hopefully, the Vikings don’t have to rely on him in a game-winning situation because adding another missed kick to the Vikings’ list of heartbreaking playoff losses may be too much for the fanbase to handle.