Vikings Top Plays

ESPN's website is running a poll to determine the most memorable play in Minnesota Vikings history. Here are the three that have been nominated:

-Gary Anderson misses 38-yard FG to seal '98 NFC title game vs. Falcons

-Tommy Kramer throws "Hail Mary" TD to Ahmad Rashad to clinch division

-Tracy Porter intercepts Bret Favre w/19 seconds left in '09 NFC title game vs Saints

Maybe it's just me but I consider memorable as something that people want to remember. Two of those plays are plays that any Vikings fan would prefer to forget. If ESPN is shooting for nightmare plays, why didn't they include Roger Staubach's "Hail Mary" to Drew Pearson in the 1975 playoffs? That play is right there with Anderson's miss and Favre's interception. How about Darrin Nelson's drop in '87? Kramer's TD throw to Rashad to defeat the Cleveland Browns and clinch the 1980 Central Division title is the only play of ESPN's three that is truly memorable to Vikings fans. Nearly every Vikings fan that was alive to see that play points to it as an all-time favorite. Even the Kramer-Joe Senser-Ted Brown hook-and-ladder that came before Rashad's "Hail Mary" catch is more memorable than ESPN's two nightmare plays. Memorable is supposed to be good. That's why it's memorable. Anderson's miss in the '98 NFC Championship game is memorable for Falcons fans. Favre's interception is memorable to Saints fans. Neither is memorable to Vikings fans.

The Vikings have yet to win a Super Bowl so some of their most memorable big game plays are the plays that got them to the Super Bowl.

-Carl Eller's sack of Roman Gabriel in the 1969 playoffs

-Alan Page's interception of Gabriel to seal that playoff game

-Wally Hilgenberg's interception in the 1974 NFC title game

-Bobby Bryant's return of Nate Allen's blocked FG in the 1975 playoffs

It's interesting that all four of those memorable plays came against the Los Angeles Rams. The Vikings played the Rams in the playoffs fairly often in the late '60s and early '70s.

Some memorable regular season plays:

-Fran Tarkenton TD pass to Bob Schnelker in '61 for the first TD in team history

-Warren Moon to Cris Carter to beat the Bears in OT in '94

-Any of Randy Moss' 3 TDs vs the Cowboys on Thanksgiving '98

-Rookie Moss takes apart the Packers on Monday Night Football

-Moss-Moe Williams lateral stuns the Broncos in '03

-Any one of dozens of Adrian Peterson runs over the years

Randy Moss and Adrian Peterson were/are dependable producers of memorable plays.

Cordarrelle Patterson had two memorable plays in a single game in the snow at Baltimore last season. Both are more memorable than a missed field goal and an interception. ESPN could have picked so many memorable Vikings plays without touching plays that aren't memorable at all.