Vikings vs. Packers: A Vikings Fan’s Recollections

It’s that time of year again. That time of the year when superstitions are put to the test. That time when trash talk among classmates and coworkers is at its best. The week when the Minnesota Vikings play the Green Bay Packers is upon us.

As a lifelong Vikings fan, I’ve always loved this week the most of any week of the season. As a child, the tension in the house was thick. My father wouldn’t touch anything green. He wouldn’t allow me to go out wearing any sort of green colored clothing. There were no green foods that week. We avoided these things because we didn’t want to contribute to the green and gold powers that be.  My mom thought we were silly, my dad thought that it worked. Who was I to judge? This was Vikings – Packers week, I wasn’t taking any chances.

As I grew older, I started to remember the names of the players. There was one player that I grew to despise, Brett Favre. I’m not sure if it was his goofy southern accent, his risk taking “gunslinger” style of play, his stupid grin when one of his risks worked, or his woe is me body language when they failed. Perhaps it was just because he played for Green Bay. I’ll never forget the one game when John Randle, my favorite player, came around the left tackle and rocked Favre from the blindside. I’ll never forget the look on Favre’s face as the trainers were using smelling salts to get him to snap out of whatever concussion induced funk he was knocked in to. In today’s NFL, he wouldn’t have been allowed to return to the game. Actually, Randle would probably have been flagged for unnecessary roughness.  As much as I despise him, Favre was tough as nails, and one of the best quarterbacks to play the game.

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It always gave me such joy to see the Packers fail with Favre under center. It gave me such anguish to see them succeed. Now that I am an adult, I can see that I was jealous of their successes. They had just finished playing in their second consecutive Super Bowl, a 24-31 loss to John Elway‘s Denver Broncos, and I couldn’t seem to get away from the one kid in my class who was a Packer’s fan. He always reminded me how the Vikings sucked and how Green Bay was the best. All I could think to say was something about showing him another place he could stick his awful cheese hat.

Then, we drafted some wide receiver from Marshall University and called an old quarterback out of retirement to be our backup.

The magically bitter ’98 season was upon us and nobody could possibly know what was in store for us Vikings fans. That season was the first season I remember the Vikings sweeping the Packers.That first game against the Packers that season was fantastic. Randy Moss absolutely destroyed the Green Bay secondary for 190 yards and 2 TDs. On just 5 catches. It should be noted that this game was so much sweeter given the fact that Favre threw three interceptions. Two of which were thrown to my second favorite player, Robert Griffith.

The next game in the series was just as good. Favre threw a pick six to Jimmy Hitchcock, who wasn’t known for his speed and quickness. I remember him running down the field on his reconstructed knees to score that touchdown. Moss caught eight passes for 153 yards and another touchdown. He was quickly becoming my favorite player. Randle had a sack and the Packers had another loss… I wanted to see that kid from school wear that stupid hat now.

After that season though, it was just another few years of splitting the series. The Antonio Freeman catch happened in 2000 and the Packers swept the series once or twice, but we won’t talk about that. Then came the playoff game during the ’04 season. That was a glorious game for Vikings fans and most remember it as the game Moss mockingly pretended to moon the crowd at Lambeau Field. Most people forget that Daunte Culpepper had his team rolling and threw for four touchdowns, two of which went to my good friend Mr. Moss. To counter Culpepper’s four TD day, Favre went ahead and threw four interceptions in that game. Favre was getting old, it showed, and I was loving it.

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Betsided

The next season, Dovonte Edwards, an undrafted cornerback who was only playing because of injuries, provided a huge pick six against Favre on Monday Night Football against the Packers. It was the highlight of an otherwise boring game to watch. The Vikings swept the Packers that season, but my beloved Vikings wouldn’t beat Green Bay again until 2008 when Favre had moved on to the New York Jets.

I had found a new quarterback to hate that year, Aaron Rodgers. He had grown out a mustache that looked absolutely terrible and I gave him a not so friendly nickname which I shall not repeat here. I had also found a new favorite player, a new Packer slayer, a certain rookie running back who rushed for 192 yards and a touchdown in his first home game against Green Bay. Rodgers hadn’t quite developed into the player he is today, but he was enough to lead Green Bay to a 6-10 record that season, while the Tarvaris Jackson led Vikings went to the playoffs with a 10-6 record. I knew that once the Vikings upgraded their quarterback position, they would take the league by storm.

Then it happened.

The Vikings brought in Favre to be their quarterback. WHY? Why him? He was old, he was way past his prime, and I hated him anyway. Of all players to bring in, it had to be Favre. I told my father that I would prefer to have Spergon Wynn as the Vikings quarterback again instead of Favre. I couldn’t stand the man. All season long, I attributed the Vikings success to a stout defense, a strong offensive line, Adrian Peterson and a pair of stud wide receivers in Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin. I didn’t care when the Vikings signed other former Packer players like Darren Sharper, Ryan Longwell, or Greg Jennings later on, but I hated that we brought in Favre. I knew that our season would be ruined by one of his errant, football 101 mistakes. I didn’t realize it would be as painful as it was.

In that NFC championship game against the New Orleans Saints, I started to feel bad for the guy. He was pummeled all game long. For some reason, the refs allowed the extra curricular mayhem to ensue unpunished. Then all sympathy I felt for him went out the window with that one pass. That single, across the body into double coverage pass. All he had to do was run for 3 yards and fall over and the Vikes were going to the Super Bowl, pending a Longwell field goal. I was furious. I was more upset after a football game than I had ever been. More than after Gary Anderson‘s missed field goal, more than the doughnut in New York. I began to think Favre was merely trying to toy with the Vikings. Taking us so far only to drop us on our heads, because he could. Because he was still loyal to the Packers. It was all a ruse, a sick game that the football gods play on Vikings fans and Vikings fans alone.

The next season with him as a Viking was horrid, absolutely terrible. Favre was done. The Vikings wouldn’t win against Green Bay until 2012 when Christian Ponder found it within his heart to throw three TDs. Let’s not forget Peterson’s miraculous run towards Eric Dickerson‘s all-time rushing mark, falling six yards short against the Packers that day. Packers fans gloated about how they stopped the great Peterson short of the record. They had forgotten that they had allowed him to add 409 yards to his total in two games. Green Bay’s leading rusher, Alex Green, had 464 yards rushing in 12 games that season.

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Victory Bell Rings

The Vikings haven’t beaten the Packers since. They tied the second game of the series last year. A game in which Rodgers didn’t play in. I’m hoping the efforts tomorrow night will be a bit more fruitful.

Rodgers has developed into one of the best quarterbacks in the game and he seems to have found his stride last week against Chicago. The Vikings aren’t being given an ice cube’s chance in the oven to win this game. The Vikes have been beaten down by scandal and injury this season and they are still doing better than most experts had predicted. Nobody is giving this team a chance to do anything this year. Not without Peterson, Brandon Fusco, and Kyle Rudolph. Not with eight new starters from last year on defense. Not with an entirely new coaching staff, and certainly not playing in a college stadium.

The chips are stacked against the Vikings, and I understand that. I know that realistically, this team isn’t built for a Super Bowl run this season, but as long as we can beat Green Bay in Green Bay, I’ll have something to smile about on Friday. Something to mention to my coworker when I casually ask for the score before the morning meeting. Just a little something to feel good about as I go on through my day. Something to hang my hat on about this season.

What are you favorite Vikings vs. Packers memories Vikings fans?

Let’s hear them in the comments below!