Many Vikings fans are unfortunately very familiar with the 1998 NFC Championship game, the one where the team collapsed and lost to the Falcons.
Though former NFL kicker Morten Andersen played with the Vikings towards the end of his career, for that game he was on the other sideline.
Andersen watched as Gary Anderson, the Vikings kicker who hadn’t missed a kick all season, did just that on a potential game-winner. The game went into overtime, where Morten Andersen made the game-winning kick for Atlanta.
“I felt bad for him, because I know what a professional he is, I knew what kind of career he had and what kind of season he had,” Andersen said about the Vikings kicker. “It was an amazing season.”
Andersen said it was tough because he’s also been on Anderson’s side of things, having to deal with a tough miss from time to time. Andersen said the two hung out on a couple of cruises when he was with the Saints and Anderson was with the Steelers in the offseason, so he got to know him personally before the 1998 miss.
“I understand the pain it causes. Not only for yourself, but on behalf of everybody you represent,” Andersen said. “You feel like you let people down, even though everybody understands that there are no automatics. But he was as close to automatic as I’ve ever seen.”
Now, Andersen is an ambassador of NJ Online Gambling, a source of information for legal online casinos in New Jersey.