After a year off from football, the former Eagles star Cunningham became the catalyst for the 1998 season
Welcome to the 25 SKOL’s of Christmas!
In a similar vein to how Freeform has done the 25 days of Christmas, we will look back at different moments in Vikings history to bring a little extra joy to you this holiday season.
It’s that simple. The holidays can be a trying time for some people and we want to put a smile on people’s faces by reminiscing about some truly joyous times in Vikings’ history.
On the sixteenth SKOL of Christmas, the Vikings gave to me: the resurgence of Randall Cunningham.
Flashback – Lions vs Vikings 1998. Gary Anderson hits 5 FGs and the Vikings take the ball away 4 times (0 turnovers for MIN) in a 29-6 laugher as the Vikings start to show a record-breaking offense under Randall Cunningham in Game 3 of 1998. pic.twitter.com/QieBoMHJxP
In today’s NFL, it’s not nearly as important to have a quality backup quarterback as it was in the 1990s and earlier. The game didn’t protect quarterbacks like it does now and it was commonplace for a quarterback to miss multiple games per season.
The Vikings had this happen quite a bit, especially once Brad Johnson took over as starting quarterback. Johnson had a knack for getting injured and he did so in both 1997 and 1998. The 1997 injury took him out for the rest of the year and that brought in former Philadelphia Eagles great Randall Cunningham.
After being replaced by Rodney Peete, Cunningham retired believing he was disrespected by the fanbase and organization. He spent 1996 away from football but was lured out of retirement by Dennis Green, who convinced him to come out of retirement. He ended up leading the Vikings to a massive 16-point comeback in the wild-card round against the New York Giants. That win ended up saving Dennis Green’s job and led into the events of the next year.
The big resurgence was in 1998 when Johnson got injured again. He broke his leg against the St. Louis Rams in week two and Cunningham came in and had a tremendous season. He completed 60.9% of his passes for 3,704 yards, 34 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He was so good that he ended up getting both MVP and Offensive Player of the Year votes along with Comeback Player of the Year votes.
He also started the 1999 season as the starter but was pulled during the sixth game as he started 2-4 and Jeff George took over.
We all know the magic of 1998 with Randy Moss and the miracle playoff run, but that doesn’t happen without Cunningham ready to step in and take control of this team.
“It’s a lifestyle,” Wilson said when Kimmel asked the QB about the time and resources it takes to stay in top physical condition. “When you’re trying to play as long as I’m trying to play — I’m trying to play until 45 — the mentality, the focus level, everything you do has to be surrounded around that. It’s been an amazing journey for me so far.”
Tom Brady, who retired at age 45, was the oldest quarterback to ever win a Super Bowl, so that’s likely the blueprint Wilson is aiming to follow.
Wilson will hope that Brady was not an outlier. Having previously won a Super Bowl at age 25 in 2013, Wilson will now hope to join the list of above-35-year-old quarterbacks who have won an NFL championship.
Here’s a quick look at the oldest quarterbacks in NFL history to win a Super Bowl.
The then-Redskins had finished 10-6 to win the division and defeated the Lions before traveling to Tampa and losing to the Buccaneers in the second round 14-13.
Daniel Snyder had taken over the ownership of the team following the draft. Charley Casserley had already traded for quarterback Brad Johnson after Trent Green had determined to leave via free agency following the 1998 season.
The 1999 team was at times very exciting offensively. Stephen Davis ran hard for 1,405 yards. Michael Westbrook led the team in receiving yards with 1,191 yards. Brad Johnson passed for 4,005 yards, as well as provided veteran leadership at quarterback the team had not enjoyed in several seasons.
Consequently, when it was time for the next offseason, Mr. Snyder determined he would act as general manager, seeing Casserly had “resigned” just prior to training camp of the ’99 season.
Snyder signed aging veterans to outrageous contracts: Jeff George (4 years, $18 million), Mark Carrier (5 years, $15.9 million), Bruce Smith (5 years, $25 million), Deion Sanders (7 years, $56 million).
Each veteran had already reached and passed his prime, yet there was Mr. Snyder giving them too much money for the year 2000. Apparently, he had no understanding of team chemistry verses bringing in several outside players and paying them more than your own homegrown players.
Even more, why did he mess with the most important position on the team, quarterback? No doubt Snyder immediately alienated Johnson, and why wouldn’t this move have angered Johnson?
Making things worse, the quarterback Snyder wanted and brought to town was Jeff George. They guy who in 2001 would say leadership was overrated. He had already played in Indianapolis, Atlanta, Oakland and Minnesota. One can only imagine how upset head coach Norv Turner was over such a move by Snyder.
Johnson (7-4 in the games he started) was still Turner’s quarterback, but George would be in the lineup, starting five games as Washington went 1-4 in those games. After a 6-2 start, Washington limped down the stretch to 7-6.
Snyder again thought the only answer was for him to make a huge splash. So he fired head coach Norv Turner. The Redskins looked lost and apathetic losing 32-13 to the Cowboys and 24-3 to the Steelers.
Johnson, a free agent, couldn’t wait to get out of town, left for Tampa and led the Buccaneers to 9-7 in 2001 and a Super Bowl title in the 2002 season.
Mr. Snyder’s quarterback Jeff George, in 2001 started 0-2; the team played so horribly, new coach Marty Schottenheimer determined he was better off without George and cut him.
What on earth had Daniel Snyder been thinking that he thought it would be best to shake up a division winner replacing Brad Johnson with Jeff George?
For Washington fans, we had no idea, it was only the beginning…
In an interview with Super Bowl XXXVIII winning QB Brad Johnson, the former signal caller details his early football relationship with his son, current Aggies QB Max Johnson
As the quote states, “No matter how tall a son grows, he will always look up to his father”, and for current Texas A&M quarterback Max Johnson, growing up in a football-centric household as the son of Super Bowl-winning quarterback Brad Johnson, it was almost inevitable that the young gunslinger would find himself on a similar path as his Father before him.
In an article from Draft Wire, and Bucs Wire writer Luke Easterling, Brad Johnson sat down in an interview to reflect on his football life, ranging from his time at Florida State to his 16-year career in the NFL, most notably winning Super Bowl XXXVII with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the franchise’s first Championship Title. When asked about his son, Max Johnson’s own journey on the gridiron, Johnson stated,
“I coached him pretty much out of the womb.” “How to take a snap, how to do three-step, five-step, seven-step drops. Play fakes, and how to read coverages, and those things. Called plays for him. When he was in fourth and fifth grade team, I was out there scouting other teams, just trying to get wins, and had fun doing it. Coached him all the way through high school, went to a state championship. But now, I’m a dad in the stands, eating popcorn. He has other coaches, and you can’t tell him to throw it to certain people, or look out for the blitz. He’s on his own. As a quarterback, it doesn’t matter who you are. You’ve got to go through the ring of fire, deal with different adversities, deal with different successes.”
Max Johnson’s current collegiate path is almost bizarrely similar to his father’s, who had to fight his way up the depth chart during his sophomore, junior, and senior years at Florida State, as Max’s first two seasons at LSU started as a backup but included 18 games played, starting the entire 2021 season due to a preseason injury to quarterback Myles Brennan.
After transferring to Texas A&M before the 2022 season with hopes of earning the starting quarterback spot outright, Johnson saw his season end after sustaining a hand injury in a loss to Mississippi State, Johnson with miss the final seven games, while freshman quarterback Conner Weigman emerged late in the year to essentially solidify the starting position going into 2023. With the expectation that Johnson would once again enter the transfer portal, the senior surprisingly chose to stay with the Aggies next season as the primary backup, knowing that no matter what happens going forward, he will always have the support of his family, especially his Father.
“We’re an athletic family,” says Johnson, whose wife, Nikki, played volleyball at the University of South Florida. “We have adversity stories to tell, and we’re really just there for support at this point. He’s trying to blaze his own trail, and it’s gonna be fun watching him do it.”
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Brad Johnson reflects on the winding road of his career, the Bucs’ epic Super Bowl run in 2002, and supporting his son from the sidelines
In 1992, Brad Johnson was picked in a round that doesn’t even exist anymore in the NFL draft.
The first signal-caller to help lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Lombardi Trophy, Johnson’s tenure in Tampa Bay was just one incredible stop on a long, winding road of a quarterbacking journey that took the Florida State alum all over the map.
A longtime journeyman, Johnson grew up rooting for a team he would eventually lead to the playoffs before his stint with the Bucs.
“Growing up in North Carolina, Washington was really the only team that was actually on TV at that time,” Johnson says. The Atlanta Falcons weren’t very good. The Carolina Panthers weren’t there, the Tennessee Titans weren’t there, the Jacksonville Jaguars weren’t there. And so the only game you got to really see every week you were guaranteed was Washington. So I grew up loving Joe Theismann and Doug Williams, and felt like I had football cards of every football player for Washington at that time.”
Johnson loved playing just about every sport, especially basketball (Larry Bird and Chris Mullin were “his guys”). But he eventually landed on the gridiron for the long haul, at the game’s most important position.
RVR Photos-USA TODAY Network
“I was always good at throwing a football, and played football since second grade, and all those kinds of things just grew into my passion,” Johnson says. “Just the grind of playing the position, but it’s something that I love to do. And to have a 17-year career, just looking back it’s pretty awesome. I kind of have to pinch myself every day. To help three different organizations to the playoffs, and to have won a Super Bowl with the Bucs was just a dream come true for me.”
“Phil Simms was one of my heroes. In 1987, he got to say, ‘I’m going to Disney World’ with confetti falling all over his face,” Johnson recalls. “Pretty awesome. I got to do that in 2003.”
Johnson’s winding football road took him all the way to the World League, where he spent the Spring of 1995 with the London Monarchs, in the middle of his time with the Minnesota Vikings. All of those different stops presented their unique challenges, but Johnson embraced the adversity every step of the way.
“Everybody has a different story,” Johnson says. “What’s your QB journey? You know, a lot of people deal with adversity. You deal with injuries, you deal with free agency, you deal with who’s your coach, coaches getting fired, who did they bring in through the draft. It’s just hard to find your place.”
John Gichigi/ALLSPORT
Despite spending his first two seasons in the NFL at the bottom of the depth chart, Johnson benefitted from playing behind veterans who had plenty of success at the game’s highest level.
“The first three quarterbacks I was behind in the pros were Rich Gannon, who won MVP, and Jim McMahon, who won a Super Bowl, and Warren Moon, who’s a Hall of Famer,” Johnson recalls. “It’s tough, you know. I had to beat out two Heisman winners to get my job as a second-string quarterback. So it’s just tough. But if you love the sport, you love what you do, you love your craft, you’ve got a chance. And if you give yourself a chance to be great at something, and someone believes in you, then something great can happen along the way, if you play with a great team.”
“I was fortunate enough play for a lot of great coaches, played 17 years for three different organizations. It’s just pretty awesome looking back, all the stuff that I had to go through, but all the memories I made at the same time, too.”
Johnson signed with the Bucs in 2001, and the following year, he would help lead the Bucs to a magical season that culminated with a dominant 48-21 win over the Oakland Raiders (quarterbacked by Gannon in his MVP season) in Super Bowl XXXVII.
(Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
“With Tampa, we had some great teams there,” says Johnson of his time with the Bucs. “And when you’ve got to be good, you’ve got to be lucky, and then you got to come through in the clutch. We brought in, I think, 16 or 17 free agents that year, and brought a bunch of new guys into the offense. Ken Dilger, Ricky Dudley, Joe Jurevicius, Keenan McCardell, Roman Oben, Kerry Jenkins, Michael Pittman. We went 3-1 every four games, ended up 12-4, and got hot at the right time of the year.”
Tampa Bay’s defense was one of the most dominant in NFL history that season, a unit that featured four Hall of Famers. Even so, Johnson believes it was a well-rounded team effort, coaching staff included, that led to their incredible championship run.
“The offense was very underrated,” Johnson says. “Led the NFC in passing that year, and ended up making the Pro Bowl. We had so many great players that just kind of got overshadowed, because the defense was one of the greatest of all time, but it takes a whole team to win it. You’ll never find any team that wins it without being great in all three phases. We had great coaches like Mike Tomlin, who went on to coach for Pittsburgh, and won a Super Bowl there. Rich Bisaccia, who became head coach, and Rod Marinelli and Joe Berry and Raheem Morris, who became a head coach. The list goes on. It takes greatness to be great. And we did catch lightning in a bottle that year.”
The latest chapter of Johnson’s journey includes the National Quarterback Hall of Fame, where he’s been inducted as part of the 2023 class, alongside Ron Jaworksi and Michael Vick.
It also means being a support system for someone else’s quarterback journey: His son, Max.
(Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports
“I coached him pretty much out of the womb,” Johnson says of his son, who started his collegiate career at LSU before transferring to Texas A&M. “How to take a snap, how to do three-step, five-step, seven-step drops. Play fakes, and how to read coverages, and those things. Called plays for him. When he was in fourth and fifth grade team, I was out there scouting other teams, just trying to get wins, and had fun doing it. Coached him all the way through high school, went to a state championship. But now, I’m a dad in the stands, eating popcorn. He has other coaches, and you can’t tell him to throw it to certain people, or look out for the blitz. He’s on his own. As a quarterback, it doesn’t matter who you are. You’ve got to go through the ring of fire, deal with different adversities, deal with different successes.”
“We’re an athletic family,” says Johnson, whose wife, Nikki, played volleyball at the University of South Florida. “We have adversity stories to tell, and we’re really just there for support at this point. He’s trying to blaze his own trail, and it’s gonna be fun watching him do it.”
When asked about the legacy he leaves behind for the next generation of quarterbacks, and any sage advice he would pass along, Johnson keeps it simple.
“The grind is real,” Johnson says. “Enjoy the process of it, be as great as you can at your craft, control what you can control, and love what you do. And the rest of it will take care of itself in time. I loved my 17-year career. I embrace everything that came with it; the good the bad, the ugly. But in the end, if you’re true to yourself, and true to your craft, great things usually come out of it.”
LSU Football lost a couple of key names to the transfer portal on Tuesday afternoon.
Sophomore quarterback Max Johnson tweeted that he would be playing elsewhere in 2022. It was also reported that sophomore WR and former blue-chip recruit Deion Smith would be joining him.
Johnson entered this season in an open competition with Myles Brennan. Before camp was even underway, Brennan got hurt and Johnson assumed the starting role.
LSU, Thank you for allowing me to pursue my academic and athletic career here. I have made strong relationships that will last a lifetime with coaches, staff and especially my teammates! With careful and prayerful consideration, I am entering the transfer portal.
Now a few months later, both Johnson and Brennan are in the transfer portal.
In his career at LSU, Johnson played in 18 games. He threw for 3,883 yards and 35 touchdowns. He was able to lead LSU to a couple of big wins, leading game-winning drives against Florida in 2020 and Texas A&M in 2021.
Smith did not see much time as a freshman in 2021. He had a big game against Central Michigan but dealt with an injury down the stretch. There is certainly talent there, and he should be a heavily coveted transfer.
News: Impressive freshman #LSU receiver Deion Smith plans to enter his name into the transfer portal, a source confirms to @TheAthletic. @LonnPhillips had it first.
Was a big Ed Orgeron recruit, for what it's worth. Had 135 yards, two TDs against Central Michigan.
In recruiting news, Max Johnson’s little brother, Jake announced he would be reopening his recruitment and decomitting from LSU. It makes sense given Max’s transfer. Jake was one of the top components of the 2022 recruiting class. They have one other tight end commit with Mason Taylor. It remains to be seen if he will stick with LSU.
ESPN Analytics ranked the top 30 quarterbacks since Mark Rypien’s last start in 1993. Who do you have at No. 1?
It’s been a rough 30 years for the Washington Football Team. Washington, which last won the Super Bowl in the 1991-92 season, has started 31 different quarterbacks since Mark Rypien started his final game for Washington in 1993.
Washington has tried everything when it comes to finding a franchise passer. It began in 1994 when it spent a top-five pick on Heath Shuler. In the last 27 years, Washington has spent first-round picks on multiple quarterbacks: Shuler, Patrick Ramsey, Jason Campbell, Robert Griffin III and Dwayne Haskins.
Washington has traded for big-name veterans like Brad Johnson, Mark Brunell, Donovan McNabb and Alex Smith. Johnson was outstanding during his short stint, and Smith’s time was marred by a devastating injury, despite an 11-5 record as WFT’s starting quarterback.
The team also drafted quarterbacks in lower rounds like Gus Frerotte and Kirk Cousins. Coincidentally enough, Washington took Frerotte and Cousins in the same drafts as first-round picks Shuler and Griffin, respectively. And, the less-heralded quarterback ended up being the better quarterback in both cases.
John Keim, the dean of Washington beat reporters, commented on each of ESPN’s rankings.
Who do you think made the top five?
Per ESPN Analytics:
Kirk Cousins
Brad Johnson
Robert Griffin III
Gus Frerotte
Jason Campbell
And Keim’s top five:
Brad Johnson
Kirk Cousins
Robert Griffin III
Alex Smith
Trent Green
Keim didn’t exactly say who he had at No. 4 and No. 5 but did say Smith would be in his top five and Green, who was ranked No. 10, should be five spots higher.
I agree with Keim here. You can’t understate how magical Griffin’s 2012 rookie season was. Yes, he couldn’t follow up on it, but he was arguably one of the best players in the NFL that season.
We all know the Smith story and what happened.
The careers of Johnson, Cousins and Green followed similar patterns. The front office botched the situations of all three players in different ways. Owner Dan Snyder got involved when Johnson was in Washington, preferring the strong-armed Jeff George over the much better quarterback in Johnson. And, this was one year after Johnson led Washington to an NFC East title.
Johnson won a Super Bowl with Tampa Bay shortly thereafter.
Everyone knows the story of Cousins. He was never re-signing in Washington.
Green is a player who had a breakout season in 1998 and it appeared Washington had its future quarterback. Again, the franchise botched the contract negotiations because it was for sale. Once they received permission to make an offer, Green had already agreed to terms with the Rams.
This is certainly an interesting list where I side more with Keim than analytics.
Ultimately, this list proves Washington is still searching for that guy.
The Bucs QB doesn’t like some Cowboys defenders now wearing offensive numbers, plus Dak’s restructured deal and a surprise injury for Tampa. | From @ToddBrock24f7
Soon, the story will be about an actual football game. But in the final lead-up to opening night, Cowboys fans are being treated to a bizarre mix of topics ranging from a first-ballot Hall of Famer whining about uniforms giving the Cowboys an unfair advantage to the Dallas brass suggesting they might fly their right guard to Thursday night’s game all by himself if the stars align with last-minute COVID tests.
But there’s more to chew on, too: the Bucs are zeroing in on the Cowboys’ run game, one of Tampa’s pass-catching threats is a surprise add to their injury report, and one of the Cowboys’ receivers is singing Dak Prescott’s praises. Speaking of the Dallas quarterback, his record megadeal has already been reworked. The defense faces a defining moment, Cowboys fans get a common-sense talking-to, and a former Dallas passer gets tricky with his still-impressive accuracy. All that, plus team vaccination news and a spotlight on one of the unsung superstars of the Cowboys’ front office. News and Notes, coming right up.
Jake Johnson might not be headed to LSU if it wasn’t for Jake Peetz getting there first.
LSU quarterback Max Johnson and his brother, tight end Jake Johnson, are soon to share a sideline together in Baton Rouge for the 2022 season.
But that almost didn’t happen, according to their father and former NFL QB, Brad Johnson.
The elder Johnson recently said in a radio interview that Jake Johnson’s commitment to the program was heavily affected by Jake Peetz coming over from the Carolina Panthers to take the place of Steve Ensminger at offensive coordinator.
“He was at LSU’s camp just a couple weeks ago and he really, you know, he just loves to play, loves to be taught and coached,” Brad Johnson told Michael Detillier of WWL Radio. “And I think with Coach [Jake] Peetz coming in as the offensive coordinator, he had a big impact on Jake.
[lawrence-related id=19262]
“Jake was not going to LSU, I’ll be honest with you, he was gone. And so with Peetz coming in there, that made a big impact on him as far as him fitting into that system and wanting to be a Tiger.”
Passing game coordinator DJ Mangas also came over to LSU from the Panthers, and both are connected to LSU’s passing game coordinator from 2019, Joe Brady.
It will be interesting to see if the team can reach that legendary level of success in the coming seasons, but they appear to have all the right stuff in place to do so.
