Jan Stenerud Keeps His Kicking in Perspective

For 19 years, Jan Stenerud has been winning games with field goals.

As the most prolific field-goal kicker in National Football League history, the Minnesota Vikings’ 43-year-old wonder has kicked 365 three-pointers.

And, like last Sunday’s 28-yarder as time expired that lifted the Vikings to a 16-13 victory over the Detroit Lions, many of Stenerud’s kicks have meant the difference between victory and defeat.

But Stenerud has also had enough failures--179 to be exact--to know that each kick cannot be viewed as a life-or-death situation.

“When a lineman misses a block or a receiver drops a pass, it’s not hard for them to get it out of their minds,” said the NFL’s oldest player, who will turn 44 on Nov. 26. “But a kicker . . . we’re out there all alone. The game’s on the line. We have to know how to put it out of our minds, too.”

Stenerud could have easily been the goat Sunday. He missed a 37-yarder--a veritable chip shot--with 4:12 left.

Some men with less experience, might have hung their heads. But not Stenerud.

“It’s not the first kick I’ve missed,” he said.

And, by far, not the most painful.

Sadly enough, Stenerud, who has scored the second-most points in NFL history (1,656), is best remembered for a terrible playoff performance in 1971.

On Christmas Day, Stenerud missed kicks of 24, 31 and 42 yards as the Miami Dolphins defeated Stenerud’s Kansas City Chiefs 27-24 after 22 minutes, 40 seconds of sudden-death overtime in the longest NFL game ever played. The 31-yarder could have won the game in the closing seconds of regulation; the 42-yarder was blocked in overtime.

He has grown weary of talking about that day. So, when he sensed that an out-of-town reporter was looking to use that angle, a perturbed Stenerud said: “I kick 360-something field goals and he wants to know what my worst miss is. The last miss is the worst one.”

“I’m very disappointed with the one I missed today, but you can’t afford to let that snowball and go completely into the tank,” he continued. “You’ve got to be ready to get that second chance.”

Stenerud has had his share of second chances, too. He was cast away by the Chiefs in 1979 and again by the Packers in 1983 in favor of younger legs.

After seemingly defying Father Time during the last five years--which, oddly, have been his most productive seasons--Stenerud has been in what he calls a slump this season. Entering Sunday’s game, he had missed three of his previous four field-goal attempts and had an extra point blocked. He hopes Sunday’s 3-for-4 performance has lifted him out of his doldrums.

“I’m not getting weak and old overnight,” Stenerud said. “But let’s face it. I don’t have the snap I had 20 years ago. I’ve always said that, in this business, you’re only a couple of games away from being out of a job. If I miss today, who knows?”

But he said it doesn’t do any good to worry about his job or about missed field goals. That is the secret to his longevity.

“You know,” Stenerud said, “I’ve never had a sleepless night.”

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