PRO FOOTBALL : Eagles Get Boot From Vikings

Like all kickers, Chuck Nelson gets a boot out of atoning for failure.

Nelson kicked a 32-yard field goal with 15 seconds remaining Sunday to give the Minnesota Vikings a 23-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.

Three minutes earlier, Nelson missed from 45 yards.

“If you can pick a situation to atone for the miss, you’d like to make it at the end,” Nelson said. “In that situation it’s a combination of excitement and relief.”

Nelson had a poor 1987 season but saved his job by making all 9 field goals he tried during the playoffs.

After Sunday’s 3-for-4 performance, he is 7 for 9 this season, with misses from 42 and 45 yards.

Philadelphia (1-3), which lost its third straight game, took a 21-20 lead with 1:47 left on Randall Cunningham’s 13-yard scoring pass to Keith Jackson. The touchdown came one play after Andre Waters blocked a punt.

Minnesota (3-1) won its third straight with the help of 8 sacks on Cunningham, including 4 by defensive end Keith Millard.

“I can get sacked 19 times and we can still win,” said Cunningham, who has been sacked 18 times in 4 games. “Sooner or later, we are going to get things fixed. I saw (Millard) a lot. We are good friends now. I shook hands with him about 9 times.”

Despite the pressure, Cunningham completed 13 of 23 passes for 187 yards.

When punter John Teltschik was shaken up momentarily, Cunningham boomed a 54-yard punt out of his own end zone. Later, with the Eagles facing a second and 18 deep in their own territory, Cunningham lined up in the shotgun formation and got off a 58-yard quick kick.

Viking quarterback Tommy Kramer, whose passing set up the winning kick, left the game at the end of the first half with a left wrist injury and because Coach Jerry Burns felt Kramer wasn’t moving the offense.

Wade Wilson replaced Kramer and scored on a 3-yard run to put Minnesota ahead, 17-14, in the third quarter but had to leave with a shoulder injury, bringing Kramer back into the game.

“I was off-target bad today,” Kramer said. “I didn’t play as well or throw the ball as well as I am capable. As he (Burns) has said all along, if one of us isn’t doing the job, he’ll come back to the other.”

Kramer was 17 of 34 for 299 yards. Wilson was 2 for 3 for 22 yards in his brief stint.

Kramer led the Vikings on a drive that ended with Nelson’s 27-yard field goal. After the Eagles went ahead, 21-20, Kramer completed a 10-yard pass to Allen Rice on fourth and 6 and hit passes of 27 and 13 yards to Anthony Carter to set up the winning kick.

“On fourth down, if we make the play, we win. They make it and they win,” Eagle safety Wes Hopkins said.

Rice, playing in place of injured Darrin Nelson, rushed for 56 yards and caught 4 passes for 74 more yards.