Cardinals Can’t Kick This Habit

Arizona Coach Vince Tobin has good reason for insisting he’s not interested in history. Usually, it goes against the Cardinals.

The Minnesota Vikings, who have a history of late comebacks, overcame a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter Sunday for a 20-19 victory over Arizona, which can’t seem to hold a lead. Eddie Murray’s 38-yard field goal with 10 seconds left was the decisive score.

The Vikings (4-2) took over after the Cardinals’ Kevin Butler missed a 31-yard kick with 52 seconds to play.

“You can ask [long snapper] Mike Morris,” Murray said. “We were down at the end watching him getting ready to attempt the kick, and I said, ‘If he misses, we’re going to win, so be ready, Mike.’ Sure enough, it went left. I’m not a soothsayer, but things worked out.”

Brad Johnson took the Vikings 62 yards in 37 seconds to set up the winning kick. His final completion was a 43-yarder over the middle to tight end Andrew Glover that put the ball at the Arizona 20.

Then Murray sent the Cardinals (1-4) to their fourth defeat by a total of 11 points.

Last week, Butler missed two field goals in the fourth quarter of a 19-18 loss to Tampa Bay.

He had field goals of 23, 23, 28 and 49 yards to help the Cardinals to a 19-10 lead with 10:22 left.

But Johnson threw a one-yard scoring pass to Cris Carter with 4:05 to go, and Murray kicked his 234th consecutive extra point, tying the NFL record set by Tommy Davis of San Francisco from 1959-65.

Then Kevin Williams returned the kickoff 52 yards into Viking territory, and the Cardinals drove to the Minnesota six before misfortune struck again. LeShon Johnson was thrown for one- and seven-yard losses on consecutive plays, leaving Butler in position to miss a big field goal again.