Vikings Are Assured of Home Run for Playoffs

History keeps coming in bunches for the Minnesota Vikings.

Randall Cunningham threw three touchdown passes with a broken left (non-throwing) hand as the Vikings clinched home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs with a 50-10 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday night.

The Vikings (14-1) are the first dome team to earn home-field advantage, and they did it by finishing with their first unbeaten home record since 1989.

“This is a tough place to play,” offensive coordinator Brian Billick said after the Vikings became the second-highest scoring team in NFL history. “I’d hate to have to bring a team in here.”

The Vikings have scored 530 points this season, 11 short of the record 541 scored by the 1983 Washington Redskins.

Cris Carter caught his 100th touchdown pass, tying Steve Largent for second place on the career list, Randy Moss tied an NFL record with his 10th touchdown of at least 40 yards and Robert Smith ran for 101 yards after missing two games because of a knee injury.

Jimmy Hitchcock had a 30-yard interception return in the fourth quarter in the middle of a 17-point blitz in a 48-second span. It was Hitchcock’s seventh interception of the season, tying for the NFC lead, and his third return for a touchdown, setting a team record.

Minnesota’s defense forced four turnovers that were turned in to 26 points.

That made it a long night for Jacksonville (10-5), which clinched its first AFC Central title earlier in the day when Tennessee lost at Green Bay.

“It was flat-out embarrassing,” linebacker Kevin Hardy said. “To be a playoff team and get beat 50-10 doesn’t make any sense to me.”