Packers Are Left Crying 'No Moss' Once Again

By T.J. SIMERS

Dec. 21, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

MINNEAPOLIS —

This was more like it, the new whiz kids on the block such as the Rams and Colts home in front of their television sets Monday night, while two of the game’s best teams in recent years and some of the NFL’s most electrifying playmakers put on a meaningful show in a desperate bid to make the playoffs.

With every mistake now also a potential season-killer, the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers took awhile to warm up, but when they did, it was the kind of NFL entertainment that has been so elusive this season.

You can have a Miami win crafted on the strength of four field goals--bring on the razzle-dazzle of Randy Moss, and put the ball in Brett Favre’s hands for a final fling to decide the outcome.

In the end, Minnesota prevailed, 24-20, before 64,203 in the Metrodome--the Vikings (8-6) emerging from a fuzzy NFC playoff picture to place themselves solidly in the hunt for a wild-card berth, and only one game behind NFC Central-leading Tampa Bay with two games to play.

“Hey, we’re right there,” Minnesota cornerback Jimmy Hitchcock said. “Look at this season--it’s wacky. Anything can happen.”

It already has, the Vikings signing Randall Cunningham to a five-year, $28-million contract and then turning the offense over to his $400,000-a-year backup, Jeff George, who has pitched them in position to make another playoff run.

“The good news is we have a lot of football left to play,” said Minnesota Coach Dennis Green, who is assured of not having a losing record for his eighth consecutive season with the Vikings. “The guys were put in a tough situation at the beginning of the season [a 2-4 start], but they have done a good job of coming back.”

The Packers (7-7)--their last gasp a long Favre throw up for grabs in the end zone that was intercepted by Viking safety Robert Griffith--must now win their final two games and hope the tiebreakers fall their way.

Too bad the Packers and Vikings cannot play again, and football is a little poorer if the excitement generated by Favre cannot be featured in the playoffs.

Three seasons ago, the Packers won the Super Bowl with Favre and coach Mike Holmgren teaming up to reestablish Green Bay as Titletown USA. Two seasons ago, they returned to lose the Super Bowl. Last season, they fell short in a wild-card game in the final dramatic seconds on a Steve Young-to-Terrell Owens pass play for a touchdown in San Francisco.

Now they may need some breaks to play on beyond the regular season, the Packer faithful already pounding Holmgren’s replacement, Ray Rhodes, for failing to meet its expectations.

But for all that has gone wrong with the Packers this season, including three losses at Lambeau Field, Rhodes had them prepped to beat the Metrodome noise and the Vikings, making only one critical mistake--leaving Moss free to take over the game.

“I thought our defense was rushing them and keeping them from doing the things they wanted,” Rhodes said, “but when we look at the tape I think we’ll see that Moss was the big difference in what happened to our football team.”

Moss caught five passes for 131 yards, two of his receptions going for touchdowns and a third setting up a one-yard Leroy Hoard dive for the decisive score. Moss and Cris Carter are the only Vikings to have two consecutive seasons of at least 10 touchdown catches, and this is only Moss’ second season.

Last season, Moss flashed his athletic skills for the first time before a Monday night audience in Green Bay, catching five passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns. He caught eight more passes in the rematch last season for 153 yards and a touchdown.

With those accomplishments as a backdrop, it will be difficult to explain why Green Bay elected to blitz the Vikings on third and one in the second quarter with a 10-3 lead, freeing Moss one-on-one with Packer cornerback Tyrone Williams. It was no contest, Moss loping 10 yards unchecked beyond Williams to haul in a 57-yard touchdown pass from Jeff George.

“We’ll take that matchup any day,” said George, who becomes a free agent after the season.

Moss, criticized recently by team owner Red McCombs for his immature play, which has included dropped passes and fumbles, came back in the third quarter with the Packers ahead, 13-10, to make a one-yard touchdown catch.

“It’s one of the best performances I have had so far,” Moss said. “I like big games.”

But just as good as he is, just as bad he can be, fumbling a punt following the next Packer possession, and unwittingly setting up a captivating fireworks show in the fourth quarter that would be capped once again by his brilliance.

Green Bay scored off the Moss miscue, resorting to trickery. On a faked field goal, holder and backup quarterback Matt Hasselbeck completed a nine-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jeff Thomason.

The Packers had a 20-17 lead, but George had Moss running directly down the middle of the field beyond a befuddled secondary for a 36-yard gain to the Green Bay one, setting up the go-ahead score.

Given the opportunity to run out the clock, the Vikings then chose to throw the ball to Moss, one-on-one with Williams, good for a 28-yard gain. The first down knocked more time off the clock, but the Packers managed to get ball back--giving Favre only 45 seconds to try to negotiate the distance of the field from his own 22 to save the season.

“It hurt last week [losing to Carolina on the final play] and it hurts again this week,” Favre said. “As far as the playoffs--I haven’t even thought about it.”

And there may be no reason to pay the postseason any attention.

“This has been the situation all season long, and we keep making excuses when it does not work out the way we want,” Packer wide receiver Antonio Freeman said. “It seems like we’re always saying we should have done this and we should have done that. You get three hours to make everything work that you have practiced all week, and then it doesn’t.”

And then there’s nothing to do but go home, but watch everyone else play football on TV.

PLAYOFF PICTURE

AFC

* WHO’S IN

x-Indianapolis: 12-2

y-Jacksonville: 13-1

Tennessee: 11-3

* CONTENDING FOR REMAINING THREE SPOTS

y-Kansas City: 9-5

Buffalo : 9-5

Miami: 9-5

Seattle: 8-6