SPORTS EXTRA / FOOTBALL ‘99: NFL PREVIEW : NFC : SOMETHING TO PROVE : Minnesota Tries to Rebound From Upset Loss in Conference Title Game

No need to ask the Minnesota Vikings what they’ve done since losing to Atlanta in the NFC championship game in January.

Agonizing. Anguishing. Aching. Those top the list.

“There was a lot of disappointment last [season],” said all-pro receiver Randy Moss, selected the NFL’s rookie of the year for 1998 by most national publications. “I saw a lot of people moping, crying [after the loss].”

Wonder how many learned the Heimlich maneuver, in case they start choking again.

The Vikings pulled off last season’s biggest gagger with the 30-27 overtime loss to the Falcons, their bullet train to the Super Bowl conking out one station short.

Then they watched--at least those who could stand it--Denver dismantle the Falcons in the Super Bowl, 34-19, and suffered some more. They should have been in Miami, giving the Broncos a real tussle, they believed.

If ever there was a motivator, that had to be it.

“It just made me get ready more this year,” running back Leroy Hoard said.

The Vikings have the league’s seventh-toughest schedule this season, so forget about them duplicating the astonishing 15-1 record of 1998, but they are the NFC’s most gifted team and probable Super Bowl representative.

Minnesota is sound virtually everywhere, but the explosive offense remains the team’s main asset.

There is no reason to believe quarterback Randall Cunningham’s resurgence last year at 35, when he passed for 3,704 yards and 34 touchdowns and led the NFL with a 106.0 rating, was a fluke.

Since joining the Vikings in 1997, Cunningham has found religion--he even recorded a gospel CD--and rediscovered the skills he once displayed with the Philadelphia Eagles. But if Cunningham flounders, the Vikings have the much-traveled Jeff George in the wings, signed away from Oakland as a free agent.

Either way, the Vikings again will rely on their devastating passing attack to pick apart opponents, even though the league is full of defensive coordinators who believe they now know how to contain Moss and veteran receiver Cris Carter.

Moss, the league’s most dangerous deep threat, last season had 69 receptions for 1,313 yards and 17 touchdowns, and Carter, 34 in November, had 78 for 1,011 yards and 12 touchdowns. The Vikings are not one-dimensional, however. Running back Robert Smith, who rushed for 1,187 yards and six touchdowns, and Hoard, who picked up 479 yards and scored nine times, complement the passing game.

Minnesota set an NFL scoring record with 556 points in 1998 and new offensive coordinator Ray Sherman is not installing a ball-control scheme, so look for the Vikings to put up points at another fast clip.

If the Vikings had a weakness last year, it was their defensive line, which adequately stopped the run but couldn’t pass-rush effectively. Tackle John Randle had 101/2 sacks, but no other lineman on the current roster had more than 2 1/2.

The line was bolstered by the off-season acquisition of end John Burrough from Atlanta and the emergence of third-year end Stalin Colinet. All-pro middle linebacker Ed McDaniel is recuperating quickly from off-season knee surgery and should anchor the unit.

Minnesota gets on the road to redemption opening day, Sept. 12, when the Vikings visit Atlanta. A victory over the Falcons would provide a much-needed catharsis for the Vikings, who have their sights on a return trip to the Georgia Dome on Super Bowl Sunday.