Super Highways

By MIKE PENNER

Jan. 14, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. —

Madmen, they were called. Lunatics. Coaches on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

In Minnesota, where the cold has been known to freeze brain cells, Viking Coach Dennis Green was presumed to have gone ice fishing without a parka when he blew out both of his veteran quarterbacks, Randall Cunningham and Jeff George, and announced he was turning over the whole offensive operation--Randy Moss, Cris Carter and everything--to a 1999 draftee who had yet to throw an NFL pass, 23-year-old Daunte Culpepper.

In New York, where eccentricity is a lifestyle, Giant Coach Jim Fassel was presumed to be cracking under the pressure when in November, with his team 7-4 and reeling from back-to-back losses to St. Louis and Detroit, he banged his fist on the table and guaranteed the Giants would make the playoffs.

That last bit has already ascended into the pantheon of New York sports lore. The Giants’ postseason media guide includes the entire text of Fassel’s Nov. 22 rant, which is fervent, more than a little frightening and builds feverishly to the following crescendo:

“I want no ambiguity on where we’re going to go. I’m going to define it completely. I’ll lay it out for you guys, if you’d like it that way. If you’ve got the cross hairs, if you’ve got the laser, you can put it right on my chest. I’ll take full responsibility. I’m raising the stakes right now. If this is a poker game, I’m shoving my chips to the middle of the table. I’m raising the ante. Anybody that wants in, get in. Anybody that wants out can get out.

“This team is going to the playoffs.

“[Owner] Wellington Mara made a statement to me when I took this job that I will always remember. He said this is not an easy job. If it was an easy job, you wouldn’t have it. And that’s my approach right now. I want no other things. I’m going to shut things down and close doors and focus this team on getting across the finish line. That’s my whole goal in life right now.”

There’s a fine line between inspiration and insanity, and that line leads straight to Giants Stadium, where Fassel’s improbable Giants and Green’s unlikely Vikings will meet today for the NFC championship and a trip to the Super Bowl.

And who had this exacta last August?

The Vikings had reached the NFC final in 1998, but were upset at home by the Atlanta Falcons, giving rise to all sorts of questions about Green’s ability to motivate a team beyond December. A year later, they were 10-6 and ousted in the divisional playoffs, surrendering 49 points to the Rams. Rebuilding seemed to be the next task at hand, especially after Green cleaned out his quarterbacks and turned the program over to an untested Culpepper.

Even Fassel admitted to be taken aback.

“You make a transition with a quarterback,” Fassel said at a Friday news conference here, “you might have a three- or four-year learning curve.”

The Giants, meanwhile, were still quarterbacked by Kerry Collins, were coming off a 7-9 season and were consensus choices to finish no higher than fourth in the NFC East.

So what are the Vikings doing at 12-5 and the Giants at 13-4, playing today for a berth in the Super Bowl?

To borrow a phrase from another New York success story, the Miracle Mets of ‘69: You gotta believe.

Even if it took the Vikings a little longer than the Giants.

Minnesota safety Robert Griffith was among the initial doubters when Green unveiled his Culpepper proposal. “Nobody in a million years would have thought Daunte was a good pick,” Griffith said, “and you see where we’re at now.”

Culpepper might have seemed too young, too callow, but Green surrounded him with more toys than any quarterback in the business--running back Robert Smith, the NFC’s leading rusher; Moss, the most dangerous game-breaker in the sport; Carter, a future Hall of Famer. Culpepper flourished immediately, passing for 33 touchdowns and nearly 4,000 yards during the regular season and being named to start the Pro Bowl.

In his first NFL playoff game, last week’s 34-16 victory over New Orleans, Culpepper passed for 302 yards and three touchdowns.

Now, the Vikings pledge their allegiance to Green.

“I believe in Coach Green,” Carter said. “When he called me and told me we were going to go with Daunte, I said, ‘Fine, no problem.’ I knew that we had a lot of other great players and we had a great system that I thought we could still win.”

The Giants bought into Fassel’s orchestrated guarantee because a) they really had no other choice and b) players tend to appreciate any coach who goes to such lengths to allow his players off the hook.

“I loved it,” Collins said. “I thought it was great. I appreciate him sticking his neck out there like that. I think he did it to take the pressure off of us. He put it on himself.

“He put that bull’s-eye on his chest, as he likes to say, and I think it allowed us to free up, have fun, play loose, don’t worry about anything but preparing well and playing with enthusiasm.”

The Giants haven’t lost since, closing the regular season 5-0 and defeating Philadelphia in the divisional playoffs, 20-10.

A master stroke by Fassel?

Well, let’s say the coach didn’t dive into this blindly. He checked the Giants’ season-ending schedule. What he saw: the worst team in the NFC (Arizona), the two biggest disappointments in the league (Washington and Jacksonville), a team without an offense (Pittsburgh) and a team without hope (Dallas).

If Fassel was going out on a limb, he knew enough to have that limb tested beforehand, making sure it was sturdy as iron.

Calculated or not, Collins credits Fassel’s “bold” proclamation for fine-tuning the Giants’ focus down the stretch.

“He gave us that goal, that direction,” Collins said. “We don’t want to make him look like an idiot, I guess.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS Results from times when championship games led to Super Bowl

*--*

SEASON RESULT ATTENDANCE 1999 at St. Louis 11, Tampa Bay 6 66,396 1998 Atlanta 30, at Minnesota 27* 64,060 1997 Green Bay 23, at San Francisco 10 68,987 1996 at Green Bay 30, Carolina 13 60,216 1995 at Dallas 38, Green Bay 27 65,135 1994 at San Francisco 38, Dallas 28 69,125 1993 at Dallas 38, San Francisco 21 64,902 1992 Dallas 30, at San Francisco 20 64,920 1991 at Washington 41, Detroit 10 55,585 1990 N.Y. Giants 15, at San Francisco 13 65,750 1989 at San Francisco 30, L.A. Rams 3 65,634 1988 San Francisco 28, at Chicago 3 66,946 1987 at Washington 17, Minnesota 10 55,212 1986 at N.Y. Giants 17, Washington 0 76,891 1985 at Chicago 24, L.A. Rams 0 66,030 1984 at San Francisco 23, Chicago 0 61,336 1983 at Washington 24, San Francisco 21 55,363 1982 at Washington 31, Dallas 17 55,045 1981 at San Francisco 28, Dallas 27 60,525 1980 at Philadelphia 20, Dallas 7 71,522 1979 Los Angeles 9, at Tampa Bay 0 72,033 1978 Dallas 28, at Los Angeles 0 71,086 1977 at Dallas 23, Minnesota 6 64,293 1976 at Minnesota 24, Los Angeles 13 48,379 1975 Dallas 37, at Los Angeles 7 88,919 1974 at Minnesota 14, Los Angeles 10 48,444 1973 Minnesota 27, at Dallas 10 64,422 1972 at Washington 26, Dallas 3 53,129 1971 at Dallas 14, San Francisco 3 63,409 1970 Dallas 17, at San Francisco 10 59,364 1969 at Minnesota 27, Cleveland 7 46,503 1968 Baltimore 34, at Cleveland 0 78,410 1967 at Green Bay 21, Dallas 17 50,861 1966 Green Bay 34, at Dallas 27 74,152 ET

*--*

*-overtime; Note: First four games were NFL Championship.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

THE LOGS

MINNESOTA (12-5)

Sept. 3 CHICAGO W, 30-27

Sept. 10 MIAMI W, 13-7

Sept. 17 at New England W, 21-13

Sept. 24 Open date

Oct. 1 at Detroit W, 31-24

Oct. 9 TAMPA BAY W, 30-23

Oct. 15 at Chicago W, 28-16