Green’s Still Looking for a Big Win

Bud Grant could never win the big one, going 0-4 with the Minnesota Vikings in four Super Bowl appearances. But Dennis Green can’t even win the next-to-the-big one, his record in NFC championship games now 0-2.

And an ugly 0-2 it is.

January 1999: With a 15-1 regular-season record and an offense that had just shattered the league’s single-season scoring record, Green’s Vikings lost at home to Chris Chandler and the Atlanta Falcons in overtime, 30-27.

January 2001: Favored on the road against the New York Giants, Green’s collection of Pro Bowl offensive talent manages but 114 yards and nine first downs in a 41-0 drubbing. New York nets 518 yards and 31 first downs.

“Nothing we tried to do today worked,” Green said. “I think you get into a 16-game schedule and you get in the playoffs and you just try to get a good feel for your team and what you think you can do . . . and today it just didn’t work.”

Green was asked if his team was properly prepared for Sunday’s game.

“I mean, there’s just no way you think you’re going to go out and not score any points, there’s just no way you think you’re going to go out and give up 400 yards or so passing the football, there’s just no way you think you’re going to go out and not be able to protect your quarterback or not be able to run the ball. So there’s really nothing that took place out there today that we were especially prepared for.

“There’s just no way you think those things are going to happen. Especially when, again, it’s not like we’re new at this, it’s not like we’re new in the game. I think a certain amount of credit goes to the Giants. . . . They did a lot of great things, but most of it again has to fall on yourself. My ability and the team’s ability to do a better job.”

Viking owner Red McCombs said he thought the team was “well-prepared. I think the team was ready to play. We got knocked on our heels, just couldn’t get back up. That’s what champions are made out of. We face that in our life every day, not just on the football field. But we’ll be back.”

McCombs was asked if such a one-sided defeat was cause to consider “drastic measures” during the off-season.

“I have no idea,” McCombs said. “We certainly won’t be making any decisions in the emotional state that we’re in now.”

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Viking wide receiver Randy Moss, trying to explain the inexplicable:

“I don’t know, I think all of our losses this year have been because we were either too cocky or just not up for the challenge. All week, we’ve been whooping and hollering, talking this, talking that. The same old stuff I keep saying in my interviews about how we talk. And I say how we talk, meaning my whole team. I put myself in that category.

“All week we’ve been talking . . . about the Giants and coming to New York and Kerry Collins and what type of quarterback he is and Tiki Barber’s arm hurting. Ron Dayne being so big he doesn’t want to do this and do that. That’s all I heard this week--nobody really talking about going out here and smacking them in the mouth, regardless who they put out there.”

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Since the 1970 merger, the Giants have the NFC’s best record in conference finals--3-0--having outscored the opposition in those three games, 73-13. New York defeated Washington, 17-0, for the 1986 NFC title and San Francisco, 15-13, for the 1990 NFC championship. In both seasons, the Giants went on to win the Super Bowl.

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Giant Coach Jim Fassel, on playing Baltimore in the Super Bowl:

“[Raven Coach] Brian Billick is as good a friend as I have in this league. He and his team have done an outstanding job this year. It’s going to be one hell of a game. . . .

“I feel good about my team because I got the sense after today’s game that they feel like they have unfinished business. We still have one more game to win.”