Super Bowl XXIII - Minnesota 38 Cincinnati 37

1988 ARAIG Super Bowl

Minnesota Vikings Defeated Resilient Cincinnati Bengals 38-37

This was a Super Bowl truly worthy of the name. As you would expect judging from the teams' regular season and playoff performances, offense was plentiful. In the end, a streaky game featuring 712 yards of offense was decided by about 8 inches. The story unfolded as follows:

The Bengals won the toss and elected to receive. First play from scrimmage was a Boomer to Eddie brown 37 yard bomb and it looked like the Bengals were in business. On the next play, though, Boomer was picked off by Viking safety David Harris. The Vikings began a drive of their own, using their stable of mediocrity at RB to advance to the Bengals 5 with first and goal to go. A couple incompletions and a sack of Wade Wilson by a blitzing Leon White forced the Vikings to settle for a Chris Nelson FG. Vikings 3-0. 

After an exchange of punts, the Bengals took over on their own 21. Boomer fumbled the snap; he was not having a good day. This time the Vikings were able to capitalize with a Wade Wilson to Steve Jordan touchdown pass. Vikings 10-0. 

The Bengals, with their otherworldly offense, were not out of this one by a long shot, though. After a short kickoff, Bengals took over in Vikings territory and scored on back to back Esiason to Tim McGee passes. Vikings 10-7. 

Vikings then went on a long drive capped by a Wade Wilson to Anthony Carter TD pass. We would hear from those two again. Vikings 17-7. 

The Bengals fumbled the kickoff, and Wilson hit AC in stride on the next play from scrimmage for a 45 yard TD and just like that it was Vikings 24-7. 

Teams exchanged punts a couple times, and then the Vikings drove to the Bengals 6-yard line as time expired in the first half. 

The Vikings took the second half kickoff looking to kill some clock and extend their lead. Neither happened, as they went four and out. Here came the Bengals again as Esiason connected on three straight passes, culminating in a 38 yard TD Bomb to Eddie Brown. Vikings 24-14. 

Now things got crazy. On the next drive, David Fulcher picked off Wade Wilson's pass on the Vikes 34 yard line. Two plays later, Esiason fumbled the ball back to the Vikings. Two plays later, Darrin Nelson fumbled the ball back to the Bengals. This time the Bengals hung on to the ball and got a Jim Breech field goal for their efforts. Vikings 24-17. 

Vikings went nowhere on their next drive, and punter Bucky Scribner fumbled the snap on the punt attempt. Bengals ball on the Vikings 22. Any guesses what happened next? Bengals got 2 consecutive offensive penalties followed by a Chris Doleman sack of Boomer, leaving them with a 3rd and 36 at about midfield. Vikings narrow lead looked like it might hold up. But wait, Bengals weren't done yet. With the Vikings looking for the deep ball, Boomer's bomb attempt fell incomplete. No matter, as Chris Doleman was called for roughing the passer- automatic first down! On the next play, Viking safety Reggie Rutland was called for pass interference for a 30 yard Bengals gain. Somewhere, Bud Grant doubled over liked he'd been kicked by a mule, Fran Tarkenton uttered an arrogant, self-serving remark about how his Vikings teams would never have choked like that, and legions of inebriated Bengals fans broke out in spontaneous shouts of "WHO-DEY." The capacity crowd at Joe Robbie was treated to that immortal example of Astaire-like footwork known as the Ickey Shuffle, as Elbert Woods plunged into the end zone to tie the game at 24-24. And there was still an entire quarter to go. 

The Vikings then drove 83 yards in 6:37 to regain the lead as Wade Wilson and Anthony Carter hooked up for their 3rd TD of the game. Vikings 31-24. 

Bengals then executed their own long drive, going 67 yards in 4:42 as Esiason found Tim McGee in the end zone to tie the game again at 31-31. 

Vikings got a 35 yard kick off return from David Harris and took over on their own 38 with 3:25 to go. After a couple short runs, Wade Wilson caught the Bengals looking run and hit Anthony Carter for a 53 yard bomb and his 4th touchdown reception of the game. Vikings 38-31. 

The Vikings had been kicking away from Bengals return man Stanford Jennings all game, but Coach Schneider elected to gamble on pinning the bengals deep with only 2:25 left in the game. Not a good call, as Jennings returned the ball to the Vikings 45 yard line. In a rapid fire sequence, Boomer was sacked, hit McGee for 18 yards, scrambled for 8 more, then hit McGee again for another 20 to advance to the Viking 8 yard line with 31 seconds to go. Esiason missed an attempted hookup with McGee in the end zone, then found James Brooks on a short route for an 8 yard TD pass. It was looking like overtime, as Bengals now trailed 38-37 and lined up for the extra point. 

Here is where 8 inches decided the game. Bengals 5'6" kicker Jim Breech strode into the ball just before 6'2" Viking DT Henry Thomas extended his arms to his max reach and blocked the extra point attempt! Vikings recovered the obligatory onside kick, and one of the most thrilling Super Bowls in simulated NFL history was over. 

Great game called by Joey, capping off a great season. 

I apologize for the ridiculously long write up, but I thought such an exciting game shouldn't be lost to history. See you all in 1995!

Bill

NFC Conference Championship: Minnesota 38 San Francisco 34

Minnesota Tops San Francisco in Wild NFC Championship Game

This game figured to be a tight one, as San Francisco sported a 15-2 record and Minnesota a 17-0 record entering the game. Both teams had won handily in the first round of the playoffs. The 2 teams had matched up in the regular season as well, a game that the Vikings had won largely because of a rare off day for Joe Montana.

In this game, the 49ers struck first. On the game’s first play from scrimmage, Montana hit Rice on a 31-yard bomb. SF drove down the field, seemingly stalling out on a 4th and 3 from the Minnesota 15. However, Viking S Joey Browner was called for pass interference. The 49ers capitalized, as Tom Rathman scored from the 1 to make it 7-0 49ers.

The Vikings answered, as Wade Wilson completed 3 consecutive passes to 3 different receivers, culminating in a Steve Jordan touchdown reception. 7-7.

Wade Wilson

49ers punted on next drive, and then the Vikings fumbled the ball on the 49er 49 yard line. 7 plays later Montana hit Rice for a 24 yard TD. 49ers 14-7.

Vikings answered again, as a mixture of passes and runs culminated in an Alfred Anderson TD plunge from 1 yard out. 14-14.

49ers drove for a field goal in their next possession for a 17-14 lead. Vikings punted on their next drive, then Montana connected with John Taylor for a 54-yard TD strike that gave the Niners a 24-14 lead with :41 left in the 2nd Quarter.

Wade Wilson hit on 3 straight passes to put the Vikings in long field goal range, and the Chris Nelson boot was good with 2 seconds left in the half. Niners 24-17.

After another Vikings 4 and out to start the 3rd Quarter, the 49ers drove down to the Vikings 10 yard line before settling for another Mike Cofer FG. 27-17. The Vikings, with their season slipping away, went on an 80-yard, 8:37 minute drive capped by a Wilson to Darrin Nelson TD pass. Niners led at this point 27-24.

The 2 teams then exchanged punts, but on the Vikings punt John Taylor returned it for a TD. Boom, Niners 34-24.

Vikings took over on their own 13 with 9:05 left in the game. The Vikes saddled up the running game to advance near mid field, but faced a 4th and 11 with only 5:50 left in the game. Wade Wilson rose to the occasion with a 15 yard pass to Hassan Jones, and the Vikings still had a chance. Wilson drove the Vikes to the Niner 1 yard line, when another Alfred Anderson TD run narrowed the Niner lead to 34-31 with 4:18 left.

The Vikings recovered the ensuing kickoff, and drove down to the 49er 1 yard line with 1:22 left. Alfred Anderson ran it in for his 3rd TD of the game, and the Vikings took the lead for the first time at 38-34.That is how the game would end, as a Baker sack of Montana essentially put the game out of reach.

Congratulations to Bob on a great season.  

AFC Conference Championship Game: Cincinnati 45 LA Raiders 21

Boomer Esiason

Boomer Esiason passes for over 240 yards and 5 touchdowns as the Bengals advance to Super Bowl. Bengal offense was outgained 435 to 418.

NFC Divisional Playoffs: San Francisco 20 NY Giants 3

Charles Haley

Roger Craig rushed for 101 yards and Joe Montana completed 16 of 23 passes for 170, yards, 1 TD,  to
aid the Niners in a 20-3 victory over the Giants.  The San Francisco defense was relentless, aided by 3 sacks from Charles Haley, holding the G-men to just 176 total net offensive yards. San Fran will travel to Minnesota to take on the Vikings in the NFC Championship Game.

AFC Divisional Playoff: LA Raiders 45 Indianapolis 0

Marcus Allen

The Raiders move on in the 88 playoffs with a road thrashing of the Colts who where not ready for the moment . After a scoreless 1st period the floodgates opened for the Raiders scoring 17 in the 2nd , 21 points in the 3rd to leave no doubt who was moving on . Steve Beuerlein had a great game tossing 3 tds and having a 141 rating Marcus Allen ran for 2 TDs  and their defensive turned the Colts over 3 times . A critical turnover was when the Raiders lead was 3-0 and the Colts look like they where starting to resemble a drive to answer the score  . Chandler connected with Brooks over the middle for 14 yards however he was stripped of the ball by Fellows and L.A recovered promptly drove the 40 yards needed to take a 10-0 lead  on a Marcus Allen  1 yard dive .

Raider Nation celebrates  making it to the  AFC Champions game and a chance to move on to the Super Bowl . Their opponent will be either the Bengals or the Dolphins 

NFC Divisional Playoffs: Minnesota 28 LA Rams 14

First Quarter was back and forth, as Rams punted on their first 3 drives and first 2 Viking drives stopped

Anthony Carter

in LA territory on unsuccessful 4th down plays. Vikings finally broke the deadlock as time expired in the First Quarter on a Wade Wilson to Anthony Carter TD pass (the first of 3 times they would connect for a TD on the day).

The teams exchanged TDs in the 2nd Quarter, as Carter and Wilson hooked up again and the Rams’ Greg Bell pounded it in from 4 yards out (part of his 96 yard rushing effort). The first half ended with the Vikes on top 14-7.

Wilson was sharp to start the 3rd Quarter as he went 4 for 4 on the opening drive, setting up Alfred Anderson for a 13-yard TD run to make the score Minnesota 21-7. The Rams promptly went to work, driving all the way to the Viking 26 before stalling out. Mike (Do’t Call Me Carney) Lansford missed a 43-yard field goal that would have narrowed the gap. After Vikings went 4 and out, the Rams drove all the way to the Viking 24 yard line, and it looked like the game was about to get even more tense. However, Jim Everett was picked off. After the INT return, the Vikings got the 3rd Wilson to Carter TD and the Rams were facing a pretty steep hill. The Rams did score another TD in only 2 minutes, as Everett hooked up with the immortal Damone Johnson to close the gap to 28-14. That is where the score would end, as the Vikings were able to kill the last 4 minutes after recovering the Rams onside kick.

Congratulations to James on a great season. This game was an exciting one.