Dennis Green and Randall Cunningham Triggered a Butterfly Effect for the Vikings

Several moments in a franchise’s history can change its trajectory. Unfortunately for the Minnesota Vikings, most of them have been negative.

Gary Anderson’s missed field goal in the 1998 NFC Championship game and the New York Giants beating them 41-0 in the 2000 NFC Championship game had consequences in the final years of the Dennis Green era. Brett Favre’s interception during the 2009 NFC Championship game triggered its own set of events, and Teddy Bridgewater’s knee injury drastically altered Mike Zimmer’s time with the Vikings.

Many events shaped the Vikings as we know them. However, the biggest catalyst may have been Randall Cunningham’s decision to come out of retirement in 1997.

You may think I’m omitting the obvious. A few months after Cunningham joined the Vikings, they added Randy Moss to produce one of the most electric seasons by a receiver in NFL history. Moss’s presence rejuvenated the fanbase and sparked the team to fight off attempts to move them to San Antonio or Los Angeles, eventually leading to the building of U.S. Bank Stadium.

But the truth is none of these things happen if Cunningham continued to lay marble and granite instead of giving the NFL one last try.

Dual-threat quarterbacks are the norm in today’s NFL, but Cunningham was a unicorn when he entered the league in 1985. Equipped with a big arm and the mobility of a running back, it took Cunningham until his third year to become the full-time starter for the Philadelphia Eagles. He took the league by storm, earning three straight Pro Bowl appearances and finishing second in MVP voting twice between 1988 and 1990.

Unfortunately, Cunningham’s style didn’t lead to a long shelf life in an era where league rules didn’t protect the quarterback like they are now, and he tore his ACL during the 1991 season. While recovering from the injury is (almost) as routine as an oil change now, it sapped Cunningham of some of his athleticism, and he spent the 1993 and 1994 seasons battling health woes.

After taking a backseat to Rodney Peete, Cunningham retired. It felt like the type of career you talk about with a few friends over a few beers. However, Green made a fateful phone call to Cunningham, and it just happened to save his job.

Green took over as head coach of the Vikings in 1992 and led Minnesota to an 11-5 season. While he had immediate success, his first six seasons could be described as being Jeff Fisher before Jeff Fisher was cool. He led the Vikings to nine or fewer wins in four of the next five seasons.

The franchise’s stagnant nature, plus an autobiography titled No Room for Crybabies, turned up the heat under the seat. After starting the season 8-2, the Vikings lost five of their next six games to limp into the playoffs at 9-7. Even worse, starting quarterback Brad Johnson was lost for the season after suffering a herniated cervical disk, which thrust Cunningham into action.

Green needed to win a playoff game against the New York Giants to keep his job, and things weren’t going well. Cunningham lost three turnovers in the first half, and the Vikings fell behind 13-0 in the second quarter. The Vikings clawed to make it a nine-point lead in the second half but were behind 22-13 when Green decided to punt with 3:51 to go.

A quick three-and-out gave the Vikings the ball back at the 49-yard line, and Cunningham came alive. A 30-yard touchdown pass to Jake Reed made it a 22-20 game with 1:30 to go. The Vikings recovered an onside kick to regain possession. Two big completions to Andrew Glover and Cris Carter, a pass interference penalty, and a Robert Smith 16-yard run later, Eddie Murray hit a 24-yard field goal to complete the biggest road comeback in the playoffs since 1972.

The San Francisco 49ers blasted the Vikings, 38-22, the following week, but Cunningham’s comeback saved Green’s job. In the following offseason, Green took a chance on a falling Marshall receiver named Moss, and away the Vikings went.

Johnson got hurt again, and Cunningham replaced him. Cunningham finished as the runner-up to Terrell Davis in MVP voting after throwing for 3,704 yards, 34 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. Moss was the runaway winner of the Rookie of the Year award. The Vikings went 15-1 before Anderson’s shank against the Atlanta Falcons.

Despite the heartbreak, Green was back for another year, thanks in part to Cunningham’s performance. It bought enough time for the Vikings to trade Johnson to the Washington Commanders and use the first-round pick acquired in the trade to select Daunte Culpepper in the 1999 NFL Draft.

Culpepper spent his rookie season on the sidelines while Cunningham faded and Jeff George took over, but Culpepper earned the starting job in 2000. He threw for 3,937 yards, 33 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions in his rookie season and was a tank on the ground with 470 yards and seven rushing touchdowns.

The 6’4″, 260 lbs. Culpepper was built like a Madden Create-A-Player and led the Vikings to an 11-5 record and another appearance in the NFC Championship Game, but this trip to New York turned out much differently. The Vikings fired Green the following year after a 5-11 campaign, and Cunningham retired after spending his final two years as a backup with the Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens. Still, the long-term repercussions of Green’s phone call in 1997 had a lasting effect.

Green became a Ring of Honor coach for the Vikings and later parlayed it into a stint with the Arizona Cardinals, leading to one of the greatest soundbites ever. Moss and Culpepper spawned a new generation of Vikings fans and bought enough time for the Wilf family to acquire the franchise from Red McCombs in 2005.

If Green doesn’t call Cunningham, do the Vikings beat the Giants in 1997 and save his job? Do the Vikings take the risk on Moss as he’s falling down the draft board? Does Culpepper join the Vikings as Green’s hand-picked franchise quarterback in 1999? And are the Vikings stuck playing in the Alamodome instead of U.S. Bank Stadium?

These are all plausible alternative realities. Still, it’s something that changed when Green picked up the phone to call Cunningham.