View exclusive images of the ring that the Vikings will present Wide Receiver Randy Moss for his enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame with on Sunday Night Football when the Vikings take on the Green Bay Packers at U.S. Bank Stadium.
This season, the Vikings are commemorating the 20thanniversary of the 1998 team.
Minnesota went 15-1 during the 1998 regular season, during which it set a then-NFL scoring record with 556 points. Randy Moss came on the scene and caught 17 touchdown passes, the most-ever by a rookie. He combined with Cris Carter and Jake Reed to form "Three Deep."
For each week of the 2018 regular season, we'll throw it back to 1998 and take a look at each of the Vikings 16 games.
We'll continue this series with Minnesota's Week 12 game against Green Bay, which also matches up with the current Vikings as they play at home against the Packers this weekend.
The 1998 Vikings had already beaten Green Bay by the score of 37-24 at Lambeau Field. With Minnesota sporting a 9-1 record, the Vikings had their eyes on a season sweep of their most bitter rival.
Moss put on yet another show against Green Bay, hauling in eight catches for 153 yards and a touchdown. Moss' two-game total against the Packers in 1998 was 13 receptions for a whopping 343 yards and a trio of touchdowns.
Quarterback Randall Cunningham also had a big day as he threw for 264 yards with a pair of touchdowns.
Defensively, the Vikings had just one interception on Packers quarterback Brett Favre, but they made sure to make it count against the future Hall of Famer.
Click**here**for the first recap in this series (Week 1 vs. Tampa Bay).
Click**here**for the second recap in this series (Week 2 at St. Louis).
Click**here**for the third recap in this series (Week 3 vs. Detroit).
Click**here**for the fourth recap in this series (Week 4 at Chicago).
Click**here**for the fifth recap in this series (Week 5 at Green Bay).
Click**here**for the sixth recap in this series (bye week).
Click**here**for the seventh recap in this series (Week 7 vs. Washington).
Click**here**for the eighth recap in this series (Week 8 at Detroit).
Click**here**for the ninth recap in this series (Week 9 at Tampa Bay).
Click**here**for the 10th recap in this series (Week 10 vs. New Orleans).
Click**here**for the 11th recap in this series (Week 11 vs. Cincinnati).
Vikings 28, Packers 14
Weather:None (dome) | Temp:68 degrees Fahrenheit
Paid Attendance: 64,471| Time of game: 1 p.m. (CT)
GB 0 7 0 7 | 14
MIN 10 10 0 8 | 28
The Vikings never trailed in this one thanks to strong defense and special teams that helped Minnesota get out to an early 13-0 lead.
Favre was hit and fumbled away Green Bay's first possession, which led to kicker Gary Anderson capping off Minnesota's opening drive with a 35-yard field goal.
The teams then traded punts before Minnesota's defense struck again.
Favre was picked off by Vikings cornerback Jimmy Hitchcock, who promptly returned the interception 58 yards for a score to give the Vikings a double-digit lead. The score was Hitchcock's second pick-six of the season.
Anderson soon added another field goal before the Packers cut into the lead when Favre threw a 12-yard touchdown pass.
But Minnesota responded just before the half as Cunningham tossed a 4-yard score to Carter to re-up the Vikings lead to 13 points.
Favre tried to lead a comeback by throwing another touchdown midway through the fourth quarter, but the NFL's most explosive rookie in 1998 made sure the Vikings would leave the Metrodome with a win.
The Vikings held a 20-14 lead before they went on a seven-play, 79-yard scoring drive that ended when Moss hauled in a 49-yard touchdown from Cunningham. It was Moss' eighth touchdown catch on the season.
Cunningham tacked on the 2-point conversion to help the Vikings pull ahead by 14.
Minnesota's defense forced and recovered a fumble on Green Bay's final drive to seal the deal.
Green Bay tallied more first downs, a better third-down percentage and had a higher time of possession against Minnesota, but it was the Vikings who did enough to win and get the season sweep over the Packers. It was Minnesota's first sweep in the series since the 1993 season.
The victory was Minnesota's sixth in division play in 1998, and helped move the Vikings to a 10-1 record. Green Bay fell to 7-4 with the loss.
Headline: "Take two" (Star Tribune | Nov. 23, 1998)
Quotables
"There's nothing I like more about football than going out there on Sunday and lacing my shoes up. There's a lot of people that doubted me throughout the year about, 'Can he play in the big games?' and, '[That] Monday night could have been a fluke.' So I just had to make plays." – Moss quoted in the Star Tribune
Play of the game
There might have been a bit of tension in the Metrodome as the Vikings offense got the ball back with a six-point lead midway through the fourth quarter.
But all of that went away and the crowd breathed a sigh of relief the moment Moss caught one of his patented deep balls for a touchdown.
Cunningham faked a handoff to running back Robert Smith on the play before looking Moss' way and launching a deep pass down the right sideline.
The pass was a wobbler, which caused Moss to track back to the ball near the 5-yard line while shielding Green Bay cornerback Rod Smith from the ball.
Packers safety Darren Sharper came running over to try and break up the pass, but ended up crashing into Smith as Moss calmly collected the football and waltzed into the end zone.
