Fifty-three men bounced, laughed, shrieked and stomped in unison Sunday afternoon. They stood not on a boat but on the Metrodome field, their moves wholesome and borne of a most appropriate kind of jubilation: professional success.
Displaying a spark seemingly extinguished by national embarrassment, the Vikings (2-4) gave themselves a reason to celebrate Sunday.
They roared back from a 17-point halftime deficit, won over a hostile home crowd and defeated the Green Bay Packers 23-20 on Paul Edinger’s career-long 56-yard field goal as time expired.
Edinger’s kick sparked a wild postgame celebration — centered around Edinger himself, who sprinted 20 yards downfield before teammates caught up to him — and preserved the competitive portion of the Vikings’ season.
“That’s the way we’ve got to approach each game, with the feeling that we had at that moment,” receiver Nate Burleson said.
At halftime Sunday, few at the Metrodome would have believed that moment would arrive. Behind quarterback Brett Favre, who completed his first 13 passes, the Packers (1-5) stormed to a 17-0 halftime lead. Green Bay outgained the Vikings 254-69 in the half.
Allegations of an Oct. 6 sex party on Lake Minnetonka had created such an uncertain environment that the team bypassed pregame introductions. Booed heavily in the first half, quarterback Daunte Culpepper calmly led the fifth-best comeback in Vikings history; the offense scored more points in the fourth quarter, 13, than it had managed in three games this season.
The final three points came after Culpepper drove the Vikings 26 yards in two plays during the final 17 seconds. Edinger, who kicked a 60-yard field goal in practice two weeks ago, had at least 5 yards to spare on Sunday’s game-winner.
“I can’t explain the feeling,” said the understated Edinger, who missed two attempts last week in a 28-3 loss to the Bears.
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The Vikings scored on all five of their second-half possessions, sandwiching a pair of short Edinger field goals around Culpepper’s touchdown passes of 27 yards to Marcus Robinson and 14 yards to Mewelde Moore.
The Vikings’ defense, meanwhile, took advantage of injuries to Green Bay receiver Robert Ferguson (ankle) and Ahman Green (knee) to shut down the Packers for most of the second half. Cornerback Fred Smoot switched positions and blanketed Packers receiver Donald Driver, who had caught six passes for 101 yards and a touchdown in the first half.
Moore’s score put the Vikings ahead 20-17 with 3 minutes 10 seconds to go. But Favre got Green Bay into position for a 39-yard Ryan Longwell field-goal attempt with 28 seconds left.
Longwell, who had missed two of three attempts earlier in the game, drilled this one for the tie. Vikings coach Mike Tice had elected to save his only timeout for the final drive, allowing Green Bay to run some 30 seconds off the clock before Longwell’s kick.
“I was already planning on winning the coin toss [in overtime] and winning the game,” Favre said.