Vikings Territory: Your Fears About The Vikings Kicking Game Are Real

Press release from Vikings Territory:

July 23, 2021

The cynicism by fans of Minnesota Vikings kickers is longstanding and well-deserved.

in Greg Joseph via Riley Patterson

Vikings fans’ sneers for kickers date back 23 years. It was 1998, and Gary Anderson missed a field goal at the most inopportune time imaginable, further causing the downfall of an otherwise storybook season. From that moment on, an ominous gloom hovers over each field goal attempt — even when things are going fairly well.

Those are the biggies seared forever in brains.

The Vikings are due.

Then, there’s a naughtier subject — extra points. During the Zimmer era, no other organization encounters more sorrow than the Vikings for extra points. Here are two stats that confirm the doldrums:

Minnesota is the worst in the business from a percentage standpoint — and the sheer volume of misses:

Therefore, your skepticism is vindicated. It does not aid the anxiety that opposing kickers seldom miss against the Vikings.

The Vikings miss more fields goals than most teams; those teams rarely miss versus the Vikings. What a gruesome special teams mess.

Plus, every missed kick and every missed extra point generates eye rolls. Onlookers of the team watch every snap, every kick, every down. A failed kick rekindles the bad kind of nostalgia.

This press release was produced by Vikings Territory. The views expressed here are the author’s own.