1/16/2000 Minnesota Vikings at St Louis Rams NFC Divisional Playoff

Sunday, January 16, 2000
Rams were favored by 7
Over/Under: 52
Thanks ‪@espn‬

[@jayNicks10]

Man when those Vikings and Rams got together it was like “Bring your calculator!” 1998: 831 yards, 69 points 1999: 880 yards, 86 points 2000: 820 yards, 69 points

[@chrisuncleahmad]

"This was a game that you knew would be played above the rim- fitting, an aerial show at the TWA Dome."

[@chrisuncleahmad]

The Vikings held Faulk to only 21 yards rushing and STILL allowed 40+ pts

[@chrisuncleahmad]

The spirit of St. Louis was in the air for passing fancy

[@DanielPerez-kr8vf]

Really puts into perspective what the Bucs defense did to these Rams the following week

[@thomascrowley9122]

The Rams really opened up in the 2nd half. Vikings got a taste of what they did to a lot of teams a year earlier

[@chrisuncleahmad]

“Everyone on this team is fast!”

[@JahNuhThunDeeTheOneAndOnly]

This marked -The first playoff win for the Rams since 1989 -The first home playoff win for the Rams since 1985 -The first playoff win for Dick Vermeil as a NFL head coach since the 1980 NFC Championship game -The first ever NFL playoff game held in St. Louis -The first ever NFL playoff win for a team based in St Louis -The last playoff game for Jeff George as a NFL starting QB

[@silverwheel]

It's still insane to me that this was the first ever NFL playoff game in STL. The Gridbirds were in town for 28 years and never once hosted a playoff game. Kind of shows how bad that franchise was while the elder Bidwill ran the team.

[@exquisitevibes5467]

I think their last home playoff win heading in was against the Cowboys in 1985 but it’s still crazy that it’s the cities first ever playoff win

[@jcarreon1983jc]

That '89 win in the playoffs is what I call the "Flipper Anderson" game.

[@californiaman4000]

Jeff George's last game as a Viking. Afterwards, he would sign with Washington as a backup to Brad Johnson. Vikings should've kept Jeff George, but for some strange reason they let him go

[@chrisuncleahmad]

Culpepper was hardly a downgrade

[@SkolneyVikings]

Culpepper was waiting in the wings. Although Green did try really hard to bring Dan Marino here that offseason.

[@josephvanhorn5347]

Three teams reached the 500 point milestone in 1998-99. The Vikings and Broncos did it in ‘98 and the Rams got there in ‘99. It had only ever been done 3 times before. (‘83 Redskins, ‘84 Dolphins, ‘94 49ers) Were these high scoring offenses a sign of the times? Not really. The Rams scored over 500 points in the following 2 seasons, too, but the only other teams to break the 500 point barrier for the decade after St. Louis made it 3 teams in 2 years were historically great offenses. The 2004 Colts and 2007 Patriots both surpassed 500 points but were aided by what many considered to be the best seasons ever by a quarterback up to that point. The ‘98 Vikings and Broncos as well as the ‘99 Rams were 3 of the best offenses in history. They just happened to exist at the same time. The real changing of the times to high scoring teams started in 2009 with the Saints. There has been at least one team to score 500+ points in 10 of the 12 seasons since ‘09. The only years it didn’t happen were 2014 when 6 teams scored at least 450 points (Broncos came closest with 482) and 2017 when 4 teams got within 50 points. (Rams 478) 2020 saw just about half the league score 400+ points (15 teams) and 9 teams put up 451 or more. The Buffalo Bills scored 501 points. The same Bills that scored 350 or fewer points 21 times in the previous 28 seasons. I’m just messing around. I know the Bills are really good these days. I’m not joking about their futile past, though.

[@logicaldude3611]

People who weren't old enough to watch this don't understand. There was this nagging feeling, week after week, that Kurt Warner would be exposed as a fraud. At some point, he would not deliver and would have an absolutely atrocious game that would start ending the Rams hopes. But it never happened. He delivered over and over again, even in the game against the Bucs a week later when things looked gloomy he threw an amazing and improbable game winning TD pass. What a magical season.

[@elliebrown8633]

Kurt Warner is such a phony, though.

[@roguegust8832]

2:28 and just like that the game was over.

[@SkolneyVikings]

Hey we have the lead at halftime. We might have a chan---

[@jayNicks10]

They had a chance to extend their lead in the end of the half but decided to take a knee. John Madden would say “I don’t understand this.” Especially after their defense made a stop and called a timeout.

[@arodgefan589]

I was constantly disappointed with Moss's behavior. I think in the end, he was a headache that Minnesota (and future teams he went to) didn't need. Same with TO, Chad Johnson, OBJ, AB, etc.

[@JahNuhThunDeeTheOneAndOnly]

3:34 Big Man TD

[@chrisuncleahmad]

Tony Horne (O’Plenty). HE COULD. GO. ALL. THE. WAY!

[@Mark-xl1ze]

The Rams getting the best of the Vikings in the postseason for once.

[@KyleCaughlin]

Rams: Hey Vikings, what was all that "wE gOt FaT oN a CuPcAkE sChEdUlE" talk you were doing last week? Yeah, have a seat on the couch, chumps.

[@mikesteelheart]

Just classic purple bad luck! If we go up against any team other than The GSOT that year we win. George throws for 423yds and 4 TD's but we lose lol, really?

[@boogitybear2283]

Coach Vermeil should have never left the Rams. I guess his contract with them was up and he chose to go elsewhere. They definitely would have won a 3 peat had he led the team versus Martz.

[@SeanGrady90]

He retired from coaching after winning the Super Bowl. Then of course unretired to coach the Chiefs. I don’t think it was a matter of the Rams not wanting to keep him or him wanting to leave them to coach another team.