Vikings hoping history won't kick them again
Minnesota carries scars of infamous postseason misses.
MINNEAPOLIS — Mike Zimmer has tools in his Winter Park office to thwart the ghosts of Vikings’ playoff past a “crystal ball” and a — “wood spirit” gifted by good Samaritans.
He makes nothing of a so-called Vikings “curse,” but if there is one, it has rested on the foot of kickers.
Kai Forbath wears designer shoe brands like Saint Laurent and Davinci by day. But when he puts on his Nike cleats before today’s NFC divisional round playoff against the Saints, he’ll do so with little thought toward the superstitions and blown kicks that vex Vikings fans. “If I trust my swing and watch my foot hit the ball,” Forbath said, “typically good things happen.”
That’s the best-case sce- nario for the Vikings’ championship hopes.
A pair of infamous kicks will have fans fighting visions of wide-left attempts from All-Pros Gary Anderson (against the Falcons) and Blair Walsh in the 1998 and 2015 playoffs, respectively. But within the organization,
there is less fretting. Coaches and teammates are confident in Forbath because of his consistent leg a nd an even-keeled demeanor befitting a 30-yearold who grew up surfing on southern California beaches between Santa Monica and Malibu.
“Unlike a lot of specialists, if something goes wrong, he doesn’t freak out,” special teams coordinator Mike Priefer said. “He doesn’t lose his mind. He doesn’t lose his composure. He learns from whatever mistake he might have made on that particular kick or kickoff or whatever it is. He comes back stronger than ever.”
Still, there is a wait-andsee mode that follows Forbath and the kicking operation that ranked 18th in the NFL in field-goal percentage, is 31st in extra-point percentage and is settling in with a new long snapper, Jeff Over- baugh, who signed Dec. 26.
Beating the Saints would be redemption of sorts.
A day after his 29th birthday last year, Forbath was at the airport readying to board a flight back to New Orleans where he had just beaten Connor Barth for the job as Saints kicker. His phone rang. Saints coach Sean Payton decided to reverse course on Sept. 6, 2016, signing undrafted rookie Wil Lutz and cutting Forbath just a few days after giving him the job.
The Vikings came calling two months later. Both kick- ers will take the field today.
Perhaps no Forbath kick was trumpeted more by Priefer to his group than a 49-yarder in Green Bay, where frigid winds meant challenging conditions.
The kick boosted confidence in a Vikings operation that missed nine kicks (two blocked) heading into the postseason.
“It’s a football game for me,” Forbath said. “Kicks aren’t worth more or less just because it’s the playoffs.”