Redskins 21, Vikings 18
By Joseph White
Associated Press
Sunday, January 2, 2005; 5:01 PM
The Minnesota Vikings collapsed again, only to fall into the playoffs thanks to a safety net provided by the New Orleans Saints.
Thwarted by an undermanned but swarming defense and their own mistakes, the Vikings wilted for the second year in a row with a chance to clinch a postseason berth in the season finale. They lost 21-18 to the Washington Redskins on Sunday, then retreated to the locker room to learn that they had backed in to the playoffs.
Because they lost, the Vikings needed New Orleans to beat Carolina or New York to beat St. Louis. The Saints won 21-18, while the Rams beat the Jets in overtime.
The Vikings finished 8-8, losing seven of their last 10 games after a 5-1 start. Last year, they fell from 6-0 to 9-7 and were eliminated by a touchdown pass on the last play of the season in an 18-17 loss to Arizona. Mike Tice jokingly referred to himself as "Coach Collapse" last week, but at least he is in the playoffs for the first time since taking over from Dennis Green during the 2001 season.
The Redskins (6-10) gave a spirited finish to Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs' disappointing comeback season, his worst in 13 years with the Redskins. The defense rattled Minnesota quarterback Daunte Culpepper with four sacks and several times forced him to throw the ball away.
Patrick Ramsey completed 17 of 26 passes for 216 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, and Ladell Betts ran 26 times for a career-high 118 yards subbing for injured back Clinton Portis. The Redskins scored more than two touchdowns for only the second time all season.
Culpepper completed 27 of 44 passes for 299 yards and two touchdowns. His last pass was a 38-yard desperation touchdown to Marcus Robinson with 2 seconds remaining. The Vikings failed to recover the subsequent onside kick.
Randy Moss caught five passes for 66 yards, including an acrobatic 28-yard touchdown pass over rookie safety Sean Taylor that cut the Redskins' lead to 14-10 late in the third quarter.
But Moss had a juggling long touchdown pass negated by a holding penalty on right tackle Adam Goldberg, Nate Burleson dropped a sure touchdown pass deep over the middle in the fourth quarter, and tight end Jeff Dugan killed a drive with a false-start penalty on third-and-goal at the 1-yard line in the first half.
The Vikings' offensive troubles were startling, considering they were playing a Redskins D missing most of its regular defensive backs. Fred Smoot didn't play because of a bruised kidney, and Shawn Springs missed part of the third quarter after falling ill at halftime.
The loss would have been uglier were it not for defensive tackle Kevin Williams, who had two sacks and created two turnovers inside Minnesota's 25-yard line. Williams intercepted a pass in the first half and stripped the ball from Ramsey in the second.
Antonio Brown, inactive for most of the season, opened the game with his first kickoff return of the season, 66 yards to Minnesota's 32-yard line. Betts had five carries to help get the ball inside the 10, then Ramsey hit rookie H-back Chris
ey for a 6-yard touchdown.
Ramsey picked apart the Vikings with short and medium passes in an 11-play drive late in the second quarter. He hit tight end Robert Royal with a 4-yard TD pass to put the Redskins ahead 14-3 at halftime.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ar ... 5Jan2.html