Vikings Fans a Little Antsy over One Player
The main takeaway from Sunday afternoon regarding the Minnesota Vikings? The team’s win over the Green Bay Packers and one-game-away stakes from earning homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.
Vikings Fans a Little Antsy over One Player
A secondary takeaway? Budding anxiety about the kicker.
Rookie specialist Will Reichard missed two field goals — one from 57 yards and the other from 43 — marking his fifth missed field goal of 2024.
Reichard suffered a Week 9 quad injury, causing him to miss four games, and fellow kicker Parker Romo filled in admirably. Romo now plays for the New England Patriots on their practice squad.
And while most onlookers of the team hope Reichard will rebound just fine — he probably will — two missed field goals on the eve-eve of the postseason aren’t ideal. Thankfully, Reichard remains perfect on extra points, a gridiron demon that plagued Minnesota for about a decade before Reichard’s arrival.
Vikings fan Jeff Ludwig wrote to the Vikings.com mailbag after the win, “Reichard’s missed FG in the fourth quarter. That miss was a 43-yarder? That won’t work against the Lions or in the Playoffs.”
That sentiment is echoed across the board among fans, holding their breath a bit because all Vikings enthusiasts are familiar with inopportune missed kicks of all varieties. They ruin seasons; they ruin playoff games.
Reichard’s have seemed to start out of nowhere after weeks of accumulating goodwill.
Craig Peters of Vikings.com replied to Ludwig, “Will Reichard had an up-and-down day. His first field goal attempt was 57 yards and was inches from going in. It hit the crossbar and bounced back to the field instead of through the uprights. He then made all three extra points, as well as a 25-yarder and a 50-yarder (after a penalty was called against Green Bay on an errant 55-yard attempt just before halftime).”
“But Reichard also hit the left upright on a 43-yard attempt in the fourth quarter that would have made it 30-10.”
Reichard actually missed three field goals to the naked eye, though a Packers neutral zone infraction nullified one.
The man basically had a subpar day at the office — the second time in his young career with two missed in the same contest.
Fortunately, Reichard’s shenanigans don’t feel entirely systemic or dooming. He came up short on the 57-yarder, and that’s not an easy kick for any NFLer. The rookie has shown he can hit from that distance, so the miss could be an outlier.
No matter what, however, Minnesota will need Reichard to minimize misses in the next two, three, or four games.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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