Week 9: Hart Leads Cards in Rout of Vikings

ST.LOUIS--Sometimes, it's just not meant to be. Little did Coach Marvin Sik know that Chuck Foreman would have to be held out due to a nagging hamstring injury, and that star QB would play one of the worst games of his life. Little did he know that the yet-to-be-feared Cards' pass rush would heat up like a yet-to-be-invented microwave oven. The Cards established the ground game early, setting up hot QB Jim Hart to take over later, while settling into a pattern of kicking field goals from the red zone.

The opening drive saw Roland (10-41) and Edwards (9-39) rack up yardage on the ground, but the drive stalled at the Vikes' 17 and Bakken nailed the field goal. After trading a few punts, including a possession where Macarthur Lane (18-70) was injured for the half the first time he touched the ball, the Cards assembled a 15-play, 53-yard drive that reached the Vikings' 7 before a holding penalty and tough defense forced another Bakken field goal to make it 6-0 midway through the second quarter. After 21 minutes of play, the Vikings had 22 yards of offense and one first down, to 124 yards and 10 first downs for St. Louis. Patterns like this usually have a way of reversing themselves during the game. Not today. The Vikes picked up 7 yards with another three-and-out. St. Louis started from the Minnesota 33 after a good punt return, and Hart hit two short passes for seven yards before Gilliam picked up 16 on an end around. Two plays netted eight yards to the two, and on third and goal, Hart connected with Jackie Smith on a quick out, but he could not cross th goal line. Fourth and goal from the one. Third time in the red zone. Time to gamble? The Cards opt to take the field goal and make it a 9-0 game.

Minnesota finally got unplugged as Tarkenton led a stunning 9-play, 80-yard TD drive in three minutes to hit paydirt with just 1:10 left in the half. Well, Tarkenton started it, but when he was banged up on a QB run at the Cards' 19, Bob Berry finished it. Tarkenton would return in the third quarter. Characteristically of today's luck for Minnetonka, the PAT was deflected and it remained a 9-6 game. St. Louis' attempt to score late in the half was partially thwarted by a key Carl Eller sack that cost yardage and time, and Bakken missed a 44-yarder. St. Louis picked up where it left off as the second half commenced, and had an extra weapon in its arsenal with the return of Lane. Things started with the perfect play call from the St. Louis 20: a play-action post to John Gilliam (5-151, 1 TD receiving, 1-16 rushing) against the safety blitz. Gilliam hauled in Hart's aerial at the 38 and dashed 52 more yards, a 70-yard play that set St. Louis up at the Minnesota 10. True to form, though, Hart cannot generate any offense in the red zone, and Bakken boots a 14-yard field goal to make it a 12-6 game with 12:58 left in the third quarter. The Cardinals had to wonder if failing to score TDs would cost them in the end. Thanks to the St. Louis defense, those failures would not prove harmful. Minnesota was stymied, and the teams traded punts until late in the third quarter.

Minnesota had held St. Louis around midfield, and took over on its 17, the sixth time in nine possessions it would start at or inside its 20. On the first play, Tarkenton fumbled the snap and Rolf Krueger pounced on it for St. Louis at the Vikes' 17. Charley Winner eschewed the conservative play-calling, figuring it was time to go for it all with one shot. He called for a post to Smith in the end zone, and against the Vikes' run defense, Hart just overthrew it. Winner called for a corner route to Gilliam, the Vikes put eight in the box, and this time Hart executed it perfectly, with Gilliam doing the two-step toe dance in the corner of the end zone for the Cards' first TD of the day and a 19-6 lead. Having sacked Tarkenton twice in Minnesota's last possession, with the second sack just missing a safety at the Minnesota one, St. Louis decided to keep the pressure on. Minnesota started at its 17 but ended at its 1 after consecutive sacks by Snowden and Wilson for a total of 21 yards. Brown's five-yard jaunt on first down proved to be the difference between a punt and a safety.

After this possession ended with 14:08 left in the game, Minnesota had a total of 99 yards of offense. St. Louis took over at the Vikes' 42 and looked to build some cushion to its two-TD lead. Hart hit Gilliam for 15, then Lane picked up four yards on two carries. WIth 11:49 left and third and six at the Vikings' 23, this play would be crucial to St. Louis hopes to effectively put it away. Minnesota called the perfect defense, with eight in the box and a key on Lane. Unfortunately for Minnesota, St. Louis executed the off-tackle play perfectly, and Lane did not come down until he had picked up 11 yards. Hart hit Smith on a quick toss on the next play, and Smith did the rest, twisting and turning into the end zone to make it a 26-6 game with 11:33 to go. Appropriately, the next possession saw Tarkenton's last pass of the day picked off, and St. Louis ran it in on an eight-play, 57-yard drive that consumed five minutes and featured only one pass, on a short pass to convert a third down.

Both teams just ran the ball from there to put an end to Minnesota's misery. When asked about his double duty as a star wideout for both teams, John Gilliam quipped, "Yeah, it was definitely tiring, effectively never coming off the field. But with inflation and gas prices today, I can use the double paycheck." "We'll never have another game like that this season, that's for sure," remarked Hart, who finished 19-32-0-254 with 2 TDs. "We could do no wrong, and it didn't seem to matter what the Vikes did, we just somehow had an answer for it. We will have to be wary of a reversal of today's fortunes in the rematch. Foreman will be back, and odds are that luck will be on their side next time."

-contributed by Chris Howell-