It\u2019s been 21 years.<\/p>\n
Twenty-one years today. January 9, 2005. Vikings at Packers. Wild-card round. <\/p>\n
The sixth-seeded Vikings, who qualified for the playoffs with an 8-8 record, visited the third-seeded Packers at Lambeau Field. The Packers had swept the regular-season series, winning both games by the score of 34-31.<\/p>\n
The Vikings built a 17-3 lead in the first half. By the fourth quarter, Minnesota still led by fourteen, 24-10.<\/p>\n
After the Packers scored with 13:37 to play, cutting the margin to seven points, the Vikings were in danger of blowing it. They moved the ensuing kickoff to the Packers\u2019 34. On first and 10, receiver Randy Moss did a stutter step within five yards of the line of scrimmage. Cornerback Al Harris bit. Moss took off, throwing his hand in the air.<\/p>\n
Quarterback Daunte Culpepper rolled a few more steps to the right before firing the ball toward Moss. Harris closed the gap as the underthrown pass approached. Moss caught it at the five and carried Harris into the end zone.<\/p>\n
And then Moss went to the goal post. He pretended to moon the crowd<\/a>. He capped the gesture by rubbing his rump on the padding.<\/p>\n Enter Fox\u2019s Joe Buck: \u201cThat is a disgusting act by Randy Moss. And it\u2019s unfortunate that we had it on our air live. That is disgusting by Randy Moss.\u201d<\/p>\n Moss later explained that the fake moon was inspired by the collection of real moons that the Vikings saw on their way to the stadium that day.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s probably like 10 white asses sitting over there over the hill, they\u2019ve got all their pants down<\/a>,\u201d Moss said in 2021. \u201cNothing but white moons all lined up.\u201d<\/p>\n Moss was fined $10,000 for the celebration. Which prompted one of the best NFL sound bites of all time.<\/p>\n Heading to his truck at the team\u2019s facility, someone with a camera asked Moss whether he wrote a check for the fine.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re rich, you don\u2019t write checks,\u201d Moss said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you don\u2019t write checks,\u201d he was asked, \u201chow do you pay these guys?\u201d<\/p>\n