The 1998 NFC Championship Game was a National Football League game played on

January 17, 1999, to determine the National Football Conference (NFC) champion for
the 1998 NFL season. The visiting Atlanta Falcons defeated the heavily favored
Minnesota Vikings 30�27 in sudden death overtime to win their first conference
championship and advance to the franchise's first Super Bowl appearance. The
Vikings had gone undefeated in their home stadium, the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
(pictured), during the regular season, and their placekicker, Gary Anderson, had
become the first kicker in NFL history to convert every field goal and extra point
attempt in a season. At a critical moment late in the game, Anderson missed a field
goal that would have given the Vikings a nearly insurmountable 10-point lead.
Instead, the Falcons scored a touchdown to tie the game on their ensuing drive, and
in overtime they won by a field goal. The Vikings became the first team with an NFL
regular season record of 15�1 that did not go on to win the Super Bow