[1][2] The visiting Atlanta Falcons defeated the heavily favored[3] Minnesota Vikings 30–27 in sudden death overtime to win their first conference championship and advance to the franchise's first Super Bowl appearance.

[6][7][8] Entering the playoffs, the Vikings were the favorite to win the Super Bowl,[9] as they had set the NFL record for most points scored by a team in a single season.

[9][10] At a critical moment late in the game, Anderson missed a field goal for the first time that year, which, if converted, would have given the Vikings a nearly insurmountable 10-point lead.

This history of misfortune led the NFL Network to rank the Vikings as the second most "snake-bitten" franchise of all-time, behind only the Cleveland Browns for their playoff losses in the late 1980s.

[23] He also converted every field goal and extra point attempt in a Divisional playoff round victory against the Arizona Cardinals the week before the NFC Championship.

Thirty-eight of the fifty-three players on the 1998 Falcons team had been brought in by Reeves over the previous year,[6] including journeyman quarterback Chris Chandler, who had a career-best season in 1998.

[26] Running back Jamal Anderson also posted a career-high 1,846 rushing yards, which led the NFC that year,[27] and the defense finished fourth overall in points allowed.

[29] Reeves was able to return to the team in time for their first playoff game, in which the Falcons beat their division rival, the San Francisco 49ers, to clinch a spot in the Conference Championship.

[28] Despite an impressive season, they were not expected to match up well against the Vikings, who had beaten teams by an average of 23.22 points at home that year[30] and were installed as 11-point favorites for the Championship Game.

After forcing the Falcons to punt on the next drive, the Vikings scored another touchdown on a one-yard run by Cunningham, increasing the lead to 17–7 with five minutes remaining in the first half.

On the ensuing drive, Moss dropped what would have been a touchdown pass in the end zone, leaving Gary Anderson to kick another field goal to make the score 20–7.

[11] A converted field goal would have given the Vikings a 10-point lead, which would have almost certainly clinched victory, according to Pro Football Prospectus[5] and the NFL Network documentary The Missing Rings.

[10] Citing a mathematical algorithm by sports analytics company numberFire, The New York Post reported that the Vikings had a 95.23% chance of winning the game had Anderson converted the field goal.

[11] The Vikings won the coin toss and started overtime with possession of the football on their own 29-yard line, but managed to convert only one first down and punted to Atlanta.

[37] Overjoyed with victory, Falcons players also wept after the game, and the team ripped open pillows and threw feathers in celebration on their charter flight back to Atlanta.

[35] The loss had a dramatic effect on Minnesota sports culture, as the 1998 Vikings were considered the team most likely to deliver a championship to a franchise that had already suffered multiple heartbreaking defeats.

[15] Banks further noted that "The Vikings have never completely recovered from that game,"[32] a sentiment shared by Bill Simmons[43] and NFL Films[14] This perception has also extended into popular culture, as the game became a plot point in the episode "Little Minnesota" of the television show How I Met Your Mother when Robin, a Canadian character, asks the significance of a banner in a Minnesota-themed bar that reads, "I'm drinking till I forget the 1999 [sic] NFC Championship.

"[44] Gary Anderson's missed kick has been singled out as the main contributing factor to the Vikings' loss, as the Falcons were able to capitalize on the late shift in momentum produced by an unexpected opportunity to tie and eventually win the game.

Considering this impact on the game's outcome and the historic performances of Anderson and the 1998 Vikings team, the miss has since been noted as a memorable moment in the greater history of the NFL.

[9] Paul Allen, the play-by-play radio announcer for the Vikings, and Dan Barreiro both consider the miss as one of the most devastating moments in the history of Minnesota sports.

[9][14] According to Chad Hartman, another sports radio host based in Minneapolis, "[Anderson] will always be known as the guy who was a part of screwing up the Vikings' trip to the Super Bowl, even though he had this magnificent season.

"[9] ESPN voted the miss as the most memorable play in Vikings history, and ESPN contributor Ben Goessling believes that the miss influenced misfortunes that the franchise faced in subsequent years, including three additional conference championship losses in 2000 (when they were shut out 41–0 by the New York Giants), 2009 (when they were nearly in range of a game-clinching field goal before Brett Favre threw an interception), and 2017 (when they followed up the "Minneapolis Miracle" with the "Minneapolis Massacre").

"[6] Vikings backup quarterback Brad Johnson echoed this sentiment, stating, "I think someone got loose on the left end and they almost blocked it, and [Anderson] tried to slice it in there.

[32][47] Barreiro also criticized the performance of Vikings starting quarterback Cunningham, who he felt did not handle the pressure of the game well and called "dreadful down the stretch".

[48] Vikings head coach Dennis Green was criticized for his decision to kneel on 3rd down and play for overtime instead of attempting to score before the end of regulation.

"[50] Nonetheless, local Minneapolis newspaper Star Tribune has contended that taking a knee was the correct decision due to the performance of the Vikings' offense,[51] whose struggles that day were also noted by Carter.

Media analysis before the game noted that the Vikings' defense needed to focus on shutting down Falcons running back Jamal Anderson; feeling overlooked, Chandler used the coverage as extra motivation.

[6] In a retrospective for the website SportsGrid, Geoff Magliocchetti detailed the end of the game, in which he claims that Chandler "embarked on the drive of his life, an 8-play, 71-yard masterpiece, finding Mathis from 16 yards out for the tying score.

[35] Two weeks later in the Super Bowl, the Falcons played the Broncos, the game pitting coach Dan Reeves against his former team and their star quarterback, John Elway.

[29] at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, Minneapolis Minnesota Per Pro Football Reference:[2] Per Pro Football Reference:[2] 1Completions/attempts 2Carries 3Long gain 4Receptions 5Times targeted As credited during the Fox Sports broadcast of the 1998 NFC Championship game:[11] Hall of Fame‡[61] As credited during the Fox Sports broadcast of the 1998 NFC Championship game:[11]