Longwell comes up big in clutch again

The Vikings have now won six games over the past three seasons because of a Ryan Longwell field goal late in the fourth quarter or in overtime, proving again that coach Brad Childress and the personnel department made a great decision in picking up the veteran kicker when the Packers decided not to bring him back for the 2006 season.

Longwell's 50-yarder as time expired Sunday at the Metrodome gave the Vikings a 20-19 victory over the Giants, and it was his third winning field goal in the final seconds this season. He made a 30-yarder with 13 seconds left at New Orleans for a 30-27 victory and a 38-yarder with nine seconds left in a 12-10 home victory over Detroit. Certainly, the Vikings would not be NFC North champions if it weren't for Longwell's accuracy.

"He was a guy that Coach and our personnel department evaluated as an important position for us, and we were aggressive like we always are in free agency with guys that target and fit Coach's program," said Rob Brzezinski, Vikings vice president of football operations. "We were aggressive and we got it done."

Brzezinski added: "We contacted him on the first day of free agency, brought him in on Zygi [Wilf]'s plane -- and Zygi and Mark [Wilf] give us whatever we need, whatever resources competitively we need to win -- and we flew him in that first day and got a deal done.

"There were some other teams interested, but again, the Wilfs provided us with the airplane, with the resources to strike quick and be aggressive and get it done."

Longwell signed a five-year, $10 million contract in 2006, so fortunately for the Vikings, he remains under contract for two more seasons.

"Brad leads the charge as far as who he wants on his football team and how he builds his football team and the type of character guys we want on this football team," Brzezinski said. "[Longwell] was identified with Ben Leber and Steve Hutchinson and Chester Taylor and the other guys we brought in that year."

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Packers not interested After the 2005 season, the Packers allowed Longwell to leave after nine years of outstanding kicking, and the Vikings were more than eager to pick him up.

"There wasn't a contract offer from Green Bay. I wanted to continue to play, and the Vikings came after me right at midnight right at the start of free agency," Longwell recalled. "[The Packers] didn't even offer a contract. When [wife] Sarah and I and the kids left Green Bay after that last game against the Seahawks, we knew that was the last time there."

The Vikings were competing with the Buccaneers for Longwell's services, but the Vikings won out after they increased their signing bonus offer from $2 million to $3 million.

"Minnesota and Tampa is what it came down to, and Minnesota was very aggressive about it and we appreciated that," Longwell said. "Sarah and I got on a plane to come up here and that was pretty much it. I think we signed by noon on the first day of free agency."

Longwell, 34, made only 20 of 27 field-goal attempts (74.1 percent) in '05 with the Packers but has converted 70 of 83 (84.3 percent) in his three seasons with the Vikings. With his winning 50-yarder Sunday, he improved to 6-for-6 on field goals of 50 or more yards this season, and he now has 15 career game-winning kicks.

Sunday's winner came despite an extended wait, which saw the Vikings calling a timeout; the Giants calling a timeout to ice him; the Vikings pulling him off the field to squeeze in one more offensive play, an incomplete pass; and the Giants then calling another timeout to ice him again.

"Well, it was one of the most bizarre things I've seen," Longwell said. "They obviously called a timeout because we were lining up, and then they brought our offense back out to run some more time off the clock, which was kind of a timeout, then we lined up again and they called another timeout, because it was not the same play.

"You just kind of restart the whole routine again, and it's a timeout for me, but it's also a timeout for [long snapper] Cullen [Loeffler] and [holder Chris] Kluwe too. I mean, they have to sit there.

"It was a great snap and a great hold and when it left my foot, I knew it was tracking and there was no way it was going to go right or left."

Part of a routine Said Loeffler, in his fifth year with the Vikings: "I don't like to talk about my own snaps, but the operation was great and Ryan hit a heck of a ball and we won -- that's the only thing that matters.

"We kind of have a routine: I have a routine; Ryan has a routine; Chris has a routine. Every time we set out we go through certain nuances and I think it felt great and I was just absorbing about three guys, so I had to get out from under the pile to watch it go through."

Loeffler also found the ending unusual, saying, "That's the first time that I've had three timeouts right before a game-winning field goal, but we get enough harassment from our own team when we do our own drills. So, that was a lot easier than we would have day-to-day."

Loeffler sang the praises of Kluwe's hold. "Kluwe's done a great job all year," he said. "He's done a great job since he started doing it and we like having the chance to win games so hopefully we have some more and we can have the same result."

Had to watch time The decision to pull Longwell off the field to run one more play was not without risk. It came with only nine seconds left and the Vikings without any more timeouts if a player was tackled inbounds.

"We were just throwing a quick-gain pass, and if we could have gained 4 or 5 yards there on a quick out, that's what we were looking to do," Childress said.

"They had some confusion because they obviously were setting up for us going for a field goal, and we switched personnel. There's no downside to picking up 4 or 5 yards and helping Longwell out.

"As it turns out, he didn't need it, but they had been blitzing us all day long and I thought they might be playing with one high safety and we thought if we could pick up 4 or 5 more we were going to throw it by the boundary or throw it over his head, and I didn't feel like there was any downside."

Tarvaris Jackson threw the ball to the sideline, but it was well over the head of Bobby Wade, leaving five seconds on the clock before Longwell's kick, after one more Giants timeout.

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on WCCO AM-830 at 6:40, 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. and on his Podcast once a week at www.startribune.com/sidcast. shartman@startribune.com