Cunningham Returns to NFL in Countermove

No matter where the marble cutter went, no matter how many kitchen counter tops he installed, the question from customers was always the same: When are we going to see you at quarterback in the NFL?

Of course, this was no ordinary marble cutter, no middle-aged, balding master of kitchen tops.

This was Randall Cunningham, one of the most exciting NFL quarterbacks in recent times. Whether he was firing touchdown passes while rolling out past defenders or hurdling would-be tacklers in the open field, Cunningham usually found his way to a prominent spot in the highlight films on the evening news.

But then, after 11 years in the NFL, his stock having dropped, his enthusiasm having dimmed, his skills having seemingly diminished, Cunningham, the league’s all-time leading rusher among quarterbacks, surprised the football world by announcing his retirement at 33 before the 1996 season.

Even today, with Cunningham preparing to lead the Minnesota Vikings into 3Com Park for today’s second-round NFL playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers, the quarterback insists he was serious when he said a year ago that he was taking off his helmet for the last time.

It should have come as no surprise that Cunningham temporarily retired. Playing in Philadelphia can do that to you. The City of Brotherly Love shows little love for those athletes who fail to lead it to glory.

Cunningham teased the fans of the city year after year, making them think that the quarterback with the powerful arm, the great scrambling ability and the high-flying running style finally would take the Eagles back to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1980 season.

For three consecutive years beginning in 1988, Cunningham led Philadelphia into the playoffs. For three consecutive years, Cunningham and company got no further than the first round.

It was difficult to place the blame on Cunningham’s shoulders, especially in 1990 when he passed for 30 touchdowns, ran for 942 yards and was voted league MVP by the Professional Football Writers Assn.

Cunningham’s fortunes started to go down the next year. The next game, as a matter of fact.

On opening day in 1991, he suffered a leg injury that ended his season. By 1994, Cunningham had been benched by then-coach Rich Kotite. Kotite’s successor, Ray Rhodes, didn’t have much use for Cunningham either.

At the end of the 1995 season, when the Eagles expressed no interest in bringing Cunningham back, Cunningham expressed no interest in continuing his career. Not that anybody was beating down his door to get to him.

Unable to take the heat, Cunningham got into the kitchen. He went back to Las Vegas, where he had played college football, worked in the marble and counter top business and as a television analyst and said he was happy to be away from all the burdens of the game, both mental and physical.

“I never thought I would play football again,” he said. “I had no intention of playing. I was burned out mentally. I had been playing football since 1972, and it took its toll since I always took the burdens of [the game] on myself. I no longer had a fierce desire to play.”

Out came the doubters. Randall Cunningham stay retired? Right. The way George Foreman stayed retired. The way Magic Johnson stayed retired.

But Cunningham said he would have stayed retired were it not for the persistent questions by those he came in contact with. And his deep faith.

“I heard people ask me so often when I was coming back,” Cunningham said, “that I asked God if this was his will. I asked for a sign. I asked to have teams call me if it was truly meant for me to play again.”

When Cunningham received calls from the Houston Oilers, New Orleans Saints and the Vikings, he told himself it was the sign he had been looking for to resume his career.

The offer from the Saints was the most attractive. For $875,000, Cunningham, who made $3.2 million in his last season with the Eagles, would have the opportunity to again be a starting quarterback.

Instead, Cunningham signed with the Vikings, who were offering less than half of what the Saints had put on the table, $425,000 plus incentive bonuses to be the backup to Minnesota starter Brad Johnson.

“I didn’t feel comfortable with the [New Orleans] contract,” Cunningham said. “I saw a lot of sincerity in the Minnesota coaching staff when they came out to Las Vegas to see me.”

So Cunningham signed a Viking contract, left his world of marble cutting and returned to the world that had been his life for so long.

Cunningham didn’t make it back onto the field until Minnesota’s 13th game, after Johnson suffered a herniated disk. The Vikings lost that game, despite Cunningham’s entrance.

But, with Johnson requiring season-ending neck surgery, Cunningham, who had had arthroscopic knee surgery himself only three weeks earlier, was again a starting quarterback in the NFL.

The Vikings lost Cunningham’s first two games as their starter, but the old magic returned just when Minnesota needed it most. Against the Indianapolis Colts, Cunningham threw four touchdown passes to send the Vikings into the playoffs.

And last week in Minnesota’s playoff opener, Cunningham, who had a previous postseason record of 1-4 as a starter, led the Vikings to a stirring 23-22 victory over the New York Giants at Giants Stadium. With Cunningham at the controls, Minnesota scored 10 points in the final minute and a half. He threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Jake Reed and then, after the recovery of an on-side kick, drove his team down close enough for Eddie Murray to kick the game-winning, 24-yard field goal.

Cunningham, who wore No. 12 before his retirement, now wears No. 7 because, he said, “God created the heavens and the earth in seven days and now I’ve gotten the chance to come back and complete what I started.”