CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Vikings games here always are memorable in a weird, offbeat way. Games in other cities all tend to run together. But something screwy always sticks out after a trip to Charlotte.

“I don’t know what it is about Carolina and Charlotte,” E.J. Henderson said. “Craziness.”

It was here in Charlotte two years ago that a bandy-legged, dripping-wet Brad Childress, clutching a towel around his waist, took off after Brett Favre in the locker room following a 38-13 loss. Childress was livid when he was told that Favre revealed to the media that he had refused to leave the game, despite the coach’s order to do so.

“Who do you think you are?” Childress screamed. “I’ll ship your #$% out of here!”

“I remember,” Kevin Williams said, giggling at the recollection.

It was here in Charlotte six years ago that Steve Smith caught 11 passes for 201 yards, primarily against Fred Smoot. And after one particular touchdown catch, Smith pantomimed rowing a boat, a not-so-veiled reference to the Vikings’ infamous Love Boat incident, which had occurred just a few weeks earlier.

Prior to kickoff of that game, Smoot, allegedly one of the ringleaders of the scandal, trash-talked Smith right there on the field.

“I remember that, absolutely,” Antoine Winfield said with a laugh. “I was out there. I heard him. It was right after the boat! Steve Smith went off on us for 200 yards, and then he did the boat thing!”

“Smith went off on us,” Jim Kleinsasser recalled. “And then he did the rowboat. We keep it interesting, don’t we?”

It also was in Charlotte that Daunte Culpepper suffered a knee injury on a seemingly harmless tackle. Culpepper never was the same quarterback after that.

Sunday’s game, a 24-21 Minnesota victory, ended with another choice bit of weirdness. With 29 seconds left, Carolina kicker Olindo Mare missed what should have been an easy, game-tying, 31-yard field goal. Nobody could believe it. There was just … silence. Instead of overtime, suddenly the game was over. And everyone soon drifted off the field.

“I was sending my hex out there on him,” Kleinsasser noted.

“It was another one of those crazy games,” Williams said. “They made a fourth and 15 on that drive but missed the field goal. You couldn’t ask for a better way to go.”

Williams shook his head as if he couldn’t believe how it all ended.

“What happened on that field goal?” he asked. “He just missed it? Well, I’ll take it.”

Yes, he just missed it. Unbelievable. The snap and hold were good. Mare simply pulled it.

“I’ll bet my last dollar every time – every time – in that situation again,” Panthers quarterback Cam Newton said. “Olindo is a great kicker.”

Not today, pal.

“Everybody did their job, and it came down to me toeing it up, and I didn’t do it,” Mare said. “It’s disappointing. I let the team down, the coaches down, the fans down, everybody.”

He didn’t let the Vikings down.

“Something finally went our way here,” Winfield noted.

The Vikings haven’t had a lot of things go their way this season. Who would have thought that their first big break of 2011 was to occur in a place where bad things usually happen? When the shock of the missed chip shot wore off, Leslie Frazier became ecstatic on the sideline. He was thrilled over his good fortune and afterward noted that one of his players, Steve Hutchinson, came running up to him and said:

“See that, Coach? We’re not cursed. We’re all right.”

For one game, at least, the Vikings were all right. After sputtering out of the gate, Christian Ponder looked good, performing every bit as well as the more highly touted Newton, another rookie quarterback. Ponder continues to develop, making advances in both the poise and decision-making categories.

The defense was fine up front, although the secondary remains a disaster. But Winfield should be back after the bye week, which will help.

It also should be noted that Carolina isn’t very good. In fact, the two teams sport identical 2-6 records. Yet in a Vikings season with so few highlights, Mare’s field-goal attempt sailing wide will rank right at the top.

“We definitely have been on the other end of that where, at the last second, plays have not gone in our favor,” Frazier said. “It felt good to just see our guys continue to battle and continue to give us a chance like they did in the fourth quarter.”

Finally, a trip to Charlotte that was memorable for all the right reasons. The Vikings couldn’t ask for more. Of course, I’m assuming that Frazier didn’t strip down to a towel and scream at Ponder during the postgame bus ride to the airport.

Tom Powers can be reached at tpowers@pioneerpress.com.