Alex Freeman’s goal to help the USA men’s soccer team defeat Australia in the 2026 FIFA World Cup on June 19 brought a new wave of attention to the 21-year-old star, and his pro-athlete father.
Antonio Freeman, of course, was a Pro Bowl receiver who played the bulk of his career with the Green Bay Packers.
Antonio has his own litany of highlights, including strong performances in two Super Bowls. But from a national perspective, he might most be remembered for what he did Nov. 6, 2000, more than a quarter-century before his son seized national and international attention.
Take a look back at a moment that lives on in Packers history, a “Monday Night Football” winner against the Minnesota Vikings:
The ‘He did what?’ play
When someone brings up “iconic call by Al Michaels,” there’s no doubt where the mind goes — it flashes back to the Miracle on Ice in 1980.
But “He did what?” gets an honorable-mention nod, at least for Packers fans.
When Antonio Freeman rose to his feet and scampered into the end zone, a gleeful chaos emerged in the “Monday Night Football” booth.
“What are they ruling? He caught it?” Michaels asked excitedly into the microphone as Freeman leaped into the front row of fans at Lambeau Field. “He did what?”
The Nov. 6, 2000, game between the Packers and Vikings had been a rainy mess, but Packers fans vividly remember the final play of the game. Freeman went to the ground on a third-and-4 pass from Brett Favre that appeared to fall incomplete. Vikings defensive back Cris Dishman celebrated as if he’d broken the play up and forced either a gutsy fourth-down snap from the Vikings 43 or a punt.
But the ball never quite touched the ground, bouncing off Freeman’s left shoulder momentarily before the receiver reached out and rescued it from the turf. Having never been touched for a tackle, Freeman got to his feet, ran to the end zone, and gave the Packers a stunning 26-20 victory in overtime.
“I didn’t even know he had the ball,” Favre said afterward. “So I run down there and jump on him and in the middle of all the mayhem, I just kind of whispered, ‘Hey, did you catch it?’ And when he responded, it was actually Donald Driver I was asking. When I finally got to Free, he said, ‘Hell, yeah, I caught it.'”
The 2000 season isn’t in the pantheon of greats for Packers fans. The team fired Ray Rhodes after 1999 and turned to Mike Shermanbut they were 3-5 before the battle against the Minnesota Vikings.
The Packers won their final four games and finished 9-7 but missed the playoffs. The “Monday Night” battle wasn’t a true turning point, either. Green Bay lost two of its next three games. The Freeman catch isn’t as consequential as Sterling Sharpe’s catch in the playoffs against the Detroit Lions, Yancey Thigpen’s drop on Christmas Eve, Al Harris’s pick-six or Randall Cobb’s winner in 2013, but it lives in “Monday Night Football” montages.
“No, I wouldn’t call it a miracle,” Sherman said. “I’d call it a happy moment. It was an even game and we made a play, a very special play, at the end. It’s a great win.”
Nah, it was pretty much a miracle.
“As I rolled back, I got an early Christmas gift, I guess,” Freeman said. “Hey, who said football was all skill? Tonight, we got our lucky bounce.”
A muddy Monday night turns into an unforgettable highlight
Realistically, the Packers should have lost, but Minnesota committed five turnovers. The Vikings came into the battle at 7-1 and looked like the unquestioned team to beat in the division. They did, in fact, wind up winning the division that season.
The Minnesota secondary had struggled in the game, and despite winds of 25 mph gusts, Favre completed 17 of 36 passes for 235 yards, and several more passes were dropped.
“I thought our quarterback was phenomenally accurate,” Sherman said.
Kickoff return man Allen Rossum broke a tackle at the 25 and sprinted to the 2-yard line for a 90-yard kickoff return, setting up a short touchdown run from Ahman Green to tie the game at 20-20 in the third quarter.
Rossum also came up big on defense. After a 25-yard punt to the Green Bay 48 gave the Vikings good field position toward the end of regulation, Randy Moss made a 19-yard reception that set up Gary Anderson for a 33-yarder to win at the end of regulation. But punter Mitch Berger couldn’t field the snap. With Rossum on Berger’s back, all Berger could do was heave up a pass that was intercepted by Tyrone Williams.
The Vikings might have been able to get another play off if they had downed the ball, but Rossum forced Berger to throw the ball in the air, and the game moved to overtime.
The Packers won the toss. Favre found Bill Schroeder for a 22-yard gain on third-and-9 to move the chains, and after two Ahman Green runs, Green Bay faced another third down at the Vikings 43.
Favre was blitzed up the middle, and his only option was to loft the ball to Freeman, who was streaking down the right sideline. Dishman had the ball in his hands, but it slipped free and careened back toward Freeman. Although it appeared the ball hit the ground, Freeman knew what he had, sliding past safety Robert Griffith when he got up and ran to the end zone.
It was the only time in the game Green Bay had the lead, and referee Dick Hantak could be seen with a smile on his face as he considered the aftermath of what had just transpired. When Hantak confirmed to the crowd that replay upheld the catch, a fresh wave of cheers permeated the stadium.
“I don’t even know if you’d call it a play,” Favre said. “That was unbelievable. I don’t know if I’ve ever been a part of anything like that.”
Antonio Freeman’s biggest moments with the Green Bay Packers
It’s perhaps the moment many Packers fans think of when they hear the name Antonio Freeman, but should it be? Freeman has said the “Monday Night” thriller is the second-best catch of his career, behind his 81-yard touchdown pass caught in Super Bowl XXXI after the 1996 season.
Freeman caught 57 passes for touchdowns in his Packers career over eight seasons. His best year came in 1998, when he caught 84 passes for 1,424 yards to lead the league. He also caught nine passes for 126 yards and two touchdowns in a Super Bowl loss to Denver after the 1997 season.
Freeman caught a go-ahead touchdown against Carolina in the NFC Championship Game after the 1996 season, part of the team’s 30-13 win that sent them to the first of back-to-back Super Bowls. The moment was immortalized on the cover of Sports Illustrated, with the headline “Green Bay All the Way.”
He recovered Edgar Bennett’s third-quarter fumble in the end zone for a crucial touchdown in the team’s 35-14 win in the divisional round over San Francisco that year. He also had a touchdown against San Francisco in the NFC title game the following year, one week before his elite Super Bowl performance in a losing effort.
A first version of this story was published in 2020.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Antonio Freeman’s most famous play (and more) with Green Bay Packers
Reporting by JR Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By JR Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
