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MINNEAPOLIS -- Mark Paske found a saving grace in the Minnesota Vikings' 30-27 overtime loss to the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship Game Sunday.

"I'm not going to be like Packer fans and get too worked up about it," said Paske, 29. "I enjoyed the game."

Moments after Morten Andersen kicked a 38-yard field goal to send the Falcons to Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami on Jan. 31 and the Vikings home for a long offseason, Stan Price, a Vikings fan from River Falls, Wis., remained in good spirits.

"Heck, they won 16 games," Price said. "That's more than they've done in a long time."

Not all of the 64,060 fans filing out of the Metrodome after the game were able to shrug off the loss so easily.

"They choked, and I'm really irritated," David Schroeckenstein said. "Gary Anderson choked."

Anderson, the Vikings' kicker who made all of his extra point and field goal attempts during the regular season, missed a 38-yard field goal attempt that would have given the Vikings a 30-20 lead in the fourth quarter.

But Christine Schroeckenstein, David's wife, refused to place the blame on Anderson. "Next year. We'll come back again next year," she said.

Diane Frosig of Richfield blamed offensive coordinator Brian Billick's play selection for the loss.

"After the game he called, I don't think anybody would want him," she said, referring to the fact that Billick has been mentioned as a finalist for head coaching vacancies in Baltimore and Cleveland.

Frosig pointed to the Vikings' decision to have quarterback Randall Cunningham kneel down -- instead of trying to get within field goal range -- with just over 20 seconds left in regulation and the score tied as Billick's biggest mistake.

"They were calling unbelievable offensive plays," she said.

Leona West said she too was surprised at the Vikings play calling.

"They kind of screwed up," she said, although she added that she'll never stop rooting for the Vikings.

Some fans pointed to a lack of effort on the Vikings part. The Vikings, who led 20-7 with 2 minutes, 45 seconds left in the first half, "showed no heart," said Dawn Walter.

"Randy Moss lost his heart in the end," she said. "He wasn't fighting for the ball like he usually does."

For Joe Sokier, a season ticket holder since the Vikings' first season in 1961, the loss left him stunned, not to mention stuck home in Minnesota instead of heading to Miami for the Super Bowl.

"I've been waiting over 20 years for this," he said. "And I'm very disappointed."