Randall Cunningham Is Back in the N.F.L. … as Raiders Chaplain

“It was beautiful, but there came a time when it was like, ‘Wow, is this what life is?’” he said. “Just drinking iced tea and having a nice meal and working out every day?”

Cunningham returned to the league with Minnesota in 1997 and became involved with the Vikings’ team ministry. He said he started praying between plays and during commercial breaks: “Lord, I am about to launch this ball to Randy Moss. Please let him catch it for a touchdown.”

After the 2001 season, his final one as a player, Cunningham went back to Las Vegas and continued to lead a Bible study he had started there a few years earlier.

“He is one of the favorite sons here in Las Vegas,” Gruden said of Cunningham, who set passing records that still stand during his college career 40 years ago at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. It didn’t take long for his ministry to take off.

“The next thing you know, we had 90 people in the Bible study,” Cunningham recalled, “and my pastor said, ‘This is not a Bible study, it’s a church.’”

Cunningham says he does not want to get into coaching or any front office roles, but he does confess to bigger ambitions for his work as team chaplain.

A missed field-goal attempt stopped Cunningham from making it to a Super Bowl with the Vikings in the 1998 season, the best year of his career. He won just two of seven playoff games with the Eagles, never advancing past the divisional round. The Raiders are officially out of postseason contention this year, but now that he is back in the N.F.L., Cunningham has his eye on that elusive Lombardi Trophy.

“I want to preach myself into a Super Bowl ring,” he said.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/31/sports/football/randall-cunningham-raiders-chaplain.html