Things fell apart for Jeff George and the Vikings in a horrific third quarter.

The slow-starting, fast-finishing Vikings, adept at adjustments, erased an early 11-point deficit at St. Louis on Sunday and were poised for their ninth comeback victory before they were snowed under 49-37 by the big-play Rams.

"I've said all along if we didn't win the Super Bowl, we'd be a big failure for the second year in a row," Vikings receiver Randy Moss said. "So, go ahead and call us a big failure."

Minnesota took a 17-14 halftime lead, quieting the delirious crowd at the Trans World Dome in St. Louis' first-ever home NFL playoff game.

It took all of 10 seconds for the top-seeded Rams to go back on top for good when Tony Horne returned the second-half kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown and a 21-17 lead.

"We were pretty fired up coming into the half, feeling good and to have that happen right off took a lot out of us," quarterback Jeff George said. "The whole momentum changed. We felt that the crowd was out of it at the time, and we felt we had them right where we wanted them. But they stepped up."

Vikings special teams coach Gary Zauner said the coverage unit practiced against that very return Saturday.

"It wasn't a perfect return," Zauner insisted. "It's just we didn't cover it the way we practiced it."

Big mistake.

"Any time a play like that happens, I don't care if you're up by 20, whenever it happens, it'll hurt you in the long run," Leroy Hoard said.

It didn't take long for the pain to set in.

The Rams poured it on, scoring 35 consecutive points by forcing fumbles, collecting sacks and whipping the Vikings at their own game -- big pass plays. Even Ryan Tucker, usually a center, caught a touchdown pass on a tackle-eligible play.

All season, the Vikings allowed more than 27 points only once, when they lost 31-28 at Kansas City on a last-second field goal last month.

But falling behind in St. Louis doomed the Vikings (11-7) to their second consecutive playoff failure and made coach Dennis Green just 3-7 in the postseason.

The Vikings came back for eight of their 11 victories, and they overcame deficits of 12-0 in Denver and 17-0 against Dallas.

They also erased deficits of 19-0 at Detroit and 21-0 at Kansas City, only to lose on last-second field goals.

George said the quick-strike Vikings had done it so often that they began to believe they could overcome any deficit.

But 49-17? No way.

Green said the Vikings had to become a "counter-punch team" this season.

They were knocked out Sunday.

They went three-and-out after Horne's TD, and St. Louis got the ball at midfield, then ran it down the Vikings' throats, going up 28-17 on Marshall Faulk's 1-yard run.

Moe Williams fumbled the return, and James Hodgins recovered for the Rams. Although Jeff Wilkins missed a 42-yard field-goal attempt, the reeling Vikings went three-and-out again.

This time, the Rams didn't waste the opportunity. Kurt Warner hit Jeff Robinson for a 13-yard TD that made it 35-17.

The Vikings held onto the ball on the kickoff this time, but George didn't. Jeff Christy's bad snap gave the ball to the Rams at the Minnesota 26, and Warner hit Tucker with a 1-yard touchdown reception for a 42-17 lead.

The Vikings scored three late touchdowns, but when has a 20-0 run ever meant so little?

"I'm very shocked that it ended like this," cornerback Jimmy Hitchcock said. "We had come back from a 2-4 start and put ourselves in a position where we thought we could win it all. I'm just disgusted."

Moss was so frustrated he squirted a water bottle at an official.

Minnesota lost for just the third time in George's 12 starts since he was beckoned from the bench to replace Randall Cunningham, who was demoted just 5½ games into his new $28 million contract.

George, who signed for the veteran's minimum of $400,000, will make a mint off his resurrection, which included the first playoff victory of his checkered 10-year NFL career last week against Dallas.

But will that windfall come in Minnesota?

"If it was my choice, I'd keep him," Moss said.

The Vikings, who drafted Daunte Culpepper and Dimitrius Underwood instead of Jevon Kearse in the first round, spent the whole season paying for that mistake.

But they bolstered their pass rush by reacquiring Jerry Ball and Chris Doleman and moving John Randle back inside. They patched up their secondary by waiving Ramos McDonald and converting receiver Robert Tate to defensive back.

Those moves worked wonders and had the Vikings talking about atoning for their colossal slip-up in the conference championship last season.

They spoke all last week about how they were a mirror image of the 1998 Atlanta Falcons.

And they were right.