1975 Vikings

1975 Vikings

This is my favorite team of all time. As a life long fan there were two Vikings teams I was convinced were going to win the Super Bowl, and of course I was dead wrong on both.

And that was the 1975 team and the 1998 team.

The 1969 team was great, but I was only 7 at the time, so my memory there is a bit cloudy. Was I rooting for them?... yes, but I didn't really know what the heck was going on. Looking back at it now, this is probably the Vikings' team that should have won a Super Bowl. The NFL was superior in the late 1960's to the AFL IMHO but Hank Stram simply out-coached Bud Grant. I think the shift to AFC power did not occur until 1972-73. Up until then I will argue with anyone that the NFL/NFC had the better stronger teams.

The 1973 Vikings team was just outclassed by the AFC. Several 1973 teams would have beaten the 73 Vikings in the Super Bowl that year IMHO. The Dolphins and the Raiders were both far superior that year. Especially up front on both sides of the ball. The Vikings were the best of a weak NFC field. They did play the 72 Dolphins tough during the Dolphins perfect season. Actually, it was probably the closest the Dolphins came to losing a game in 1972, but still the tide had turned somewhere during 1972 and the AFC was stronger. By 1973, it was no contest. Csonka simply had HUGE holes to run through in during that entire Super Bowl. I think Griese attempted something like 5 passes that day? Just crazy. The Dolphins dominated up front.

The 1974 team probably came the closest to winning a Super Bowl. But again, I believe the AFC was still a good step ahead in 1974. I think the Vikings almost won that game against the Steelers, but mostly because the Steelers came out incredibly flat (and vulnerable) the entire first half. Of course, they woke up later in the game, and, typically, the Vikings line got manhandled by the larger bigger AFC line on both sides of the ball. Franco Harris had HUGE holes to run through in the fourth quarter. The Steelers simply wore the Vikings down. I can still picture Fran Tarkenton running around for his life every time he tried to pass in that game. I think the 73 and 74 team was able to get through the weaker NFC playoff field, while the AFC was knocking each other on their butts in their playoff series. By the time of the 73 and 74 Super Bowls, it was a mismatch. The AFC teams were having to go through a mugging to get there and when they met the weaker Vikings on the field they were a mismatches. The AFC was tuning up for the big show by beating Heavyweights to get there. The Vikings got there by going through Middleweights.

I'll skip over 1975 for a second.

The 1976 Vikings, the team that got crushed by the Raiders? That Vikings team was simply past their peak. Their run defense was incredibly poor all season against a weak NFC field. The Vikes that year probably shouldn't have even made the Super Bowl, there were better teams in the NFC that year. I believe this was Bud Grant's best coaching job of his career. Just as Lombardi willed the 67 Packers to the Super Bowl victory when they were clearly over the hill, Grant did the same thing here with an over the hill Vikings team. Of course, the huge difference was Lombardi won his over the hill Super Bowl and Grant lost his. I give the 1976 Vikings a lot of credit. Especially Tarkenton and Grant. But they got to the Super Bowl on heart and not so much on talent. It was an old team.

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OK, now back to those 1975 Vikings.

Call me crazy, but other than 1998, I thought this Vikings team was the best. Many of the players of those great early 70s teams thought so too. The 1975 Vikings started the year 10 & 0 and, I cant put my finger on it, but I believe they were just determined to put the 1973 and 1974 losses behind them and win it all in 1975. I think they really thought they could have won the Super Bowl against the Steelers, the January before, and again, I'm probably crazy, but I think if they would have played them again in the 75 Super Bowl they would have beat them. They always seemed to play the tough teams a lot better the second time around. Of course, they never got that chance, on a slow gloppy field in Minnesota, at 48,000 seat Metropolitan Stadium, 28 degrees, December 28, 1975, two incredible miraculous plays at the end of the game against the Cowpukes...40 seconds to go....It was 4th and 17 at the Dallas 25 and Staubach to Pearson, out of bounds at the 40 for a first down...(Pearson came down clearly out of bounds but the refs ruled that he was pushed out)....and then...after a quick incomplete pass....35 seconds to go...Shotgun formation.... HAIL MARY down the right sideline... WR PUSHES OFF, offensive pass interference? Where is the call? Nate Wright pushed to the ground...Drew Pearson after the push-off, hooked the football on his hip with one hand and back stepped into the end-zone in astonishment, almost in gult....Touchdown Cowpukes...and away went the dream season. The crowd was comatized in silence. On the sidelines the Vikings players screamed and swore. Players running at the refs, "You dirty so and so, it was interference! Call it!" A ref got hit in the head with a bottle and they had to stop the game.
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Watching the game on TV alone in my living room in Edison New Jersey...This 13 year old cried his eyes out.



In retrospect, the real killer in that game though, and NOBODY talks about this, but with 2 minutes to go in the game, Vikes up 14 to 10, the Vikings had a 3rd and 2 at their own 48. I dont know what they were thinking, but from a goal line type everyone tight formation they tried some crazy Tarkenton roll out to the right ...pass play, I think he was going to try and throw to Marinaro or Foreman rolling to the right flat...well, when he rolled out.... no one was there...there was confusion...and Tark went down in a five yard loss in the arms of SS Charlie Waters. They say Waters blew the assignment, he should have been covering the flat, but he didn't do that, he came in and messed the whole thing up, and with it, he messed up the whole Vikings dream season. The Vikings punted after that play and then.....well, the series described above. If the Vikings get that first down, they run the clock out and the Hail Mary never happens. Crazy, no one ever talks about this play and Charlie Waters.