quote:

ORIGINAL: stfrank

Having watched all 4 SB's as a teen that loved football, the thing that always hurt me the most was the fact to our team never once showed up for the big game. If just once had they played to their abilities it would be different, but they didn't. After watching those games I always came away wondering what happened to the team we watched all season to get to that point. They were like watching different teams every time.

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ORIGINAL: Karl Juhnke

quote:

ORIGINAL: stfrank

Having watched all 4 SB's as a teen that loved football, the thing that always hurt me the most was the fact to our team never once showed up for the big game. If just once had they played to their abilities it would be different, but they didn't. After watching those games I always came away wondering what happened to the team we watched all season to get to that point. They were like watching different teams every time.

Unpopular opinion alert:

Bud never took any heat for his teams’ awful Super Bowl performances, and he should have.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved Bud, like everyone else. He was an icon and a tremendous man. But it’s like he got a free pass for the Super Bowl losses that no other coach would have. Somebody else’s fault.

I don’t really have an answer here. I certainly didn’t want him fired or anything. But I always wondered why there wasn’t more focus within the organization as a whole, Bud included to make changes instead playing the same Super Bowl re-run over and over.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Bill Johanesen

A quick look at the play-by-play showed we passed exclusively on 1st down on the first two TD drives. There were also 3 and outs and interceptions starting with 'Ty Chandler left end for 1 yard' and 'Alexander Mattison up the middle for -1 yard' type calls. But there were also more passing plays on 1st down.

In a microcosm, that game showed KOC did switch things up. We passed three times more than we ran. Unfortunately, the QB was Mr. 4 Pick Mullens.

The running game stats tell part of the story. Both defenses allow 3.7 ypc, basically tied for 4th in the NFL. Results:
Det, 36 att, 143 yds, 4.0, 3 TD
Minn, 11 att, 17 yds, 1.5 ypc, 1 TD

quote:

ORIGINAL: Bill Johanesen

I didn't grow up in Minnesota or the midwest, but as a kid watched the Vikings lose a SB and have stuck with them ever since.

The Vikes lost to some powerhouse teams whose running games were ahead of their times and a precursor to the Hogs era. Their defenses were superb.

Already told my kids that when I'm old and senile just tell me the Vikings won the SB even if it's a lie.

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ORIGINAL: Mark Anderson

quote:

ORIGINAL: Bill Johanesen

I didn't grow up in Minnesota or the midwest, but as a kid watched the Vikings lose a SB and have stuck with them ever since.

The Vikes lost to some powerhouse teams whose running games were ahead of their times and a precursor to the Hogs era. Their defenses were superb.

Already told my kids that when I'm old and senile just tell me the Vikings won the SB even if it's a lie.

Our best chance was 09, not 98.

98 we would have had too many injuries to overcome to beat Denver. Possibly beat them in a shootout but Denver was solid on both sides of the ball.

09 was solid on both sides. Something we forget was we held a powerhouse Saints offense down. I think five 3 and outs that game.

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ORIGINAL: Bill Johanesen

quote:

ORIGINAL: Mark Anderson

quote:

ORIGINAL: Bill Johanesen

I didn't grow up in Minnesota or the midwest, but as a kid watched the Vikings lose a SB and have stuck with them ever since.

The Vikes lost to some powerhouse teams whose running games were ahead of their times and a precursor to the Hogs era. Their defenses were superb.

Already told my kids that when I'm old and senile just tell me the Vikings won the SB even if it's a lie.

Our best chance was 09, not 98.

98 we would have had too many injuries to overcome to beat Denver. Possibly beat them in a shootout but Denver was solid on both sides of the ball.

09 was solid on both sides. Something we forget was we held a powerhouse Saints offense down. I think five 3 and outs that game.

Who said 98?
[/quo
No one in particular. IMO, Just a common perception that team would have won SB if not for Gary Anderson, Robert Griffith or Denny.

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ORIGINAL: Mark Anderson

quote:

ORIGINAL: Bill Johanesen

A quick look at the play-by-play showed we passed exclusively on 1st down on the first two TD drives. There were also 3 and outs and interceptions starting with 'Ty Chandler left end for 1 yard' and 'Alexander Mattison up the middle for -1 yard' type calls. But there were also more passing plays on 1st down.

In a microcosm, that game showed KOC did switch things up. We passed three times more than we ran. Unfortunately, the QB was Mr. 4 Pick Mullens.

The running game stats tell part of the story. Both defenses allow 3.7 ypc, basically tied for 4th in the NFL. Results:
Det, 36 att, 143 yds, 4.0, 3 TD
Minn, 11 att, 17 yds, 1.5 ypc, 1 TD

Detroit is going nowhere with that horrible secondary. Any competent QB would have had 450 and 5 TDs.

Also, why pay O'Neill all that money when we can get the same or maybe better performance from Quessenberry?

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ORIGINAL: Mark Anderson

Hockenson: Torn ACL

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ORIGINAL: Daniel Lee Young

Wow Mahomes doing his best nick mullet impression..

KC getting rolled @home by Duh Raiduhs..

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ORIGINAL: Bill Johanesen

During the offseason the regime signed Oliver and Mattison in a concentrated effort to improve a running game that averaged 4.1 ypc. As this season winds down, we are at 3.9 ypc (tied for 23rd-25th). All in all, that's an epic fail. We need better blockers and a better RB.

Can't fault the defense for much as Flores held it together for much of the season until DCs figured out how to expose it. Continued smoke and mirrors won't hide the need for more talented players, especially at CB and DE/Edge.

QB, CB, IOL, DE, RB. Another offseason with a long list of needs.

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ORIGINAL: Daniel Lee Young

As I watched the game..

And you have to remember.. in 1970..

I might have seen about a dozen games. On tv, since the start of the ‘67 season..
mostly in CR, after we moved there in February of 68..

I read Sunday sports sections and articles and poured over box scores like my life depended on it.

The games I watched, I learned names, .. tinglehoff, yary, Kapp, talk of how Tark got traded..the Original PPE…

Alan Paige was my idol.. people said Joe was a tough guy,a win at any cost player..

But it was my barely 12, wanna be teenager impression that he was intentionally throwing the game with bad throws, sloppy execution of the Almighty Bud (grey up championship) Grant’s game plan.. watching that game, after watching them waltz through the playoffs, was like watching a team that was being paid to lose.

They were heavy favorites.

I spent the second half of that game pleading, begging, raging at the offense to do something..

At the end of the game, I went to my room and sulked for hours, I caught sooo much flack at school.. because I had been so openly biased that Len Dawson and the Chiefs were going to get crushed nay, even shut out, by the best defense in the league.

As I watched the game, I couldn’t believe how inaccurate the throws were…
Nothing was working..

Running, which was Bud Grant’s trademark of offense, was stuffed over and over..

I blamed Kapp for every bad play, every overthrow or off target throw..
I thought he was trying to lose because in my mind, he was selling out to “ Vegas”…

Rumors about the game being thrown were the only explanation I could find for the teams performance that day..

I have gone back and rewatched that game any number of times.. the quality of the old film to video to digital is shitty at best..

I think it may have had more to do with raging tween anger emotions than actual “ thrown” game, but i never got over it..

And being the Last team to win the NFL championship, before the merger, made it fester all the more over the decades…

} Almost { ,,, year after year, decade after decade… and now.. to see people fawning over “ coulda woulda shoulda” and the mediocrity of KFC and the gutless offense of KOC and the inevitable meltdown under the pressure to “ save the win” by the defense ….

I’m worn the **** out…

I want something like 98.. when we had the best team in the league, but then, when it mattered, Green put his balls in his clutch purse and pranced into overtime with a beat up defense that had just let Atlanta march down the field after “ the miss” .. to tie the game.

I knew then, that my fandom was cursed.. and I will, like many we all have known and lost, probably go to our graves with that bitter, bitter taste of “ALMOST”….