If you are a die-hard Minnesota Vikings fan, you have to be excited for this coming Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints. After a decisive 34-3 win over the Cowboys, the Vikings looked just impressive enough for some fans to hear a faint whisper, “Super…”
Of course, as Vikings fans, we have learned not to get our hopes up. We remember being 15-1 in 1998 and having a field goal opportunity to beat the Atlanta Falcons to advance to the Super Bowl. The 38-yard field goal went wide of the crossbars for place-kicker Gary Anderson’s only miss of the season dashing any hopes of a Vikings’ Super Bowl victory.
I am too young to have experienced any of the Vikings’ four Super Bowl losses, but elder Viking fans remember those losses vividly. In 1970, the Vikings faced the Kansas City Chiefs in the fourth Super Bowl. The Vikings turned the ball over five times and lost 23-7 to Kansas City.
Four years later in Super Bowl VIII, Minnesota went up against defending Super Bowl champion Miami Dolphins in 1974. At the end of the first half, the Vikings couldn’t score on fourth down and goal from the one-yard line. Miami took a 17-0 lead into halftime and then coasted to a 24-7 Super Bowl win.
The very next season in 1975, the Vikings made their second consecutive Super Bowl appearance against the mighty Pittsburgh Steelers’ defense. The Vikings were held to just 17 rushing yards as they lost 16-6 to Pittsburgh.
In their fourth Super Bowl in eight years, Minnesota faced John Madden’s Oakland Raiders in 1977. Oakland wide receiver Fred Belitnikoff made four key receptions in the game, earning him the most valuable player award as the Raiders beat Minnesota 32-14.
My earliest memory of the Minnesota Vikings in a big game was in 1988 when they fell short to the Washington Redskins. The Vikings had the ball in the final minute and the last pass by Wade Wilson went just past the outstretched arms of running back Darrin Nelson. The Vikings lost 17-10 and it was my first heartache as a Viking fan after a big game.
Now my kids are enjoying their first family football memories. They will remember Adrian Peterson, Sidney Rice, Jared Allen, and Brett Favre long after they are done playing. Sunday we will all have our Viking gear on ready to cheer on our Vikings.
Every Sunday, my daughter Rachel comes into my bedroom to make sure I am awake. “Dad, it’s football Sunday! After church we get to watch football!” Hopefully Rachel’s first Viking memory is watching a bunch of Saints get beat up!
Mitch Dorr, a Cook County
High School Class of 1993
graduate, is now a social
studies teacher and coach at
his former alma mater. Mitch
coaches Vikings football and
boys’ basketball.
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