This is a story about the early Vikings teams and is something us older fans remember and have had to live with for more than 50 years now. As fans we will never give up because football was such a big part of our lives in our youth. The desire is still there.
Viking Memories
I was born in 1957 and started watching professional football on TV in the sixties. The earliest I became aware that I was watching the Vikings would have been 1967 and I know that now because they were playing the Cleveland Browns. The Browns had a placekicker named Lou “The Toe” Groza who I just saw as an extremely big and fat player. He was 6’3” and 265 pounds.
I began playing the game informally in the neighbor hood at around age 8 or 9. We actually started out by playing in large groups as in having more than 11 on a team. We played with older kids who acted as coaches and set up games for us against another neighborhood. It’s hard for me to imagine kids doing that now.
1968 was the first season I became aware that I was watching the Vikings and I became a fan for the first time. The Vikings were 8-6 that year and lost to the Colts led by Johnny Unitas in the first round of the playoffs. Then they went on to play in the Bert Bell Benefit Bowl or as it was more popularly called “The Playoff Bowl.” They lost that game as well.
It was around that time that I started to get more serious about playing the game. There were no organized leagues for 11 year olds yet so we played from August to March against neighborhood friends. It’s hard for the current generation to imagine but we had around 20 guys near our age within a block or two to put together games. If you needed another player to make things even, the group would go to someone’s house and needle the kid to come out and play.
As the Vikings were really good in 1969 with a 12-2 record, I often pretended to be one of them in games. The guy I most emulated was Carl Eller who was about 6-6 and 250. We played basketball, baseball, and even some exotic sports like hockey, soccer, track & field, badminton, and other sports. Football was the game we enjoyed the most though.
The Minnesota Twins were good then too having won divisional titles in 1969 and 1970.
Baseball was our second favorite though. There was something exciting about getting together with your friends and playing in the snow and ice all winter. In fact I think that there were some years where we started playing football in July.
Perhaps it was the dominance of those early Viking teams that attracted us. They played in the Central Division of the NFL. There were four teams: Vikings, Lions, Packers, and Bears. The Vikings led in points scored and least points allowed. After the Vikings in least points allowed were the Lions, and Packers, in that order in the entire 16 team NFL.
So you saw a lot of games predicated on having a great defense. In those days even if you did not get to the quarterback you could still intimidate him with big hits. What we used to really enjoy is when the Vikings would get ahead late in the game and the other team would have to pass. You knew that there would then be several sacks and interceptions by the Vikings.
The Vikings won their first round playoff game against the tough Los Angeles Rams who were 11-3 that year. They had won their first 11 straight games and were led by the “Fearsome Foursome,” with Deacon Jones and Merlin Olson. On offense their quarterback was probably the best in the league in Roman Gabriel. The game was played in Minnesota and won by the Vikings 23-20. Meanwhile the other game was won by the Cleveland Browns over the Dallas Cowboys 38-14.
The Vikings then won the NFL championship game 27-7 over the Cleveland Browns. This game was highlighted by a long touchdown pass to Gene Washington who got by Erich Barnes who had slipped on the play. This was the game that matter the most and my friends and I celebrated for two weeks after that game.
As I recall the Vikings were favored by as much as 17 points over the second-place-their-division Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs, led by their juggernaut coach Hank Stram, who was put on a microphone for the entire game won 23-7. Stram figured out that the way to beat the Vikings defense was to take away their pass rush with lots of short passes to their running backs. This frustrated the Vikings as they could not get past the excellent Chiefs offensive line.
Being 12 years old I remember going off by myself and crying after that game. I felt and still do that it never should have happened. I believe it was Bud Grant who said that if we had played them 10 times we might have won 9 of them. But that was the one that counted. He pretty much proved that point by beating the Chiefs badly the next year when they played again.