On November 19, 1973 the Minnesota Vikings took a 9-0 record down to Georgia for a Monday Night Football Matchup with the 6-3 Atlanta Falcons, a team that had won five straight under the direction of quarterback Bobby “General” Lee, a guy who has spent four seasons playing quarterback and punting for the Vikings.
I should have seen this coming, but, how could I? I was only 10 years old at the time, and at that point I had only seen the Vikings lose one Super Bowl. I had no idea about the 40-plus seasons of heartache and agony that lay ahead, but I was about to get a solid preview that night.
After falling behind 17-7 to Atlanta the Vikings scored a touchdown to close to 20-14 in the fourth quarter. After stopping the Falcons late, the Vikings got the ball back with time to mount a game-winning drive.
Faced with a fourth down and needing six points, the Vikings HAD to go for it. I don’t remember the distance required, but I do remember Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton escaping the Falcons pass rush and attempting to run for a first down. Closing in on Tarkenton was his former teammate at Georgia, linebacker Tommy Nobis. Tarkenton lunged for the marker and I was sure he had made it.
I looked on as the referee ran in and put his foot down to mark the spot. If he puts his downfield foot down the Vikings have a first down and they’re still in business. Instead, he puts his back foot down instead, the Vikings came up inches short and the Falcons won the game 20-14, ruining the Vikings bid for a perfect season.
I was incensed. Again, I was only 10 years old but I was beside myself. I think I yelled something like “We were robbed!” (or whatever you could say in front of your parents when you’re a 10-year-old kid in the 1970s that wouldn't get you grounded).
Neither of my parents were really sports fans at the time so they couldn’t comprehend my level of angst. My mom just kept reminding me that it was a school night and telling me to go to bed.
I seriously didn’t sleep a wink that night. Swear to God, I lay awake stewing about that call ALL NIGHT. Welcome to Minnesota Vikings football young man!
Forty five years later, here we are.... and NOTHING has changed. This team KILLS me.
Even in a game I did not expect them to win, on a night when their offense was embarrassingly bad on multiple fronts.... even when the Seattle defense was giving up scads of yards on the ground, the Vikings managed to hang around. They kept it just close enough to involve the officials yet STILL founs a new way to break my heart (and the collective hearts of their long-suffering fans) in a 21-7 setback to Seattle.
At this point do we even WANT this team to make the playoffs?
Remember last year, when everything was so fun? 13 wins in the regular season and a miracle in the first round of the playoffs. That was SO FUN!
Until the NFC Championship game in Philly when it wasn’t. Then, just like that... another Vikings “Dream Season” turns into another painful joke in the span of three hours in one afternoon.
Last night, the Vikings offensive ineptitude once again played-out in front of a national audience. Can you imagine how football fans around the country must feel when they’re subjected to the Vikings in primetime? I have to believe that even long-suffering Cleveland Browns fans feel sorry for Vikings fans.
After they’re done laughing at them, of course.
Last night the Vikings offense wasn’t even able to cross into Seattle’s half of the field until there was 4:16 left in the third quarter.
Are you kidding me?
In the first half, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins was 4 of 8 passing for 27 yards. There are third graders in Pop Warner football who would be embarrassed by those numbers, and I’m pretty sure that none of them are being compensated to the tune of $84 million. Guaranteed.
Still, Cousins believes this team is capable of playing “complementary football” down the stretch.
“If we can put it all together I think there’s the kind of feeling where we’re saying, ‘Hey, watch out,' you know?” said Cousins. “If we put it all together it could be special.”
Oh, it IS special Kirk. Take my word for it.
Needing a touchdown to take the lead, the Vikings failed to convert on fourth-and-1 not once.... but twice. But that wasn’t enough. Somehow, the Purple still managed to come up on the short end of two critical fourth quarter calls by the officials.
With Seattle leading just 3-0 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Seahawks were faced with a third-and-8 from the Viking 41. Seattle QB Russell Wilson threw deep for Calvin Lockett, who was being covered by Viking corner Xavier Rhodes.
There was jockeying to be sure and contact was made, but nothing that doesn’t happen on almost every play. On this play, Wilson’s pass sailed far over Lockett’s head and well out of bounds, and it looked like the Vikings had held.
Not so fast.
A late flag saw Rhodes flagged for pass interference, giving Seattle the ball on the Viking 10. Seattle ultimately settled for a field goal and a 6-0 lead.
Then, after failing to convert on a pair of fourth-and-1s in the fourth quarter, the Vikings opted to attempt a 47-yard field goal to cut Seattle’s lead to 6-3 with almost six minutes remaining.
Seattle linebacker Bobby Wagner used his hands to propel himself over the scrum in the middle of the line, blasted in untouched and was able to block Dan Bailey’s 47-yard field goal. Wagner’s move was 100 percent illegal, but of course it went uncalled... and the Seahawks would score on their next possession to put the game away.
“I don’t know, they didn’t tell me," said Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer when asked for his reaction to Wagner’s block going uncalled. “I just asked if I could challenge it and they said no.”
Look, there was enough in this game that the Vikings DIDN'T do (or were not capable of doing) for me to cry about, but to still be in position to win and to have two such critical calls factor in the outcome was the kind of cruel and unusual punishment only the Vikings can deliver.
Will I be able to sleep tonight?
You bet I will. I’ve watched this team for far too long to expect anything other than to have them break my heart.
Skol, Viking Fans. There’s always Sunday against the Dolphins…
