MINNEAPOLIS — Two generations ago, the Purple ruled Minnesota — Grant, Kapp, Tarkenton, Foreman, Eller, Brown, Marshall, Page, Krause and many more.
Between 1970 and 1977, The Vikings put Minnesota on the proverbial football map making it to four Super Bowls.
Four. And, nothing since.
“Does it hurt your heart as a long time Viking to know the team's not been back there in 45 years?" asks KARE 11's Randy Shaver.
“It breaks my heart for sure, there's been some teasing,” says Chuck Foreman, former Viking great running back.
Chuck is right. Six times since 1977, the Vikings played and lost in the NFC title game. We even borrowed a Packer great and still couldn't get back.
Which leaves these guys, the legends, the Hall of Famers, the greatest era of team in Minnesota.
They have no one to pass the torch to, no one to get them off the hook for losing all four super bowl appearances — which, by the way, still hurts a lot some 45 years later.
“I cannot tell you how catastrophic they were to me. And I have not let them go, and I don't want to let them go,” says Fran Tarkenton, former Viking great quarterback.
“That burning desire in him? I feel for that. You know, I don't have those same feelings because it would eat me alive, but I can appreciate how he feels,” says Alan Page, former Viking great defensive tackle.
Page says those Viking teams back then were not great, they were exceptional.
And the man who built them is still with us.
Bud Grant, the stoic, clever-as-a-fox leader of men is now 94 years old. But sharp as a tack.
He loves his players, but hasn't lost a wink of sleep over those four super bowls losses, including the last one versus Oakland in 1977.
“I have never, ever, gone back and looked at that game. I mean, they looked at it the next day, but I don't think I did,” says Grant.
“Even if it comes up on TV?,” asks Randy. “Well, no, I mean, I don't have nightmares, right? Anything like that at all. No, I just move on...I can't live vicariously through wins and losses. That's not my life,” says Grant.
And he's not alone on that.
“Right now I say, I don't care. I care, but I don't care. And because for it, you can't let it eat at you for 45 years,” says Paul Krause, former Viking great safety. “We had those chances and couldn't put it together.”
Especially in 1977. Viking turnovers and lackluster play in Super Bowl XI led to the Raiders 32-14 win and Coach John Madden's victory ride.
“You don't realize in that raider game that the Raiders rushed for 266 yards, which against our front four, I would say that's unheard of,” says Stu Voigt, former Viking great tight end.
“Being the team that we were, I think we should have won. That would be kind of proof, maybe of the team we were at that time,” says Carl Eller, former Viking great defensive end.
And that's exactly what's left now, frustration, that those exceptional Viking teams of the 1970s don't get the recognition they deserve because of those Super Bowl losses.
But Viking fans know. We know. They know.
“We set the standard for what the Minnesota Vikings are and have been, So we're still waiting for the current and players to come on up and join us,” says Foreman.
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