sadly: the Minnesota Vikings are losing a superstar due to…..
My roommate is having a bad sporting season right now. We live in Georgia, and he is a Falcons and Georgia Tech fan. Following both of his teams’ disappointing losses, he has frequently stated that there is no pain like that of a Falcons or Tech fan
Jordan, I’m sorry, but you have no concept of pain
If there’s one thing that all Vikings fans can agree on, it’s that no fan base has witnessed more heartbreaking, tear-jerking moments than the Norsemen in purple and gold. So gather your tissues turn on R.E.M.’s “Everybody Hurts,” and prepare for a somber trip down memory lane. These are the worst Minnesota Vikings moments in history
The Vikings have two Super Bowl rings: 1) They were the first team to reach four Super Bowls, and 2) they were the first team to lose four Super Bowls. The Vikings made it to the Super Bowl four times in seven years. They were defeated handily in every Super Bowl game they played in, losing by double digits each time, led by players such as Fran Tarkenton, Chuck Foreman, Paul Krause, and the vaunted Purple People Eaters, and Hall of Fame coach Bud Grant. The Vikings have yet to play for the Lombardi trophy again, 35 years after losing to the Raiders in Super Bowl XI
If the Bills hadn’t lost four Super Bowls in a row the
With only 24 seconds remaining in the Divisional round of the 1975 playoffs, the Vikings led the Cowboys 14-10. Roger Staubach took the snap and threw a prayer to Drew Pearson in the end zone. The ball landed safely against Pearson’s hip as he waltzed into the end zone after what appeared to be contact from Pearson. Fans were so enraged by the lack of a penalty against the Cowboys that one fan threw a whiskey bottle at another, striking him in the head and knocking him unconscious
Whether or not Pearson actually pushed off, losing on a hail mary is humiliating, especially in the playoffs
As a Georgia Bulldogs and Minnesota Vikings fan, I’ve seen Herschel Walker at his best and worst. Every time I visit Athens for a game, I hear or see something about Walker. Dawg fans go crazy when they see old footage of him in college
When Vikings fans see old Walker footage, they go insane for a completely different reason
The Vikings believed they were just one piece away from a Super Bowl run in 1989. The Cowboys were rebuilding and traded their only negotiating chip. Mike Lynn, the Vikings’ general manager at the time, agreed to send the Cowboys eight (!) draft picks, including three first-rounders, and five players in exchange for #34. Walker only rushed for about 2200 yards in
Watching the undisputed most painful moment in Vikings history may cause depression convulsions, or, at the very least, a rage that can only be quelled by watching highlights of the Vikings’ offense that year
While Ryan Leaf and JaMarcus Russell may be the most high-profile draft busts to never play for the teams that drafted them, Dimitrius Underwood never even made it out of training camp with the Vikings. Underwood, the 29th overall pick in 1999, walked out of camp one day after signing, citing a conflict between football and serving his Christian faith. He was arrested for failing to pay child support and attempted suicide after signing with the Dolphins and being injured in one playoff game. If Leaf and Russell are the two biggest draft busts in history, Underwood has to be in the top five, if not first
The year 2000. Daunte Culpepper had arrived, leading the league in touchdown passes. Cris Carter and Randy Moss continued to terrorize opposing secondary defenses, and my favorite player Robert Smith, had his best season of his career, gaining 1500 yards on the ground
Then they went to the Meadowlands, where they were favored to beat the Giants and advance to the Super Bowl
That’s right….about that
The Vikings looked nothing like the team that won 11 games in the regular season and instead fell to a 41-0 thrashing. There isn’t much to say about that
In the offseason, Robert Smith retired, Korey Stringer tragically died of a heat stroke in training camp, and the Vikings would not make the playoffs for another year
A brief anecdote: When I was in sixth grade, I was relentlessly teased every Monday. The Vikings were rebuilding and losing almost every week, while all of the Falcons fans at my school were ecstatic about their new star, Michael Vick. The following year, Vick was injured, the Falcons finished last, and all of a sudden, I was high on life as the Vikings started 6-0. Culpepper and Moss were lighting up the highlight reels, and the defense was doing well enough to avoid blowing all of the leads they had lost the previous year. All the kids who yelled “Vikings suck!” every week were deafeningly quiet
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