Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

ChrisBabcock wrote:

Amazing finish to the Saints Vikings game. I don't think I've ever seen a "get out of bounds sideline pass to stop the clock for a last second field goal try" turn into a touchdown before. I think we've just seen the greatest play in Vikings franchise history.

We had a greatest plays in each team's history thread awhile back. I'm not sure what was chosen for the Vikings, if anything, but this one definitely has to be it now.

Yeah, I don't know what else you would pick. Their most dramatic playoff win was probably their first, 23-20 over the Rams in 1969. There's no single play in that game, though. Most impressive is maybe the 1973 NFC Championship game at Dallas, the only one of the eight they needed for the four Super Bowls that they won on the road. Vikings were dominant in the first half, but the ending was a slopfest.

Other close victories were the 1977 Mud Bowl in Los Angeles, the 1982 Quarterfinal win over the Falcons (ho boy), and a 1997 wildcard win against the Giants, 23-22. The 1987 run was impressive, but the wins were not close games.

Disappointed with Steelers yesterday but shouldn’t have been too surprised (wasn’t expecting them to get past NE anyway). Defense was suspect all year even before Shazier’s injury. It was too easy to assume Steelers would win because of how they beat themselves Week #5 combined with Jags, at home, beating Bills by just a TD. I should have known better. The way Big Ben connected on those big pass plays to still hang around throughout the game against that Jags’ D seemed like something of fiction. That’s something the Pats don’t have that Steelers do have - that obvious deep threat. They also don’t have a Le’Veon to ram it up the middle which the Steelers should have tried having him do yesterday! It’ll be interesting to see how Brady’s likely ‘dink-and-dunk’ approach will do against this D; how will Gronk do? Will the Bortles that played vs Steelers yesterday be the one who also plays at Gillette? Jags’ run-game is sure to show up. But then again there’s Belichick (along with Brady) who’ll come up with an ample enough game plan to make it as tough as possible for Jags to score the upset. Vikings/Eagles ought to be what everyone expects - a classic defensive slugfest! Both matchups will be quite interesting.

sluggermatt15 wrote:

ChrisBabcock wrote:

Amazing finish to the Saints Vikings game. I don't think I've ever seen a "get out of bounds sideline pass to stop the clock for a last second field goal try" turn into a touchdown before. I think we've just seen the greatest play in Vikings franchise history.

We had a greatest plays in each team's history thread awhile back. I'm not sure what was chosen for the Vikings, if anything, but this one definitely has to be it now.

I don't look at it like a "greatest" play for Minnesota, rather it was a total gaffe by New Orleans. I don't think there was anything miraculous about the catch, the receiver just caught the ball and ran into the end zone.

This is true. I totally agree. I think the spirit of the original thread was "most iconic, most memorable" single play in team history.

sluggermatt15 wrote:

ChrisBabcock wrote:

Amazing finish to the Saints Vikings game. I don't think I've ever seen a "get out of bounds sideline pass to stop the clock for a last second field goal try" turn into a touchdown before. I think we've just seen the greatest play in Vikings franchise history.

We had a greatest plays in each team's history thread awhile back. I'm not sure what was chosen for the Vikings, if anything, but this one definitely has to be it now.

I don't look at it like a "greatest" play for Minnesota, rather it was a total gaffe by New Orleans. I don't think there was anything miraculous about the catch, the receiver just caught the ball and ran into the end zone.

It was simply poor defensive call by the Saints and very poor play by Williams. Even my wife - a very good flag football player back in elementary school but barely even a casual fan today - said remarked on that as it happened.

Never mind the greatest play in Vikings history; it was the greatest play in the history of the gridiron game!

But seriously, folks, it kind of makes up for the Hail Mary. Now there's still two wide lefts and a too many men in the huddle to make up for. Two more wins would go a long way towards accomplishing that.

JohnH19 wrote:But seriously, folks, it kind of makes up for the Hail Mary. Now there's still two wide lefts and a too many men in the huddle to make up for. Two more wins would go a long way towards accomplishing that.

I want to see it happen, and I think it's the Vikings' year.

If Jacksonville should beat New England, we will have two teams in the Super Bowl who have never won before. This has not happened since Super Bowl XXXIV with the Rams and Titans. That occurred in eight of the first 11 Super Bowls (all except for II, VIII and X, when the winner from the year before came back and won again), and since then has occurred four times, in Super Bowls XVI (Bengals-49ers), XX (Bears-Patriots), XXI (Giants-Broncos) and XXXIV.

If the Vikings should go to the Super Bowl, their 41-year wait between trips will be the longest of any franchise to return to the Super Bowl. The current record I believe is the Packers going 29 years between Super Bowls II and XXXI.

74_75_78_79_ wrote:Disappointed with Steelers yesterday but shouldn’t have been too surprised (wasn’t expecting them to get past NE anyway). Defense was suspect all year even before Shazier’s injury. It was too easy to assume Steelers would win because of how they beat themselves Week #5 combined with Jags, at home, beating Bills by just a TD. I should have known better. The way Big Ben connected on those big pass plays to still hang around throughout the game against that Jags’ D seemed like something of fiction. That’s something the Pats don’t have that Steelers do have - that obvious deep threat. They also don’t have a Le’Veon to ram it up the middle which the Steelers should have tried having him do yesterday! It’ll be interesting to see how Brady’s likely ‘dink-and-dunk’ approach will do against this D; how will Gronk do? Will the Bortles that played vs Steelers yesterday be the one who also plays at Gillette? Jags’ run-game is sure to show up. But then again there’s Belichick (along with Brady) who’ll come up with an ample enough game plan to make it as tough as possible for Jags to score the upset. Vikings/Eagles ought to be what everyone expects - a classic defensive slugfest! Both matchups will be quite interesting.

IMO the defense and playcalling lost them the game. Now that Todd Haley is gone, it will be interesting to see how the offense functions.

I think one has to examine that the Steelers put 545 yards on the #1 defense. Belichick and Brady are salivating and will be closely watching what Pitt did. I think it bodes danger to Jax because they were just exposed, and I could argue the Patriots have a stronger offense than the Steelers. NE has too much talent on offense - Brady, Gronk, Lewis, et al - to be contained.I think the game comes down to how NE plays on defense. Can they stop the run? If so, they have a very, very good chance to win.

It's amusing listening to the Vikings faithful lamenting their terrible luck and exclaiming that something FINALLY went their way in a big game. These people love their crown of thorns almost as much as Cubs fans did prior to 2016. I guess it's more fun to play victim than I'd realized.

It's mostly younger fans acting this way, which makes sense -- the Vikes' fortune in big games over the past 20 years has been pretty rotten. But they either don't know, or choose to forget, that the Vikings under Bud Grant were one of the luckiest teams in football. They were also very good, but some remarkable breaks fell their way.

- There was a tipped end zone pass bouncing directly into the hands of Wally Hilgenberg in the 1974 NFC championship. Before that, there was a Chuck Foreman fumble that got kicked forward 15 yards and landed on by Chuck Goodrum for a crucial first down.

- There was a blocked chip-shot field goal bouncing directly into the hands of Bobby Bryant for a tide-turning TD in the 1976 NFC championship.

- There was an unlikely southern California downpour giving the Vikings a de facto home-field advantage in the 1977 division round.

- Ahmad Rashad. 'Nuff said.

Then there were all the regular-season games they won by a single point thanks to a missed PAT by the opposition. And all the years they won the Central on a tiebreaker. And all the years their competition in that division was so feeble that they might as well have had six in-season byes.

Other than the '75 Dallas game (in which they really did get screwed), there wasn't a big game the Vikings lost during that era that they shouldn't have lost. There was a reason local reporters referred to Grant as "Horseshoe Harry."

Well, Citizen, this particular Vikings fan has been with them for 50 years so I've seen it all. The difference between the Cubs and Vikings is that the Vikes have almost continuously been contenders since 1968. To be so close so many times without winning it all is where the heartbreak comes in. The Cubs were lovable losers who had some close calls before finally getting to and winning the WS.

It's incorrect to call Bud Grant's teams lucky when what they actually were was superbly prepared to create their "luck". Only in their four SB losses did their winning formula escape them as their own mistakes proved to be their undoing.