Super Bowl power rankings: Who’s the best loser?
By John Buhler
10. 1969 Minnesota Vikings, Super Bowl IV
Of all the teams Bud Grant had with the Minnesota Vikings, his 1969 squad was probably the one most capable of winning a Super Bowl. The 1969 Vikings went 12-2 to win the NFC Central. They beat the Los Angeles Rams by three points, 23-20, in the Divisional round and won decisively over the Cleveland Browns in the NFL Championship, 27-7.
At that time, the AFL and the NFL had not yet merged. Even though the AFL Champion New York Jets beat the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III the year before, the Vikings would stand as a 12-point favorite over the AFL Champion Kansas City Chiefs.
Kansas City had played in the first ever Super Bowl three years before, and that crushing loss they suffered to Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers undoubtedly fueled quarterback Len Dawson and his teammates’ motivation. The Chiefs would upset the Vikings, 23-7, in Tulane Stadium in New Orleans in Super Bowl IV.
Minnesota would go on to play in three more Super Bowls under Coach Grant. However, the Vikings would go on to lose them all, as the Vikings are one of two teams in NFL history to go 0-4 in Super Bowls along with the AFC’s Buffalo Bills.
The Vikings may not have had the big game experience at that time to win a Super Bowl, but it was the only time that the national perception favored the Vikings in the big game. Kansas City was a great team in their own right, but the Vikings choked in Super Bowl IV. This would become a common theme for Grant and quarterback Fran Tarkenton, as they could never get over the hump in the big game.
Next: 9. 1983 Washington Redskins