30 greatest players to never win a Super Bowl

17. Alan Page, DT, Minnesota Vikings

There have been some great defensive lines in NFL history and seemingly all of them had a nickname attached to them. The Los Angeles Rams’ “Fearsome Foursome” and the Pittsburgh Steelers’ “Steel Curtain” are but a few of those front fours (or fives) that shut down opposing runners and terrorized quarterbacks.

Of course, there were also the famed “Purple People Eaters” for the Minnesota Vikings. There were defensive ends Jim Marshall and Carl Eller while the interior was manned by Doug Sutherland, Gary Larsen…and Alan Page. Both he and Eller are enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But it’s the talented product from Notre Dame University that was the key cog that helped make life easier for Marshall, Eller and the players around him.

You do understand that sacks did not become an official NFL statistic until 1982. That was the season following Page’s last year in the league. In 1967, the Vikings made him the 15th overall selection in the 1957 NFL Draft. He would spend more than a decade in the Twin Cities before the franchise cut him loose. He would spend him final three-plus seasons with the rival Chicago Bears.

Page and the defense, complimented by quarterbacks such as Joe Kapp and mostly with Fran Tarkenton, reached the Super Bowl four times in an eight-year span from 1969-76. The Vikings not only came up short in each instances but the team was forced to play from behind in each game. In each of those instances, Minnesota failed to score a point in the first half. But those Super failures will never diminish the feats of Page, the first defensive player named NFL MVP in 1971.

Next: No. 16