What Went Wrong?

I've had 36 years to wonder why the Minnesota Vikings haven't returned to the Super Bowl. I've had just as long to wonder what went wrong in Super Bowls IV, VIII, IX and XI. They made it to four and lost all four. I remember Super Bowl XI against the Oakland Raiders very well. Super Bowl VIII against the Miami Dolphins and Super Bowl IX against the Pittsburgh Steelers I don't really remember at all. I didn't really understand the game in those early years so they were just a blur. The only thing that came out of those Super Bowls for me was my passion for the Minnesota Vikings. As such, I've gone back and watched all four many times. I've tried to understand.

So, what did go wrong? First of all, they played against four of the best teams of that era. The Kansas City Chiefs team that they were up against in Super Bowl IV was loaded. The offense was explosive. The defense was brutal. Despite the New York Jets surprising victory in Super Bowl III, the upstart AFL still received no respect. That Chiefs team was terrific. The Dolphins, Steelers and Raiders were three of the best teams during the '70s. The Steelers of that decade is one of the greatest teams in history. The Vikings lost to very strong teams. Still, the Vikings teams that played in those Super Bowls were nothing like the Vikings teams that got there. There was something missing in each game. They didn't seem ready to play. Several years ago, while Brad Childress was coaching the Vikings, I read an evaluation of his team by an anonymous scout of an opposing team. This scout said that the Vikings don't try to out-scheme anybody. They just line up and go at it. "This is what we have. Try and stop it." That sort of mentality doesn't really fly too well anymore. Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers teams of the '60s could do it but few can now. The game just isn't that simple anymore. Whether that view is accurate is up for debate but it has some merit. Since the 2007 drafting of Adrian Peterson the Vikings have been a "line 'em up and run it" type team. The only time that changed was when Brett Favre was added to the mix in 2009. Still, Childress didn't really try to trick anyone and he didn't much care for Favre's improvising. Hearing about the possible lack of scheming in this century got me thinking about Super Bowl failures in the previous one. The Vikings of those days just kept doing what worked. They were very good at what they did but they were very predictable. I think that those great AFL/AFC teams were ready for what the Vikings did well. They were certainly more ready for the Vikings than the Vikings were for them. The Chiefs, in particular, had the Vikings on their heels the whole game. The Vikings defense played against the Chiefs offense like they'd never seen film of them before. That's no way to approach a championship game.

The Minnesota Vikings failures in the big game is a puzzle to all fans of the team. Those teams were far better than the teams that showed up in the Super Bowls. The players are even more puzzled. Everyone has theories because the Vikings performance never made sense. The bottom line is that they weren't ready. Were they overconfident? Were they out-schemed? The questions will continue to be asked until the Vikings finally win one of these damn games.