We asked, you answered: Your favorite moments from 999 Minnesota Vikings games
Readers recall moments of triumph and tragedy dressed in purple.
Saturday's game against the Indianapolis Colts will be the Vikings' 1,000th regular-season or
postseason game. The Star Tribune asked readers to tell us about their favorite Vikings games from 62 seasons that
spanned four home stadiums, four Super Bowls and countless highlights and heartbreaks. Here are excerpts from their
responses, where certain teams and certain players made frequent appearances.
Fond memories of 1969
Sept. 28, 1969: Vikings 52, Baltimore Colts 14
The 1969 season was the most represented among reader responses. Game No. 115 featured an
NFL
record for touchdown passes, which Vikings quarterback Joe Kapp shares with seven others, including Hall of
Famers Sid Luckman, George Blanda, Y.A. Tittle and Peyton Manning.
Joe Kapp threw seven TD passes. I was 8 years old and it was the first Vikings game my parents took me to. They
had
season tickets, still do, but every Sunday they would be in the kitchen early, getting ready to go to the game.
I
didn't understand at the time why they were always mulling spices on the stove and preparing a thermos full of
something I wasn't allowed to drink.
The game was awesome. So much energy and excitement. But what I remember most was that I missed almost
every TD.
You
see at the age of 8, when everyone stood up to see the play, I couldn't see anything and by the time I
got on
top of
my seat to look (bench seating), the play was pretty well over. But that team has remained one of my
favorite
across
many leagues and sports, and I am a die-hard Vikings fan to this day as is most of my family.
Wiley Bartine  Los Angeles
Jan. 4, 1970: Vikings 27, Cleveland 7
Game No. 129 topped the week before as the Vikings played the Browns at Met Stadium
for the
NFL
championship and a spot in the Super Bowl against the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs.
It was a cold day, maybe 10 degrees. A friend and I walked over to the stadium from his
apartment
before the game so we were cold even before the game started. We had seats in the first row on the
third-base
side
right behind the end zone. With time left on the clock, the fans rushed the field and so did I. They had
to
clear
the field to finish the game. I ended by the Cleveland bench as they had heaters. Walt Johnson,
Cleveland's
defensive tackle, was by one of the heaters with his hands basically frozen. I believe he was crying.
Vikings'
first
NFL championship and I was there. P.S. Our schnapps were consumed long before the first half ended.
John Breyfogle  Minnetonka
Playoff downs and ups
Jan. 12, 1975: Steelers 16, Vikings 6
In Game No. 208, the 12-5 Vikings faced the 12-3-1 Steelers in Super Bowl IX at Tulane
Stadium in
New
Orleans.
I was 9 years old. I laid out all of my Vikings bubble gum cards in front of our 19-inch
RCA
XL-100
color television set. It was Solid State. I wore my #10 Fran Tarkenton polyester football jersey. I
prayed the
prayers of the devout.
The Vikings still lost their third Super Bowl. I cried.
I haven't shed a tear for my beloved Purple since that day.
The Vikings have taught me more about the inevitable nature of human suffering
than any Sunday School teacher or
Lutheran preacher could ever provide.
The Miracle at the Met and the Minneapolis Miracle come in a distant
second and third.
Rev. Mark R. Olson  Bagley
Dec. 26, 1976: Vikings 24, L.A. Rams 13
In Game No. 239, the 11-2-1 Vikings played the 10-3-1 Rams
at Metropolitan Stadium for a spot in
their fourth Super Bowl.
1976 NFC championship. Rams rolled down the field and
decided to kick a field goal on fourth and
inches. Chuck Knox decided to play it safe with the field goal. Nate
Allen blocked the kick and it bounced
perfectly to Bobby Bryant, who ran for a touchdown. Instead of Rams 3-0,
it was Vikes 7-0. Still gives me goose
bumps.
Tim Knippenberg  Minneapolis
Tommy Kramer comebacks
Dec. 4, 1977: Vikings 28, 49ers 27
In Game No. 252, the 7-4 Vikings, with Bob Lee
starting at quarterback for an injured Fran
Tarkenton, played 5-6 San Francisco at Met Stadium. The Vikings were
trailing 24-7 entering the fourth quarter,
when Bud Grant sent a rookie QB into the game.
A bitterly cold and windy game against the 49ers.
December 4, 1977. We sat in the bleachers on
the "Visitor" side of the old Met. My friend Ralph and I took my son,
Tad, who was only 9, and our neighbor
Keith, 20, to the game. We wore our snowmobile suits and had sleeping
bags to wrap around us. Windchill of below
zero, which blew at all directions in those bleachers. Keith had
incurable cancer, and was delighted to go to
his first Viking game. The game was terrible. The Vikes could no
nothing, and were behind by over two touchdowns
as we went into the fourth quarter.
Then Tommy Kramer came in. The stands had emptied out because of
the game and the poor performance of the Vikes.
But we stayed. Then Tommy wound up and led the Vikings to three
fourth-quarter touchdowns, to win the game! The
few of us left in the stands cheered wildly. Keith passed only a
few months later, in 1978, but every time I saw
him we talked of Tommy Kramer and the comeback victory.
Hon. Gary J. Meyer (ret.)Â Â Dundas, Minn.
Dec. 14, 1980: Vikings 28, Browns 23
Game No. 304 featured another Tommy Kramer-led
comeback that would become known as the Miracle
at the Met.
The Vikings played a game in which Ahmad Rashad
caught a game-winning pass on the last play of
the game. There was a camera on top of the stands at
Metropolitan Stadium, and it was shaking from the way the
fans were erupting. Bud Grant said the camera was shaking from
the 150,000 fans who were going to say they were
at the game.
Joe
Stuntebeck  Minneapolis
The 1988 playoff run
Jan. 3, 1988: Vikings 44, Saints 10
In Game No. 413, the 8-7 Vikings were
underdogs to the 12-3 Saints in a wild-card playoff game
at the Superdome.
It was an unexpected victory that featured a
breakout game by Anthony Carter and Hail Mary before
halftime with Hassan Jones. I had only been a fan for a couple
of years and wasn't aware of playoff football.
Furthermore, football wasn't a priority, so my parents drug us
shopping in St. Cloud at Crossroads Mall. I
managed to see AC's TD Return, and the Hassan Jones catch while
milling around the Dayton's electronics
department.
Adam Brisk  Duluth
Jan 9, 1988: Vikings 36, 49ers 24
In Game No. 414, the Vikings stunned the
favored 49ers at Candlestick Park as Anthony Carter
had 227 receiving yards to set a team record that still stands.
I'm a Minnesota native, it was my senior year of
high school, and I watched at my buddy's place
with a bunch of friends. The team had shocked New Orleans the
prior week, and had no business beating the 49ers,
who were the No. 1 seed and Team of the 1980s. They were at the
height of their capabilities, with Joe Montana
and Bill Walsh leading the way, and the game was not nearly as
close as the score. It was the first time the
Vikings were that close to the Super Bowl since 1976. They of
course lost to Washington in the NFC Championship
on Darrin Nelson's dropped ball the following week, but I'll
never forget the complete joy and astonishment of
that win over the 49ers.
Rich Effress  La
Jolla, Calif.
Hello, Randy Moss
Oct. 5, 1998: Vikings 37, Packers 24
In Game No. 589, rookie receiver Randy Moss
had five catches for 190 yards and two touchdowns
on a Monday night at Lambeau Field, where the reigning champion
Packers had not lost a regular-season game in
three years. Both teams were 4-0, and the win was the harbinger
of the 15-1 season that would end in the NFC
Championship Game.
The Randy Moss "coming out party" on MNF on
October 5, 1998, in Green Bay. This Vikings win ended
Green Bay's long home winning streak and was a changing of the
guard in the NFC North that year. It was a
drizzly night and I was there with my brother (Vikings fan) and
my dad and father-in-law (both Packer fans). I
still remember this game very fondly! Interesting drive home,
though.
Terry Helget  Sleepy
Eye
My friend and I had gone to both Viking games the
previous two years and sat in the same seats.
The Vikings lost both those games, and each game we were
harassed by all the Packer fans sitting around us. This
was the Randy Moss coming-out party. It was raining the whole
time, but I had never enjoyed a game more. A lot
of those Packers fans started leaving in the third quarter, but
we stayed until the final whistle and just
soaked it all in. I've have had Viking season tickets since 1992
and have seen a lot of great games at the Dome
and U.S. Bank Stadium. But nothing could beat this rainy night
in Lambeau.
Dale Okray  Stevens
Point, Wis.
The Brett Favre bandwagon
Sept. 27, 2009: Vikings 27, 49ers 24
Game No. 772 was Brett Favre's third game as a
Viking but his first at his new home, the
Metrodome. The Vikings trailed San Francisco 26-24 at the 49ers
32 with 12 seconds left and, as Paul Allen said
on KFAN that night, "Oh my heavens!" This was the most mentioned
game among the reader responses.
The Vikings were 2-0, having beaten two mediocre
teams. We weren't ready to jump on the bandwagon
yet. Sure enough in game three, we were losing to SF with time
left for only one play. In the old Packer days,
Favre would do something magical and pull it out. But now he was
washed up and kind of sad.
My seats were in the second row behind the Viking bench,
with the end zone to the right. So just throw the dang
ball down the field, get this over, and we will be 2-1.
I don't know how he somehow ducked that defensive
lineman. He then just heaved that ball downfield,
probably with his eyes closed.
And some guy whose name I can never remember—
[Greg] Lewis — caught it. From where I sat his
feet touched the
chalk. But all the Vikings were running down the
field towards him. Fools, I thought. The refs
will rule him out
of bounds. After all, this is Minnesota.
But no, it counted. And there was Favre
flat on the ground slowly getting up. A
resurrection. He did it, Favre
did it, by God he did it! And then he
got up from the turf, brushed himself
off, looked around with amusement
with an expression saying, why is
everybody so surprised?
I was a 45-year-old man and
tears were just streaming down
my cheeks. The next day I went
out and bought a #4
purple jersey. The bandwagon
never looked better.
Jim
McCormick  Maple
Grove
It has to be the
Favre-to-Lewis game against San
Fran in 2009. I was at the game
and with about
90 seconds left people started
leaving the Metrodome, but I was
screaming, "This is Brett Favre!
We're going to
win this!" When Favre threw that
pass, the whole season shifted
and the place went absolutely
crazy. I can't
recall ever having a feeling
like that at a sporting event
and it's why we watch, hope,
dream, and endure.
Moments like that can get you
through some long seasons.
Nick
Reid  Rapid
City, S.D.
The Minneapolis Miracle
Jan. 14,
2018: Vikings 29, Saints 24
Game No. 918
was another "Miracle," this one
courtesy of Case Keenum and
Stefon Diggs against
New Orleans at U.S. Bank Stadium
in the divisional round of the
playoffs.
I was in the
stadium when the Minneapolis
Miracle happened. The place went
nuts, yet the evening
was not over, even though the
clock had expired. Everyone in
the stands stayed and was
celebrating. To top it
all off, the crowd broke into
karaoke when they played
Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'"
on the loudspeakers.
Laurie
Naughton  Coon Rapids
The Minneapolis
Miracle. We (my wife, girls,
grandpa and grandma) were on
vacation in Puerto
Vallarta. Watching the game at a
hotel pool bar with other
Vikings fans in Spanish
subtitles. In any language,
the most amazing finish to a
game you could see. Lots of
friends made that afternoon in
the warm sun.
Todd
Hauer  Lakeville
I still remember
jumping up and down and
screaming and hugging my dad as
we watched Diggs run
towards the end zone. That was
such a special moment. Even
though we came up short that
year, I'll always have
that moment with my dad.
Lincoln
Currie  Cedar
Rapids, Iowa