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Vikings have had many memorable choke jobs

Green Bay Ranking all the times that the Minnesota Vikings have choked away a football season is like counting stores in the Mall of America. There are so many, it's hard to know where to start or finish.

After all, the Vikings have never won a Super Bowl or a National Football League championship. Over 44 seasons, they've lost their last game 37 times and will likely make it 38 before the month is over. And they've lost four Super Bowls, a number that no other team has topped.

Anyway, difficult as it might be, here is a subjective list of the Vikings' top 10 chokes of all time:

1. 1998 The Vikings finished the regular season with an NFL-best 15-1 record and scored more points than any team in history. They were one game away from the Super Bowl and 10-point favorites when they played the Atlanta Falcons in the Metrodome.

The Vikings built a 20-7 lead in the first half, led by 10 early in the fourth quarter and lost, 30-27, in overtime.

The game started to slip away when coach Dennis Green called for a pass play deep in his own territory rather than run out the clock late in the first half. The Falcons forced a fumble and converted it into a touchdown to cut the difference to 20-14. With 2 minutes 7 seconds remaining in regulation, Vikings kicker Gary Anderson, who had made all 35 of his field goal attempts during the season, missed from 38 yards. The Falcons proceeded to drive 71 yards and scored the tying touchdown with 49 seconds left.

2. 1969 After finishing 12-2 for the best record in the NFL and limiting their opponents to an average of 9.5 points per game, the Vikings were installed as anywhere from 10- to 13-point favorites in Super Bowl IV. Their opponents, the Kansas City Chiefs, were a wild- card team from the American Football League, which was still perceived as inferior to the NFL.

Sure enough, the game was no contest, but it was the Chiefs who dominated, 23-7. The Vikings crossed midfield only four times, rushed for only two first downs and committed five turnovers.

3. 2003 After starting out 6-0, the Vikings stumbled to the finish line 9-6. Still, all they had to do was beat the 3-12 Arizona Cardinals in their final game to win the NFC North on a tiebreaker and host a first-round playoff game. The Vikings were 8-point favorites.

Leading, 17-6, with under two minutes to go, they allowed a touchdown, a successful onside kick and a second touchdown on a 28- yard, fourth-down pass from Josh McCown to Nathan Poole as time expired. Not only did the 18-17 loss hand the Green Bay Packers the division title, it also knocked the Vikings out of the playoffs.

4. 2000 Although the Vikings had to play the NFC Championship on the road against a team that had won one more game during the regular season, they were listed as 2 -point favorites. With Randy Moss and Cris Carter, who had combined for 173 catches and 24 touchdowns during the regular-season, the Vikings simply looked too explosive for the New York Giants.

The oddsmakers couldn't have been more wrong, and the Vikings couldn't have laid a bigger egg. They were shut out for the first time in nine years, 41-0, the most lopsided score in 31 NFC title games. Giants quarterback Kerry Collins threw for a record 381 yards and five TDs.

"It's going to be hard for us to win a Super Bowl in Minnesota," said Moss after the game.

5. 1975 One of three teams to finish with a league-best 12-2 record, the Vikings drew the Dallas Cowboys for their first playoff game. Playing outdoors in late December at old Metropolitan Stadium, the Vikings were heavy favorites over an opponent that had made the playoffs as a wild card.

But with victory in their grasp, the Vikings lost on a 50-yard touchdown pass to Drew Pearson with 24 seconds to go. On the same drive, Pearson caught a 25-yard pass on a fourth-and-16 play. The final: Dallas 17, the Vikings 14.

6. 1970 At 12-2, the Vikings finished with the best record in the league and were the team to beat in the playoffs. Their defense had allowed opponents a mere 10.2 points per game and no one else in the newly constituted 26-team NFL looked that strong on paper.

But in their first playoff game, the Vikings were stunned by the San Francisco 49ers, 17-14, in 9-degree weather at the Met. The Baltimore Colts eventually won a close, but ugly Super Bowl.

7. 1981 With five games remaining, the Vikings led the NFC Central with a 7-4 record. No other team was above .500. The Vikings proceeded to lose their last five games and were eliminated from the playoffs after the fourth.

They lost to the Packers at home as 7-point favorites after blowing a 14-0 lead. They lost to the Chicago Bears as 3-point favorites, despite allowing only four pass completions.

Tampa Bay won the division at 9-7; the Vikings finished fourth at 7-9.

8. 1983 This time the Vikings held a one-game lead in the NFC Central with four to go but lost three straight and were eliminated before the last game. The two division losses were to Detroit, 13-2, and to the underdog Bears, 10-9.

The Lions won the division at 9-7; the Vikings were one of three teams to finish 8-8.

9. 1971 The Vikings and Cowboys both finished 11-3, tops in the league, and were widely considered to be the two best teams. They met in the first round of the playoffs and the winner figured to have the inside track on capturing the Super Bowl.

Although they played at home on Christmas Day, the Vikings lost, 20-12, when quarterbacks Bob Lee and Gary Cuozzo combined to throw four interceptions. Three weeks later, the Cowboys won the Super Bowl, 24-3.

10. 1976 The Vikings lost their fourth Super Bowl in eight years. Although they were only 5-point underdogs, they weren't even competitive. The Oakland Raiders piled up what was then a Super Bowl record 429 yards, including 266 on the ground, and won, 32-14.

"The Minnesota Vikings make a career of failure in the Super Bowl and have enjoyed howling success at it," the late, great Red Smith wrote the next day in The New York Times.

Almost 18 years later, the Vikings no longer are a howling success at losing Super Bowls for one good reason. They've become a howling success at losing big games before the Super Bowl.

THE VIKINGS' ALL-TIME GREATEST CHOKES

1. Loss to Falcons in 1998 NFC title game

2. Loss to Chiefs in Super Bowl IV

3. Last-second loss to Cardinals in 2003

4. 41-0 loss to Giants in 2000 NFC title game

5. Last-minute loss to Cowboys in '75 playoff game 6. Upset loss to 49ers in 1970 playoff game

7. Five-game collapse to end 1981 season

8. Stretch-run collapse in 1983 season

9. Loss to Cowboys in 1971 playoff game

10. 32-14 Super Bowl XI loss to Raiders

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Copyright 2005, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved. (Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media.)

Copyright 2005 Journal Sentinel Inc. Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media
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