Fran Tarkenton had the best of year of his career at age 35 for the 1975 Minnesota Vikings. The team might have been the best in the seven-year stretch that Tarkenton played for Bud Grant (1972-78). Tarkenton won the MVP award, the Vikings went 12-2 and were poised to reach the Super Bowl for the third straight year and perhaps this time, finally bring home a championship. Heartbreak caught up with them at the end.
The 1974 Minnesota Vikings weren’t quite as good as their 1973 predecessors in the regular season. But the ’74 Vikes were still plenty good, as they went 10-4. And they were just as good in the playoffs, winning a second straight NFC Championship before finally falling in the Super Bowl.
Fran Tarkenton’s return to the Twin Cities in 1972 had fizzled out. But the 1973 Minnesota Vikings juiced up the weapons around the future Hall of Fame quarterback and started the best four-year stretch in the history of the franchise.
The 1984 NFL season marked the second straight year, the league had a clear favorite in both the AFC and NFC roll through the regular season and playoffs and into a much-anticipated Super Bowl, only to see the game itself go up in flames. This time it was quarterbacks Joe Montana and Dan Marino, and their San Francisco 49ers and Miami Dolphins, who were the players.
…it was a satisfying run in the Pacific Northwest, one that saw the Seahawks tell two future Hall of Famer quarterbacks to wait their turn.
The 1981 AFC playoffs produced two games that deserve to be on the short list in any discussion of great NFL playoff games.
The 1978 Washington Redskins were starting a new era in franchise history. The had a new coach in Jack Pardee and were moving forward with Joe Theismann as their quarterback after going on-again, off-again between Theismann and veteran Billy Kilmer in 1977. The first year of Pardee & Theismann got off to a fantastic start, but it had an all-too-familiar ending.
George Allen had arrived in the nation’s capital prior to the 1971 season and he made the Washington Redskins a winner. The next five seasons saw Allen go 58-25-1, make the playoffs four times (at a time when only one wild-card per conference qualified) and reach the 1972 Super Bowl. But Allen was clashing with ownership and the 1977 Washington Redskins team would be the coach’s last ride.
No team had ever won four postseason games prior to the 1980 NFL season, although was just the third year of the wild-card round, so the opportunities to do so had been pretty limited. It was the 1980 Oakland Raiders that were the first team to do what is now fairly common, as they took the long path to a Super Bowl win.
It was a little tougher than the previous year, but for the second straight year—and the fourth time in six years—the 1979 NFL season ended with the Pittsburgh Steelers winning the Super Bowl
The 1978 New England Patriots entered the season with a dark cloud hanging over them. Wide receiver Darryl Stingley suffered a horrific injury in the preseason, a broken neck that left him paralyzed for life. After an inspiring season that saw them exceed expectations, the Patriots managed to end the year with a series of self-inflicted wounds.
Indianapolis’ playoff run might have ended in the second round, but the 1987 Indianapolis Colts had finally given their still fairly new home city a taste of postseason football. In the ensuing years, with the greatness of Peyton Manning and now the potential emergence of Andrew Luck, it’s something that’s taken for granted. But in ’87, just getting there was a big deal and the achievement of Meyer, Dickerson & Co., should not be forgotten.