Alan Page: the only player ever to be NFL MVP as a DEFENSIVE LINEMAN. Contemplate that. Most. Valuable. Player. Purple. People. Eater. and also Honorable Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court for 22 years, the first African American to sit on that bench …in a world where “sitting on the bench” is a position of highest honor :)
You guys probably won't see this comment, but this series has reached the air waves of Minnesota! They were talking about this during the Paul Allen 9-12 show on the MN sports radio channel! Maybe you guys could get the voice of the Vikings on here! Love the series, even tho it just shows how close this franchise was to being considered one of the best in history. Maybe one day we can get to the top...
I can almost guarantee we'll hear Paul Allen's voice, not specifically for this doc but via the radio, on the 2000s episode for the INT in New Orleans and the 2010s episode for the Blair Walsh miss.
I thought I was a diehard fan but I had absolutely no idea about that miserable fumble call in Super Bowl IX. Furthermore, no Alan Page on the Hail Mary play is an insane notice. This series continues to blow my mind.
Reply showed that Larry Brown was indeed down before the fumble. The Hail Mary was no doubt about it pass interference as well as the play before where Alan Page was held and clipped.
@@davester1970After taking a closer look at those plays, I think the play at midfield is almost more of a questionable call. Credit Pearson for getting to that ball, but his feet almost look out of bounds.
I just got emotional about Tarkenton losing his father during the Cowboys game. I have no attachment to the Vikings in my life. Tarkenton attended one of my alma mater's most bitter rivals. This is incredible
can i just say, i think there's even more detective work that can be done. Im not sure i entirely trust alan. When he vaguely says the coaches took him out...but they said he was vehemently arguing a penalty before that...im not sure i believe it. I believe it's self-preservation from Mr. Page and i think he's a little less heroic than most have decided. Just my .02
@hudy323 It's not even 2 cents because you didn't actually say anything or make any real claim. You stopped short of that part after all that buildup.
Just want to say, I feel like John and Alex’s use of the Z-axis has shown a lot of growth in this series. It started in the Dave Stieb series but there’s so much cool Z-axis action going on here! Love it guys 🙂
They also used the Z-axis in the Falcons series to show the win probability during the Patriots Superbowl match, and even back when Jon was making videos on his own about miserable punts
Wow, that part about Fran Tarkenton learning of his father's passing while watching the next game just crushed me and I can't really reason with why other than some sense of empathy for the imagination of those events playing out for another human. That just seems like such a way for the universe to randomly send a "fuck you" his way. He just lost a game he shouldn't have lost for the chance to do what everyone was there to do. Watching from a winnebago in the teams parking lot he just lost for, with his family. Probably already decided which of the two teams he wanted to see win knowing he would've decimated both of them had the officiating errors never been made. There was probably a slight sense of relief being with his family in that moment knowing he at least had that to look forward to for support and them BAM! You find out from broadcasters that your father has passed. Not only did he pass while you were playing but he never got to see how that game ended. You know you lost. He never knew you did. He saw you as a winner until his last moments. You know that isn't what you are. That would defeat my will to survive.
This is a weird place to drop this but I just saw Polica live a couple weeks ago and one of the first Pretty Good vids features Polica and was really impressed by Jon and the team's musical insight. Though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.
Amazing how they managed to pull together great soundtracks to these videos after Kanye got an entire ep of Pretty Good scrubbed. The Lonnie Smith Pretty Good is an all-timer soundtrack, though.
@@pokehybridtrainer He did an episode of Pretty Good on Stanislav Petrov, the Russian who put the breaks on a possible nuclear war. In it, he used "Ultralight Beam" I think. It was yanked from UA-cam and you can't find it anywhere.
I think it's just about universal that of all the coaches that didn't end up winning a Superbowl, Bud Grant was the one who deserved to most (Levy and Reeves also on the podium). After the first two eps, seems like a blood price was paid for all these people to still be alive at this point of the timeline.
Grant is most definitely the best of those coaches in my opinion., followed by those other two. Three others who deserve an honorable mention in my opinion (though not as good as the three you named): George Allen, Marty Schottenheimer, and Chuck Knox. The latter’s LA teams should come up in this next section a couple times, and Allen coached the Washington team we saw them beat in 1973. George Allen on a side note, with his Washington tenure appears to have pursued a strategy similar to what the Rams did the past half decade or so: Trade picks for players and win now.
Honestly what's sad is a lot of these guys died recently. Joe Kapp in 2023, Bud Grant in 2023, Jim Klobuchar in 2021, Doug Sutherland in 2022, Fred Cox in 2019, you can go up and down that roster and a ton of those guys died within the last 5 years as they got to their late 70s, 80s, and 90s. Kinda I think part of what makes this series special. It tells a lot of young people the tales of these legends of the game who can appreciate them while they're still alive, or who can appreciate the recently departed and go "so that's why they were a big deal."
@@tygrkhat4087 I have a load of respect for Marty. It it wasn't for bad luck, he'd have had none at all (The Drive, The Fumble, kickers, Snyder, McCree, Spanos...) But I can only put him at #4 because he was conservative on offense in big games.
Out of all the documentaries Jon Bois has produced for Secret Base (Dorktown, Really Good, 253-141, 1904 Olympic marathon, etc) I’ve watched repeatedly, the segment on the 1975 Divisional Hail Mary game is probably his & Alex’s best work. I knew about the Pearson push off and Vikes fans throwing bottles on the field, but I never knew about Alan Page not being on the field for the play, poor coaching decision by Bud Grant and Staff. My jaw dropped when that reveal happened. Love this series, can’t wait for the 80s.
@@SimuLord yeah that one was incredible as well. Man I went “BUD NO!!!!!” lol. I’m shocked NFL Films didn’t pick that up on any of their home videos or compilations.
Fascinating bit of history off to one side: James Harris was the first Black QB to start a season opener, a Pro Bowl, and a playoff game. And yet I've never heard of him till today. There is always stuff to learn. Anyway, this one really hit its stride. Bravo! (Though I will note that many historians do not like calling any one group "Vikings." The people of Scandinavia never did,)
I am a Vikings fan, and so I already knew the outcome of (most) of the games highlighted here. But Jon and Alex are such amazing storytellers that they still made me believe, just for a moment, that the Vikings might be able to go all the way.
Never knew Super Bowl IX was in the balance in the 4th with a bad call by the ref, nor did I know some of the details about the Hail Mary game (Alan Page not playing on the Drew Pearson play, or the force out rule on the play preceding it). Fantastic work so far, JB. PS, the LA Rams must've despised the Vikings in the 70s.
The Rams were decidedly the 3rd best NFC team during the 1970s behind the Cowboys and Vikings, but they could just never get past those 2 until it was too late. They finally beat the Cowboys in 1979 and shut out an upstart Bucs squad only to get routed by the same Steelers dynasty that kept the Vikings ringless and prevented the Cowboys from having an extra 2 titles.
You can spot the rams near the top of that wins over .500 graph they show after every season. They were right there with the Raiders and Vikings. They just couldn't MAKE the super bowl, much less win one.
If you ever talk to a Vikings fan they'll never let you forget it. Best way to shut them up about one call ruining their SB win is to just ask them why their defense that only lets like 10 points a game happen all regular season all of sudden don't show up when it counts in the playoffs every single time they make it there.
What hurt most to me was knowing what was going to happen but watching them build up that Raiders Super Bowl anyway. It felt like watching a car crash in slow motion, but not in the sense that it was slow inevitable destruction but in the sense that there was somebody in that car, and you have to watch them suffer.
I'm a Bills fan; I had season tickets from 1988 until 2010. I was at Rich Stadium when the Bills demolished the Raiders 51-3 to go to their first Super Bowl. I was soaking in the feeling and I said to myself; enjoy this, it won't last. I had no idea there would be three more shots at it, but the inevitable decline came; and then the bottom dropped out. It's just as Seinfeld put it, we're rooting for laundry.
@@tygrkhat4087As a Packer fan who wasn’t around for the Super Bowl win in 1996, I can assure you after the 2010 NFC Championship win in Chicago, I had lost my absolute mind that night, and knew that that moment, and the following 2 weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, needed to be cherished. Little did I know though that the 10-6 Packers, playing the mighty, recent 2-time champion of that era Steelers, was actually gonna pull that one off, and bring coach Lombardi’s trophy home… Super Bowl Sunday, 2/6/11, was one of the greatest days of my life, and damn am I so glad I cherished all that time. Fast forward through the rest of the Aaron Rodgers era, and there’s nothing but heartbreak & misery of hopes of another championship rising, only to fail before reaching the Super Bowl again… truly goes to show just how tough it is to win the whole thing. I hope your Bills with Josh Allen can finally get the job done for y’all so you can finally feel what I felt on 2/6/11… Buffalo has been overdue since 1990.
I’m actually crying. I am a Saints fan, for the past fifteen years that I’ve watched New Orleans Saints football I have hated the Minnesota Vikings. Although I spent my early years in New Orleans hence the fandom I lived a long time in Minnesota and I truly grew to hate them. The culture they had, always self loathing, always so miserable to both everyone else and themselves. It was has though I was watching passionless passionate fanbase. I knew most of the history going into this, I knew exactly how this story was going to go. And yet this video has made me cry for the Minnesota Vikings, this series has made me love the Minnesota Vikings. I have no more words, I cannot describe how good this is.
@@goldenstatewarriors9418 I know damn well what’s gonna happen when we get to that play. Which is exactly why I’m gonna enjoy Farve throwing that pic in the NFC championship and that “congrats to the New Orleans Saints, winners of Super Bowl XLIV, this is there first championship” has much has possible. Also between the history of the Atlanta Falcons and this it’s kinda funny that they’ve basically told the history of the New Orleans Saints in doing so. All we need now is a history of the Rams and it’ll be complete.
@@zbou23 say that all you want but I feel like Minnesota didn’t deserve to win a game where they had five turnovers in the Saints territory. Most of them fumbles by AP. Also while I don’t condone what the Saints did, it’s unfair to discredit what the Saints did when the Vikings got fucked up by the D-line of the Saints while the Colts never gave up a single sack. Yeah injuring players is fucked up, but you can only injure a dude if the O line allows it. I don’t want to hear any grandstanding from a Vikings unite that was doing very similar stuff at that time has well. Trust me buddy, I’ve heard all the excuses from you guys.
I have been wondering for **years** what the hell flew across the screen during the original Hail Mary, the fact that its a god damn orange is not the answer I was expecting
Fran Tarkenton's Vikings weren't my Vikings. They were my father's Vikings. The first two episodes of The History of the Minnesota Vikings have been a joy to watch. I've known the 0-4 SB record since I was a kid, but I didn't think it would start to hurt until I got to the '90s. I was wrong. It's starting to hurt watching the Vikings from before I was born rise to such heights of greatness only to never reach the summit. Great series, but wow it hurts.
exactly how i feel. I had to tell my dad like i cant believe your high school career was super bowl loss, super bowl loss, drew pearson, super bowl loss, and here i thought 98 was peak pain
I don't watch American Football. I barely know how the game works. This series has me hooked to the point where I'm genuinely cheering and booing at the play by play of the Super Bowl 9 game. Y'all have made something beautiful with this channel and this show and I can't thank you enough for it.
For anyone wondering about the 70s Steelers and Approximate Value, they had 7 very high scores on the team at the same time. Here is their top 8: 208 Ben Roethlisberger 150 Mike Webster 147 Jack Ham --- 143 Joe Greene 140 Terry Bradshaw 137 Jack Lambert 135 Franco Harris 128 Mel Blount The threshold for top 50 was between 147 and 143. Donnie Shell was down at 118 with L.C. Greenwood and Andy Russell at 110 & 109, respectively. Stallworth was only 103 and Swann all the way down at 73, 39th in team history...albeit in fewer games than anyone above him.
@@SimuLord, the 70 Steelers only having two is what prompted me to look it up and comment in the first place, but I suppose that many people watching this video aren't football fans so I could have made it more explicit. Minnesota does so well in this measure because Career Approximate Value for one team is more heavily weighted toward longevity (for one team) than many other measures. These Minnesota teams had several outliers in career length. That measure adds a bias toward teams before free agency and salary caps where players were more likely to stay on the same team for longer. Note that the top 10 in Career AV, without a team restriction, all played 16+ seasons: 1 Tom Brady 326 2000-2022 2TM 2 Drew Brees 277 2001-2020 2TM 3 Peyton Manning 271 1998-2015 2TM 4 Brett Favre 259 1991-2010 4TM 5 Jerry Rice 251 1985-2004 3TM 6 Fran Tarkenton 233 1961-1978 2TM 7 Aaron Rodgers 231 2005-2022 gnb Reggie White 231 1985-2000 3TM 9 Bruce Smith 229 1985-2003 2TM 10 Ray Lewis 224 1996-2012 rav PEDANTIC NOTE: Aaron Rogers only earned 1 AV point his first three seasons as a backup, so his were really earned over just 15 seasons.
70’s Steelers had a great stretch. They had the 76 team who overcame a bad start, put up the best defensive stats, and made the conference championship game, they had the 78 team who went 14-2 and played an excellent postseason. And the 75 team who had the best point differential, went 12-2, and had the most pro bowlers of any Super Bowl champion with 11, as well as the most all pros of any Steeler team in those years. The fact that Pittsburgh had three teams that great in that short a period of time is quite the accomplishment.
I appreciate that they don’t try to act like the times the Vikings lost bc the other team was better are anything but that. They also acknowledge that sometimes the losses were suspect, and too few people acknowledge both of those things simultaneously.
That 4th and final super bowl was chilling. The suspenseful music playing as the early back and forth 1st quarter played out over the quotes “we’re going to win, nothing can stop us” while all of us knew there was no happy ending.
I have been a Vikings fan since 1997 when I was a kid. I'll be honest, I am both excited for and dreading how this series will cover the 1998, 2001, 2009, and 2017 NFC Championship games, the Whizzinator, the Minnetonka Boat Ride, "straight cash, homie" and Nate Poole. My name is Minnesota, and I am all that is suffering.
There's a certain type of excitement I feel when I see a new Dorktown video that is rarely reached. ESPECIALLY when it's guaranteed that the Raiders will be mentioned. Surely we can't beat the mighty Vikings of the 70s, but when diving into that era and seeing exactly how much we won makes me forget we've made a single super bowl in 40 years. Anyway, hope the vikings can get one this episode, it's long overdue.
I think the athlete/coach portraits in this are my favourite among the Dorktown documentaries, the closeup photo contrasted with the 'just sitting around' zoomed out photo is really good
Y'know, this one reminded me of a longstanding pair of questions I've had for Jon Bois, ever since The Bob Emergency: Have you ever heard from the people you write stories about? And, if so, how do they feel about it? Dunno that I'll ever get an answer, but it's incredible that he was able to get in touch with Mr. Page himself.
Can't believe they didn't mention Karl Kassulke, the Vikings' Pro Bowl safety who was tragically paralyzed in a motorcycle accident before the 1973 season
It’s a massive history and they even said they’re not going to focus on the minutiae of every single Vikings related fact and player in history for this docuseries. Like the other ones, they’re story tellers, and they spend almost as much time outside the lines of sports as within it. If you want super almanac specific Vikings history, go to pro football reference or Wikipedia. This is for something more philosophical and universal
It’s always an achievement when this channel makes you cheer against your home team for a bit. I’m a homegrown Steelers fan and my heart is just broken by this episode’s ending.
This series is incredible. Side story: one of my friends was on both the 1998 Vikings (Gary Anderson's missed FG) and the 1999 Tennessee Titans (Dyson's leaning catch at the 1). Suffice to say, he got to taste that oh-so-close feeling in back-to-back postseasons. I'm not sure how many athletes have experienced such a strange double, but even Red Sox and Cubs fans at the time were probably thinking, "oh man, that's F'd up."
Landry Shamet has 3 straight I think. 2019 he was on the 76ers who lost in Game 7 of the conference semifinals on a buzzer beater. 2020 he was on the Clippers who lost game 7 of the conference semifinals after leading 3 games to one. 2021 he was on the Nets who lost game 7 of the conference semifinals in overtime and were so narrowly close to winning the game, by a matter of inches.
Kenny Lofton had some really bad luck later in his career. Lost the World Series in 1995 with CLE Lost the WS IN ‘02 with SF after being up 5-0 in Game 7 Was with the Cubs in ‘03 (the “Bartman” game, blowing a 3-1 series lead in NLCS) Was a Yankee in ‘04 when Boston came back from being down 0-3 in ALCS Went back to CLE in ‘07 for his last year: Red Sox come back from 1-3 in ALCS. This video
This is how I felt during the Falcons series they did a while back. I live in GA, but I’ve hated the Falcons since I was a kid because I knew they were hopeless.
As a lifelong Viking, I found it quite amusing when they said that "if any team could play football in (32 degrees below zero), it was the Vikings" (42:20). ..while in the 70's they played at the outdoor Metropolitan Stadium, throughout my entire life they've only played indoors and I immediately thought of y'all. Lambeau has some crazy games in November and December!
@@TheBlerdman Saints fan here and yeah, that series was delicious. Just not looking forward to the modern day Vikings episode where our great pain comes up, but I've got time.
I am still a fairly new NFL fan (heading into my 4th season of watching the sport). I thought I knew a decent amount about its history, but boy was I wrong. I was left absolutely stunned and shocked by the Vikings' bad luck and inability to finish the job in this episode. Loved the detail around the Hail Mary, Page's absence and the sheer number of generational players the team had in their ranks at the same time. Can't wait for the next episodes. The fact that we can all watch it for free, on demand at any given time is absolutely insane. Kudos to Dorktown team
I love your game analysis because it really helps me understand the strategy and the mindset of football. Watching at home on TV, I might as well be watching kids play with toys, but you guys give it to the context that makes it make sense.
I have very much been looking forward to this episode. I grew up in Frederick Maryland, even went to the same high school (decades later). I always heard about Chuck Foreman and how ahead of his time he was. I grew up staring at old newspaper clippings and posters of Foreman on my Barber's back wall. This was the time before UA-cam highlight reels were a couple clicks away. So I'm very happy you covered this subject and gave Chuck Foreman some shine. Great work as always.
Between last season's nail biters, netflix's quarterback, and now this masterpiece itd be hard to imagine a better year in exposure for this storied franchise. Never been more hyped for the vikes or more proud to be a fan. Thank you
The 1976 NFC championship game is the first NFL game I remember watching. My dad, who grew up on the same street as Merlin Olsen, was watching what he hoped would be the game where his childhood friend finally reached the Super Bowl. It was not to be: Merlin Olsen's final game was a loss, and he ended his amazing career without even a conference title, let alone a championship. Instead, he was merely the greatest defensive tackle of all time and the greatest sporting hero the state of Utah ever produced.
Alan Page and Fran Tarkenton might be 2 of the 3 most underrated players in league history. 3rd being Warren Moon. Amazing what not winning a championship does to a player's historical value, regardless of production.
It's stories like this that are why I get so frustrated with 90% of sporting discourse, and *especially* the tedious takes judging players and coaches purely on trophies and rings, and nothing else. If anyone watches this and tries to tell me folks like Bud Grant and Fran Tarkenton aren't some of the greatest of all time at what they do, *just* because they missed out on the big one by sometimes the absolute finest margins or injustices imaginable? On factors often completely out of their control? Get outta here. As Slapshoes once said about NASCAR legend Mark Martin, the man who never won a Cup despite finishing runner up FIVE TIMES in his career; he was one of the greatest of all time, and just so happened to often come up against *the* greatest of all time. And that should never diminish or invalidate his legacy. Same for Grant, Tarkenton, and the Purple People-Eaters. 💖
after learning to care about a football team I've never cared about until now and hearing about the most frustrating game of football I've never heard about, the part about tarkenton's father at 32:30 broke me down into tears. you guys make us feel emotions we've never thought possible. keep it up
Some of the best writing and delivery every created comes in these videos when Jon gets me to hope for a team to win a game I know they lost. Its an incredible moment when against all reason, logic or rational thought the narrative compels me to let go of everything and just hope before it all comes crashing down.
You know, everybody talks about how Jim Marshall should be a Hall of Famer, and rightfully so. But my question is this: Why hasn’t Chuck Foreman been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame? Because Bud Grant’s offensive coordinator, Jerry Burns, ran the West Coast offense for the Vikings. And Chuck Foreman was lethal as both a runner AND receiver in Burns’s offense. The Vikings might not have been a powerhouse without Foreman. In other words…Chuck Foreman belongs in Canton, Ohio.
As good as Chuck Foreman was, his peak was both quite short and he only was able to net one 1st-Team All-Pro. Guys like John Riggins and Franco Harris lasted far longer, and that ultimately got them into the Hall of Fame. Also, it's not like Foreman was buried on a perpetually losing squad that never did anything. The 1970s Vikings were a Top 4 team of that decade. Foreman was a unique player for the era, but that decade was defined by OJ Simpson leading the NFL in rushing yards 4 times in 5 seasons. Then immediately after Simpson's dominant streak ended, Walter Payton and Earl Campbell carried the crown. Foreman was a great player, but not quite an all-timer like some of his teammates were. The Vikings player that everyone should be campaigning for Hall of Fame Honors is Jim Marshall because maintaining an ironman streak in that era is simply absurd. He also breached 130 career sacks, and everyone above 135 sacks is either in the Hall of Fame or is a recent era player (Julius Peppers, Terrell Suggs, and Jared Allen) who will certainly be inducted soon enough.
Chuck Foreman was basically a Todd Gurley or Shaun Alexander of his time. Went from arguably the best back in football to an afterthought almost instantly.
@@MadMike1Good peak, but yeah. A lot of running backs have been very good for short periods. Overlooked at times, but not someone who should be in Canton.
What is Jon Bois, anyways? Sportswriter isn’t exactly the right word, sports journalist doesn’t fit either…sports documentarian is more apt yet unwieldy.
Alan Page is my hero, I hope he is aware of the series and checks it out. Jon and Alex are bringing this story to light for a new generation and im so happy that they did.
I wonder if that line about the steelers was a dorktown sneak preview...a story about a team that "ignores the universe's signs that they're not supposed to be here" sounds like dorktown bread and butter
No that would be the narrative of the Arizona Coyotes 😅 That line is just to indicate how the franchise just spun it's wheels for 40 years until their 70s dynasty. Make it seem even more inexplicable.
As a Saints fan, I almost feel dirty for the sheer amount of pleasure and satisfaction I am able to get out of watching both the last sb nation epic and this one. I also know that I will never have to deal with watching a series about my team, because there is nothing funny about our history, it’s just really depressing
respectfully pointing out a goof at the 16 minute mark: The missed field goal was a PAT, so it would not have "tied the game"; it would have merely cut the Steelers' lead to 2. Love this series, thanks for the content guys
the word "field goal" at 16:08 is alluding to what a hypothetical one later on would've done. had that PAT been good, a future fg would've taken the lead, but since it was no good, a future fg would've only tied
wait, I understand what was meant now. you meant the 1 point PAT would take them within a field goal of taking the lead, but missing the PAT meant they're still only within a field goal of tying. Not a goof, just a misunderstanding on my part
Only Jon and Alex can break my heart over a football team I don't particularly like from half a century ago even when I already know what's going to happen
I know Jon isn't much of a hockey fan, and I've never heard Alex mention it at all, but I hope they do one of these about the Leafs one day. I think there's probably so much story to tell about a team that won the Stanley Cup 13 times, down to the last one of the Original Six era, and then has never been back to the finals despite fielding tons of talent over the years.
Very excited about the next episode as a big nfl fan I knew about the 70s Vikings and i know about them from the late 90s until now but I really know nothing about the 80s Vikings so it should be a fun watch
I was born in 80, so I missed out on all the Super Bowls, but in my 43 years, I've seen some incredible seasons. Like the strike shortened 1987 season where the Vikes got ol Joey Mountains benched in the divisional round, only to have a win quite literally slip through the fingers of Darrin Nelson at the end of the NFC Championship game, or the 1994 season where Cris Carter set a then record 122 catches behind MVP worthy campaign from Warren Moon near the end of his career, then he spent the 95 season being every bit as productive with another 122 catches, or the magical 1998 season when the Vikings won 15 games led by Randall Cunningham and the greatest receiver of all time, in his rookie year no less, Randy Moss ony to fall in the Championship game again, thanks to Gary Anderson's first missed field goal in two years. I had front row seats to Brett Favre's first game winning comeback as a Viking in 2009 and also to the last one of his HoF career when he led two TD drives in the last two minutes to send it to overtime against the Cardinals before Adrian Peterson but the game to bed early in the extra quarter. I sat through -9° temps when the Vikings played their last outdoor playoff game, at the Gophers TCF Bank Stadium, losing to the Seahawks when Blair Walsh shanked a 27 yard kick wide left because his holder mishandled the ball leaving the laces facing onward. I got to see the Minneapolis Miracle from my friend's living room in Tallahassee and I was witness to the greatest catch ever made, Justin Jefferson's one-handed 4th & 18 takeaway from a Bills defender to help the Vikings win in a really tough Buffalo stadium against a really tough Buffalo team. It's been a helluva ride, I only wish my dad had lived to see them finally win the most important game of each season.
My dad is the single biggest Cowboys fan I have ever known in my entire life. I would not be surprised if I found out he had a jersey for over 100 different players throughout the Cowboys history. Watching the Hail Mary with him and talking about it is a wildly different experience than hearing about it from the Vikings perspective. He still says it is the craziest thing in sports he ever saw.
Watching this and I can't help but to think about those Bills teams with simlar fates. Would love to see a dorktown on them. Amazing episode and series as always!
the thing about the Bills is that talking about the Bills isn’t easy because at some point you’re going to have to talk about the 70s which inevitably means a discussion about you know who
“An insurmountable lead of 28-3” never fails to make me laugh
Nowhere is safe for Falcons fans
Atlanta fans will never live it down.
Scrolled down here specifically to see if anyone else caught that. Shouldn't have bothered.
time mark? I missed it
neverminf 37:00
I just want to say thanks to Alan Page for even taking the time to talk to Jon.
Absolute legend of a man
Literally. Literally a legend of a man, or at least a legendary man.
Greatest to ever do it IDC about no Tom Brady
THIS!!! Page is a legend in EVERY way possible.
Alan Page: the only player ever to be NFL MVP as a DEFENSIVE LINEMAN.
Contemplate that.
Most. Valuable. Player.
Purple. People. Eater.
and also Honorable Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court for 22 years, the first African American to sit on that bench …in a world where “sitting on the bench” is a position of highest honor :)
If Jon Bois of all people wants to talk to you for an interview, that is call you do not wanna miss!
"an insurmountable 28-3 lead midway through the 3rd quarter" was just unnecessary, thanks Alex
The way they keep throwing that joke in never stops being funny.
“Insurmountable lead of 28-3” falcons fans can never escape lmao
This is included in every football epic they do 🤣
timemark? i missed it
nevermind. 37:00
It's like that Sam Kinison joke.
"OH OHHHHH IT NEVER ENDS!!!!"
Best 45 minutes of my life
You guys probably won't see this comment, but this series has reached the air waves of Minnesota! They were talking about this during the Paul Allen 9-12 show on the MN sports radio channel! Maybe you guys could get the voice of the Vikings on here! Love the series, even tho it just shows how close this franchise was to being considered one of the best in history. Maybe one day we can get to the top...
This.
When did PA talk about this? I'd love to look up their thoughts.
when did he talk about this
I can almost guarantee we'll hear Paul Allen's voice, not specifically for this doc but via the radio, on the 2000s episode for the INT in New Orleans and the 2010s episode for the Blair Walsh miss.
@@ryanm01also the Minneapolis Miracle.
I thought I was a diehard fan but I had absolutely no idea about that miserable fumble call in Super Bowl IX. Furthermore, no Alan Page on the Hail Mary play is an insane notice. This series continues to blow my mind.
Reply showed that Larry Brown was indeed down before the fumble. The Hail Mary was no doubt about it pass interference as well as the play before where Alan Page was held and clipped.
I'd bet money that a couple people had money on Super Bowl IX who definitely shouldn't have.
@@davester1970After taking a closer look at those plays, I think the play at midfield is almost more of a questionable call.
Credit Pearson for getting to that ball, but his feet almost look out of bounds.
I can’t believe they actually reached out to Alan Page for this. I’m so impressed.
Not even a Vikings fan, and I have mad respect for Alan Page, both as football player and human being.
Very impressive.
And I had no idea he wasn’t on the field for the Hail Mary, or why he was taken off.
@@stuartdollar9912
I love how this series gets you emotionally invested in stuff that happened 50 years ago.
I just got emotional about Tarkenton losing his father during the Cowboys game. I have no attachment to the Vikings in my life. Tarkenton attended one of my alma mater's most bitter rivals. This is incredible
I’m sure even packers fans find themselves rooting for them (even though we all know the outcome)
It makes me want a biopic so badly. Thinking Jeremy Allen White as Fran Tarkenton.
It’s why sports stories make for easy movies. They’re inherently investing
The Alan Page twist in this video is an INCREDIBLE catch by the SB team, I've seen people talk about that play 100 times and NO ONE EVER CAUGHT THAT!?
can i just say, i think there's even more detective work that can be done. Im not sure i entirely trust alan. When he vaguely says the coaches took him out...but they said he was vehemently arguing a penalty before that...im not sure i believe it. I believe it's self-preservation from Mr. Page and i think he's a little less heroic than most have decided. Just my .02
@@hudy323 not sure Alan Page has any reason to lie at age 78 about a play 45 years ago but
@hudy323 It's not even 2 cents because you didn't actually say anything or make any real claim. You stopped short of that part after all that buildup.
That cop's agonizing over his jurisdiction brings so much laughter to me 😂
I dont know how you guys did it, but as a diehard Packers fan, here I was hoping history was somehow wrong and Tarkenton got that elusive ring.
That's just Vikings football
Packers fan here as well, and Bud deserved a ring.
1st of all I hate all packers fans… but thank you for empathizing with us. I appreciate it
Packers fan as well. Jon and Alex are actually making me feel sorry for this team. I hate it.
Seriously. As a packers fan I really thought they were gonna do it in number XI even though I’m already well aware of what happened
RIP Francis Monkman. His music really enhances these videos, sad to hear of his passing
The fact that nobody noticed Alan Page not being on the field until now should single-handedly win you two a Pulitzer
Just want to say, I feel like John and Alex’s use of the Z-axis has shown a lot of growth in this series. It started in the Dave Stieb series but there’s so much cool Z-axis action going on here! Love it guys 🙂
They also used the Z-axis in the Falcons series to show the win probability during the Patriots Superbowl match, and even back when Jon was making videos on his own about miserable punts
That call in Superbowl 9 was still the most confounding thing I've ever seen. Pain.
Wow, that part about Fran Tarkenton learning of his father's passing while watching the next game just crushed me and I can't really reason with why other than some sense of empathy for the imagination of those events playing out for another human. That just seems like such a way for the universe to randomly send a "fuck you" his way. He just lost a game he shouldn't have lost for the chance to do what everyone was there to do. Watching from a winnebago in the teams parking lot he just lost for, with his family. Probably already decided which of the two teams he wanted to see win knowing he would've decimated both of them had the officiating errors never been made. There was probably a slight sense of relief being with his family in that moment knowing he at least had that to look forward to for support and them BAM! You find out from broadcasters that your father has passed. Not only did he pass while you were playing but he never got to see how that game ended. You know you lost. He never knew you did. He saw you as a winner until his last moments. You know that isn't what you are. That would defeat my will to survive.
“He saw you as a winner until his last moments. You know that isn’t what you are.”
Wow.
Eloquently put.
@@SimuLordWell, I'm sure they threw a good party up there in '04. Life's funny sometimes, and God has a weird sense of humor...
Fran Tarkenton's father was named Dallas. He lost Dallas on the day he lost to Dallas. That's some mind blowing coincidence there.
Reaching out to alan page is so impressive. Shoutouts to alex for noticing that
R.I.P. Francis Monkman. The music for these videos is absolutely chilling.
The background music in these videos is always phenomenal but this episode especially sent chills down my spine. rip Francis Monkman
First Hawkshaw and now Monkman... it feels like someone needs to scramble to make a documentary on 1960s-80s music libraries
This is a weird place to drop this but I just saw Polica live a couple weeks ago and one of the first Pretty Good vids features Polica and was really impressed by Jon and the team's musical insight. Though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.
Amazing how they managed to pull together great soundtracks to these videos after Kanye got an entire ep of Pretty Good scrubbed. The Lonnie Smith Pretty Good is an all-timer soundtrack, though.
@@mrpaul79Wait whaaa
@@pokehybridtrainer He did an episode of Pretty Good on Stanislav Petrov, the Russian who put the breaks on a possible nuclear war. In it, he used "Ultralight Beam" I think. It was yanked from UA-cam and you can't find it anywhere.
As a lifelong Vikings (and all MN teams) fan, this is gonna hurt…
But i wont be able to look away either
Hello
I know what you are going through
- Falcons fan
I refuse to watch these. I can't
common Vikings L
-Saints fan
You think this hurts?
-Lions fan (help me)
Don't worry, we all know how these end up. We'll be there through the hard times to cheer for you guys when you win the one at the end of this series.
I think it's just about universal that of all the coaches that didn't end up winning a Superbowl, Bud Grant was the one who deserved to most (Levy and Reeves also on the podium). After the first two eps, seems like a blood price was paid for all these people to still be alive at this point of the timeline.
Grant is most definitely the best of those coaches in my opinion., followed by those other two.
Three others who deserve an honorable mention in my opinion (though not as good as the three you named):
George Allen, Marty Schottenheimer, and Chuck Knox.
The latter’s LA teams should come up in this next section a couple times, and Allen coached the Washington team we saw them beat in 1973.
George Allen on a side note, with his Washington tenure appears to have pursued a strategy similar to what the Rams did the past half decade or so: Trade picks for players and win now.
Honestly what's sad is a lot of these guys died recently. Joe Kapp in 2023, Bud Grant in 2023, Jim Klobuchar in 2021, Doug Sutherland in 2022, Fred Cox in 2019, you can go up and down that roster and a ton of those guys died within the last 5 years as they got to their late 70s, 80s, and 90s.
Kinda I think part of what makes this series special. It tells a lot of young people the tales of these legends of the game who can appreciate them while they're still alive, or who can appreciate the recently departed and go "so that's why they were a big deal."
Marty Schottenheimer. That is all.
@@fortynights1513Marty Schottenheimer and Chuck Knox deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.
@@tygrkhat4087 I have a load of respect for Marty. It it wasn't for bad luck, he'd have had none at all (The Drive, The Fumble, kickers, Snyder, McCree, Spanos...) But I can only put him at #4 because he was conservative on offense in big games.
Oh boy a new episode! Looking forward to seeing Bud and the Boys finally do it this time.
Who's gonna tell him
Every comment like this hurts me so much
Out of all the documentaries Jon Bois has produced for Secret Base (Dorktown, Really Good, 253-141, 1904 Olympic marathon, etc) I’ve watched repeatedly, the segment on the 1975 Divisional Hail Mary game is probably his & Alex’s best work. I knew about the Pearson push off and Vikes fans throwing bottles on the field, but I never knew about Alan Page not being on the field for the play, poor coaching decision by Bud Grant and Staff. My jaw dropped when that reveal happened. Love this series, can’t wait for the 80s.
I also didn't realize that he might have been out of bounds on the catch prior.
@@SimuLord yeah that one was incredible as well. Man I went “BUD NO!!!!!” lol. I’m shocked NFL Films didn’t pick that up on any of their home videos or compilations.
Fascinating bit of history off to one side: James Harris was the first Black QB to start a season opener, a Pro Bowl, and a playoff game. And yet I've never heard of him till today. There is always stuff to learn.
Anyway, this one really hit its stride. Bravo! (Though I will note that many historians do not like calling any one group "Vikings." The people of Scandinavia never did,)
Alex: With an insurmountable lead of 28-3 midway through the third quarter...
The torture of Falcons fans never ends, does it?
It never ends..
And never will…
28-3…
I am a Vikings fan, and so I already knew the outcome of (most) of the games highlighted here. But Jon and Alex are such amazing storytellers that they still made me believe, just for a moment, that the Vikings might be able to go all the way.
Never knew Super Bowl IX was in the balance in the 4th with a bad call by the ref, nor did I know some of the details about the Hail Mary game (Alan Page not playing on the Drew Pearson play, or the force out rule on the play preceding it).
Fantastic work so far, JB.
PS, the LA Rams must've despised the Vikings in the 70s.
The Rams were decidedly the 3rd best NFC team during the 1970s behind the Cowboys and Vikings, but they could just never get past those 2 until it was too late. They finally beat the Cowboys in 1979 and shut out an upstart Bucs squad only to get routed by the same Steelers dynasty that kept the Vikings ringless and prevented the Cowboys from having an extra 2 titles.
You can spot the rams near the top of that wins over .500 graph they show after every season. They were right there with the Raiders and Vikings. They just couldn't MAKE the super bowl, much less win one.
If you ever talk to a Vikings fan they'll never let you forget it. Best way to shut them up about one call ruining their SB win is to just ask them why their defense that only lets like 10 points a game happen all regular season all of sudden don't show up when it counts in the playoffs every single time they make it there.
They had that receiver force out rule until 2008.
@@nachobroryan8824 I know the rule and remember it when it was legal--I just didn't know that play happened before the actual Hail Mary.
I'm sure this has already been said but the History of the Buffalo Bills needs to be next on the list! I'm loving this!!👍
Man this was a tough episode to watch just as a sports fan. Its sad to see them go out like that
What hurt most to me was knowing what was going to happen but watching them build up that Raiders Super Bowl anyway. It felt like watching a car crash in slow motion, but not in the sense that it was slow inevitable destruction but in the sense that there was somebody in that car, and you have to watch them suffer.
I'm a Bills fan; I had season tickets from 1988 until 2010. I was at Rich Stadium when the Bills demolished the Raiders 51-3 to go to their first Super Bowl. I was soaking in the feeling and I said to myself; enjoy this, it won't last. I had no idea there would be three more shots at it, but the inevitable decline came; and then the bottom dropped out. It's just as Seinfeld put it, we're rooting for laundry.
@@tygrkhat4087As a Packer fan who wasn’t around for the Super Bowl win in 1996, I can assure you after the 2010 NFC Championship win in Chicago, I had lost my absolute mind that night, and knew that that moment, and the following 2 weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, needed to be cherished.
Little did I know though that the 10-6 Packers, playing the mighty, recent 2-time champion of that era Steelers, was actually gonna pull that one off, and bring coach Lombardi’s trophy home… Super Bowl Sunday, 2/6/11, was one of the greatest days of my life, and damn am I so glad I cherished all that time.
Fast forward through the rest of the Aaron Rodgers era, and there’s nothing but heartbreak & misery of hopes of another championship rising, only to fail before reaching the Super Bowl again… truly goes to show just how tough it is to win the whole thing.
I hope your Bills with Josh Allen can finally get the job done for y’all so you can finally feel what I felt on 2/6/11… Buffalo has been overdue since 1990.
Nah, it's not sad at all. I'm on the Bud Grant approach. it's a game, not life or death
As a Packers fan, I'm assuming this is what heroin feels like. Love to watch this team fail
I’m actually crying. I am a Saints fan, for the past fifteen years that I’ve watched New Orleans Saints football I have hated the Minnesota Vikings.
Although I spent my early years in New Orleans hence the fandom I lived a long time in Minnesota and I truly grew to hate them. The culture they had, always self loathing, always so miserable to both everyone else and themselves. It was has though I was watching passionless passionate fanbase. I knew most of the history going into this, I knew exactly how this story was going to go.
And yet this video has made me cry for the Minnesota Vikings, this series has made me love the Minnesota Vikings. I have no more words, I cannot describe how good this is.
Wait till Parts 6 and 7 then…
@@goldenstatewarriors9418 I know damn well what’s gonna happen when we get to that play. Which is exactly why I’m gonna enjoy Farve throwing that pic in the NFC championship and that “congrats to the New Orleans Saints, winners of Super Bowl XLIV, this is there first championship” has much has possible.
Also between the history of the Atlanta Falcons and this it’s kinda funny that they’ve basically told the history of the New Orleans Saints in doing so. All we need now is a history of the Rams and it’ll be complete.
Well I still have the Saints you dirty cheaters. Gifted a Superbowl, not earned!
@@zbou23 say that all you want but I feel like Minnesota didn’t deserve to win a game where they had five turnovers in the Saints territory. Most of them fumbles by AP. Also while I don’t condone what the Saints did, it’s unfair to discredit what the Saints did when the Vikings got fucked up by the D-line of the Saints while the Colts never gave up a single sack.
Yeah injuring players is fucked up, but you can only injure a dude if the O line allows it. I don’t want to hear any grandstanding from a Vikings unite that was doing very similar stuff at that time has well.
Trust me buddy, I’ve heard all the excuses from you guys.
Saints cheap shotting players also. Bounty gate and many missed penalty cheap shots.....the saints deserved to win? Not true.
I had no idea Alan Page not in for the Hail Mary and that is probably the most Vikings thing to ever Viking.
This episode hurt as a Vikings fan...The pain only gets worse from here.
As a Bills fan, I sympathize.
Thank you for referring to the Cardinals by their correct name at the time: "The St. Louis Football Cardinals"
I was a kid watching the Hail Mary play and never realized Page was not on the field until now.
Evidentally, nobody did.
Since he's highlighted in this video, I think it should be said: Rest in Peace, Franco Harris
A record Franco still holds:
He ran for 354 career Super Bowl rushing yards.
The last episode came out only 1 day ago and I’ve already watched it 6 times. I think I might have an addiction…
No one can make a nfl history vid like Jon and Alex
@@atl4sports*sports history
It had a great final statement in particular
how do you keep getting the top comment on these
Why
I have been wondering for **years** what the hell flew across the screen during the original Hail Mary, the fact that its a god damn orange is not the answer I was expecting
I didn’t know anything about American football and you still broke my heart.
Fran Tarkenton's Vikings weren't my Vikings. They were my father's Vikings. The first two episodes of The History of the Minnesota Vikings have been a joy to watch. I've known the 0-4 SB record since I was a kid, but I didn't think it would start to hurt until I got to the '90s.
I was wrong. It's starting to hurt watching the Vikings from before I was born rise to such heights of greatness only to never reach the summit.
Great series, but wow it hurts.
exactly how i feel. I had to tell my dad like i cant believe your high school career was super bowl loss, super bowl loss, drew pearson, super bowl loss, and here i thought 98 was peak pain
Congratulations to Jon Bois. This is his Xth (lost count) masterpiece.
Having grown up during the Dennis Green and Mike Tice eras, i simply cannot wait for he 90s and 2000s episodes
I don't watch American Football. I barely know how the game works. This series has me hooked to the point where I'm genuinely cheering and booing at the play by play of the Super Bowl 9 game. Y'all have made something beautiful with this channel and this show and I can't thank you enough for it.
I love the little nuggets of references in the dorktown universe sprinkled in makes me smile 😊
For anyone wondering about the 70s Steelers and Approximate Value, they had 7 very high scores on the team at the same time. Here is their top 8:
208 Ben Roethlisberger
150 Mike Webster
147 Jack Ham
---
143 Joe Greene
140 Terry Bradshaw
137 Jack Lambert
135 Franco Harris
128 Mel Blount
The threshold for top 50 was between 147 and 143. Donnie Shell was down at 118 with L.C. Greenwood and Andy Russell at 110 & 109, respectively. Stallworth was only 103 and Swann all the way down at 73, 39th in team history...albeit in fewer games than anyone above him.
@@SimuLord, the 70 Steelers only having two is what prompted me to look it up and comment in the first place, but I suppose that many people watching this video aren't football fans so I could have made it more explicit. Minnesota does so well in this measure because Career Approximate Value for one team is more heavily weighted toward longevity (for one team) than many other measures. These Minnesota teams had several outliers in career length.
That measure adds a bias toward teams before free agency and salary caps where players were more likely to stay on the same team for longer. Note that the top 10 in Career AV, without a team restriction, all played 16+ seasons:
1 Tom Brady 326 2000-2022 2TM
2 Drew Brees 277 2001-2020 2TM
3 Peyton Manning 271 1998-2015 2TM
4 Brett Favre 259 1991-2010 4TM
5 Jerry Rice 251 1985-2004 3TM
6 Fran Tarkenton 233 1961-1978 2TM
7 Aaron Rodgers 231 2005-2022 gnb
Reggie White 231 1985-2000 3TM
9 Bruce Smith 229 1985-2003 2TM
10 Ray Lewis 224 1996-2012 rav
PEDANTIC NOTE: Aaron Rogers only earned 1 AV point his first three seasons as a backup, so his were really earned over just 15 seasons.
70’s Steelers had a great stretch.
They had the 76 team who overcame a bad start, put up the best defensive stats, and made the conference championship game, they had the 78 team who went 14-2 and played an excellent postseason.
And the 75 team who had the best point differential, went 12-2, and had the most pro bowlers of any Super Bowl champion with 11, as well as the most all pros of any Steeler team in those years.
The fact that Pittsburgh had three teams that great in that short a period of time is quite the accomplishment.
@@SimuLordyou'll probably love this measure then- the '72 New York Knickerbockers are the only team to roster five 'Top 75' players of all time
Bud Grant seems like a cool dude, very inspiring
I appreciate that they don’t try to act like the times the Vikings lost bc the other team was better are anything but that. They also acknowledge that sometimes the losses were suspect, and too few people acknowledge both of those things simultaneously.
That 4th and final super bowl was chilling. The suspenseful music playing as the early back and forth 1st quarter played out over the quotes “we’re going to win, nothing can stop us” while all of us knew there was no happy ending.
I have been a Vikings fan since 1997 when I was a kid. I'll be honest, I am both excited for and dreading how this series will cover the 1998, 2001, 2009, and 2017 NFC Championship games, the Whizzinator, the Minnetonka Boat Ride, "straight cash, homie" and Nate Poole.
My name is Minnesota, and I am all that is suffering.
If you just had a field goal kicker your life would be different. I had Adam Vin. I was cheering for you guys last year. Fun team to watch
You mean the 2000 NFC Championship game? But point taken
There's a certain type of excitement I feel when I see a new Dorktown video that is rarely reached. ESPECIALLY when it's guaranteed that the Raiders will be mentioned. Surely we can't beat the mighty Vikings of the 70s, but when diving into that era and seeing exactly how much we won makes me forget we've made a single super bowl in 40 years. Anyway, hope the vikings can get one this episode, it's long overdue.
Gotta love being a raiders fan 😭
Omg thanks SO much for reaching out to Alan Page and getting that information out into the world
I think the athlete/coach portraits in this are my favourite among the Dorktown documentaries, the closeup photo contrasted with the 'just sitting around' zoomed out photo is really good
Y'know, this one reminded me of a longstanding pair of questions I've had for Jon Bois, ever since The Bob Emergency: Have you ever heard from the people you write stories about? And, if so, how do they feel about it?
Dunno that I'll ever get an answer, but it's incredible that he was able to get in touch with Mr. Page himself.
Can't believe they didn't mention Karl Kassulke, the Vikings' Pro Bowl safety who was tragically paralyzed in a motorcycle accident before the 1973 season
I mean Jon did say that a comprehensive history would be something like 50 hours long. They've got to pick and choose which stories to tell.
I thought for sure they would mention Jim Marshall running the wrong way in Part 1 when they covered the 60’s
Waited till Part 2 on that one
It’s a massive history and they even said they’re not going to focus on the minutiae of every single Vikings related fact and player in history for this docuseries. Like the other ones, they’re story tellers, and they spend almost as much time outside the lines of sports as within it. If you want super almanac specific Vikings history, go to pro football reference or Wikipedia. This is for something more philosophical and universal
There’s still space in some of the boxes to add things and I’m sure he will. Idk if it will be that specifically tho.
@@JWex-jy7skthey did mention running the wrong way
It’s always an achievement when this channel makes you cheer against your home team for a bit. I’m a homegrown Steelers fan and my heart is just broken by this episode’s ending.
If I've learned anything from this series, it's that Alan Page is a fucking legend.
This series is incredible.
Side story: one of my friends was on both the 1998 Vikings (Gary Anderson's missed FG) and the 1999 Tennessee Titans (Dyson's leaning catch at the 1). Suffice to say, he got to taste that oh-so-close feeling in back-to-back postseasons. I'm not sure how many athletes have experienced such a strange double, but even Red Sox and Cubs fans at the time were probably thinking, "oh man, that's F'd up."
Landry Shamet has 3 straight I think. 2019 he was on the 76ers who lost in Game 7 of the conference semifinals on a buzzer beater. 2020 he was on the Clippers who lost game 7 of the conference semifinals after leading 3 games to one. 2021 he was on the Nets who lost game 7 of the conference semifinals in overtime and were so narrowly close to winning the game, by a matter of inches.
Kenny Lofton had some really bad luck later in his career.
Lost the World Series in 1995 with CLE
Lost the WS IN ‘02 with SF after being up 5-0 in Game 7
Was with the Cubs in ‘03 (the “Bartman” game, blowing a 3-1 series lead in NLCS)
Was a Yankee in ‘04 when Boston came back from being down 0-3 in ALCS
Went back to CLE in ‘07 for his last year: Red Sox come back from 1-3 in ALCS.
This video
This video demonstrates the pure genius of Jon and Alex.
fellow packer fans, i think we can agree:
this series is absolutely spectacular and i love learning about a team i am legally required to hate
I mean it is amazing. And it does warm my cold cheese filled heart to see the Vikings pain
It gives you 65 years worth of reasons to laugh at and hate the Vikings.
This is how I felt during the Falcons series they did a while back. I live in GA, but I’ve hated the Falcons since I was a kid because I knew they were hopeless.
As a lifelong Viking, I found it quite amusing when they said that "if any team could play football in (32 degrees below zero), it was the Vikings" (42:20). ..while in the 70's they played at the outdoor Metropolitan Stadium, throughout my entire life they've only played indoors and I immediately thought of y'all. Lambeau has some crazy games in November and December!
@@TheBlerdman Saints fan here and yeah, that series was delicious. Just not looking forward to the modern day Vikings episode where our great pain comes up, but I've got time.
Watching this live instead of the Mets game! (Im literally in Citi Field for Mets-Pirates)
Jon Bois narrating the "Hail Mary" is the first thing i thought of when this series was announced and he did not disappoint.
Jon and Alex are pure genius .
Ms, Cavs, Falcons, Vikes... , the statistics and research are
Freaking incredible!
This is ridiculous you guys throw some simple graphs up and talk over them and I am addicted and I love them thank you keep it coming
Wonderful birthday gift this is! Thank you!
Every NFL fan gets a little jolt of excitement whenever Alex and Jon even name their favorite team.
I am still a fairly new NFL fan (heading into my 4th season of watching the sport). I thought I knew a decent amount about its history, but boy was I wrong. I was left absolutely stunned and shocked by the Vikings' bad luck and inability to finish the job in this episode. Loved the detail around the Hail Mary, Page's absence and the sheer number of generational players the team had in their ranks at the same time. Can't wait for the next episodes. The fact that we can all watch it for free, on demand at any given time is absolutely insane. Kudos to Dorktown team
I love your game analysis because it really helps me understand the strategy and the mindset of football. Watching at home on TV, I might as well be watching kids play with toys, but you guys give it to the context that makes it make sense.
Tarkenton lost 3 Super Bowls. Joe Kapp was QB in SB vs KC. Thank you for this episode.
Yeah I had to look it up and double check after he said that. Joe capp in 69.
He meant Bud Grant, I think, who did lose 4 Super Bowls.
I have very much been looking forward to this episode. I grew up in Frederick Maryland, even went to the same high school (decades later). I always heard about Chuck Foreman and how ahead of his time he was. I grew up staring at old newspaper clippings and posters of Foreman on my Barber's back wall. This was the time before UA-cam highlight reels were a couple clicks away. So I'm very happy you covered this subject and gave Chuck Foreman some shine.
Great work as always.
Between last season's nail biters, netflix's quarterback, and now this masterpiece itd be hard to imagine a better year in exposure for this storied franchise. Never been more hyped for the vikes or more proud to be a fan. Thank you
The 1976 NFC championship game is the first NFL game I remember watching. My dad, who grew up on the same street as Merlin Olsen, was watching what he hoped would be the game where his childhood friend finally reached the Super Bowl. It was not to be: Merlin Olsen's final game was a loss, and he ended his amazing career without even a conference title, let alone a championship. Instead, he was merely the greatest defensive tackle of all time and the greatest sporting hero the state of Utah ever produced.
Didn’t realize how close those Viking-Ram conference championship games were.
Alan Page and Fran Tarkenton might be 2 of the 3 most underrated players in league history. 3rd being Warren Moon. Amazing what not winning a championship does to a player's historical value, regardless of production.
My only nitpick, I would've loved to see the "Old Man Willie!" angle/video of the Willie Brown pick. One of the great old-school NFL Films moments
Possible that the video would be copyright claimed? Should be in here either way.
The music is always so amazing, really brought the room together. RIP
It's stories like this that are why I get so frustrated with 90% of sporting discourse, and *especially* the tedious takes judging players and coaches purely on trophies and rings, and nothing else.
If anyone watches this and tries to tell me folks like Bud Grant and Fran Tarkenton aren't some of the greatest of all time at what they do, *just* because they missed out on the big one by sometimes the absolute finest margins or injustices imaginable? On factors often completely out of their control? Get outta here.
As Slapshoes once said about NASCAR legend Mark Martin, the man who never won a Cup despite finishing runner up FIVE TIMES in his career; he was one of the greatest of all time, and just so happened to often come up against *the* greatest of all time. And that should never diminish or invalidate his legacy.
Same for Grant, Tarkenton, and the Purple People-Eaters. 💖
after learning to care about a football team I've never cared about until now and hearing about the most frustrating game of football I've never heard about, the part about tarkenton's father at 32:30 broke me down into tears. you guys make us feel emotions we've never thought possible. keep it up
Some of the best writing and delivery every created comes in these videos when Jon gets me to hope for a team to win a game I know they lost. Its an incredible moment when against all reason, logic or rational thought the narrative compels me to let go of everything and just hope before it all comes crashing down.
You know, everybody talks about how Jim Marshall should be a Hall of Famer, and rightfully so. But my question is this: Why hasn’t Chuck Foreman been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame? Because Bud Grant’s offensive coordinator, Jerry Burns, ran the West Coast offense for the Vikings. And Chuck Foreman was lethal as both a runner AND receiver in Burns’s offense. The Vikings might not have been a powerhouse without Foreman. In other words…Chuck Foreman belongs in Canton, Ohio.
As good as Chuck Foreman was, his peak was both quite short and he only was able to net one 1st-Team All-Pro. Guys like John Riggins and Franco Harris lasted far longer, and that ultimately got them into the Hall of Fame. Also, it's not like Foreman was buried on a perpetually losing squad that never did anything. The 1970s Vikings were a Top 4 team of that decade. Foreman was a unique player for the era, but that decade was defined by OJ Simpson leading the NFL in rushing yards 4 times in 5 seasons. Then immediately after Simpson's dominant streak ended, Walter Payton and Earl Campbell carried the crown. Foreman was a great player, but not quite an all-timer like some of his teammates were.
The Vikings player that everyone should be campaigning for Hall of Fame Honors is Jim Marshall because maintaining an ironman streak in that era is simply absurd. He also breached 130 career sacks, and everyone above 135 sacks is either in the Hall of Fame or is a recent era player (Julius Peppers, Terrell Suggs, and Jared Allen) who will certainly be inducted soon enough.
Chuck Foreman was basically a Todd Gurley or Shaun Alexander of his time. Went from arguably the best back in football to an afterthought almost instantly.
@@MadMike1Good peak, but yeah. A lot of running backs have been very good for short periods.
Overlooked at times, but not someone who should be in Canton.
If someone asked me who America's greatest living poet was, I think I'd have to say Jon Bois
Chamillionaire
What is Jon Bois, anyways? Sportswriter isn’t exactly the right word, sports journalist doesn’t fit either…sports documentarian is more apt yet unwieldy.
Alan Page is my hero, I hope he is aware of the series and checks it out. Jon and Alex are bringing this story to light for a new generation and im so happy that they did.
I wonder if that line about the steelers was a dorktown sneak preview...a story about a team that "ignores the universe's signs that they're not supposed to be here" sounds like dorktown bread and butter
No that would be the narrative of the Arizona Coyotes 😅
That line is just to indicate how the franchise just spun it's wheels for 40 years until their 70s dynasty. Make it seem even more inexplicable.
As a Dallas fan, Jon and Alex have convinced me to cheer against them while highlighting these playoff matches against the Vikings.
this series is gonna break my heart isn't it? Makes me realise how lucky I am to have seen my team win the Super Bowl
Ouch baby..... very ouch.
This series has been so excellent! Another great episode. Bittersweet for us purple fans. SKOL!
I wish I could give these more then one thumbs up. These rock, thank you. Almost makes me wanna switch teams to the vikings... Almost. ;)
As a Saints fan, I almost feel dirty for the sheer amount of pleasure and satisfaction I am able to get out of watching both the last sb nation epic and this one.
I also know that I will never have to deal with watching a series about my team, because there is nothing funny about our history, it’s just really depressing
ua-cam.com/video/2Yru_1al8EY/v-deo.html
Those 70s Vikings remind me of the early 90s Bills. Dominate in the regular season but completley outmatched in the Super Bowl
respectfully pointing out a goof at the 16 minute mark:
The missed field goal was a PAT, so it would not have "tied the game"; it would have merely cut the Steelers' lead to 2.
Love this series, thanks for the content guys
the word "field goal" at 16:08 is alluding to what a hypothetical one later on would've done. had that PAT been good, a future fg would've taken the lead, but since it was no good, a future fg would've only tied
wait, I understand what was meant now. you meant the 1 point PAT would take them within a field goal of taking the lead, but missing the PAT meant they're still only within a field goal of tying.
Not a goof, just a misunderstanding on my part
Great presentation. It embodies all the pathos, joy and frustration of being a Vikings fan back in he 70's.
I really hope we get Dorktown deep dives for every team in the NFL
Only Jon and Alex can break my heart over a football team I don't particularly like from half a century ago even when I already know what's going to happen
I know Jon isn't much of a hockey fan, and I've never heard Alex mention it at all, but I hope they do one of these about the Leafs one day. I think there's probably so much story to tell about a team that won the Stanley Cup 13 times, down to the last one of the Original Six era, and then has never been back to the finals despite fielding tons of talent over the years.
What’s the oldest NHL team with no championships?
Very excited about the next episode as a big nfl fan I knew about the 70s Vikings and i know about them from the late 90s until now but I really know nothing about the 80s Vikings so it should be a fun watch
I was born in 80, so I missed out on all the Super Bowls, but in my 43 years, I've seen some incredible seasons. Like the strike shortened 1987 season where the Vikes got ol Joey Mountains benched in the divisional round, only to have a win quite literally slip through the fingers of Darrin Nelson at the end of the NFC Championship game, or the 1994 season where Cris Carter set a then record 122 catches behind MVP worthy campaign from Warren Moon near the end of his career, then he spent the 95 season being every bit as productive with another 122 catches, or the magical 1998 season when the Vikings won 15 games led by Randall Cunningham and the greatest receiver of all time, in his rookie year no less, Randy Moss ony to fall in the Championship game again, thanks to Gary Anderson's first missed field goal in two years. I had front row seats to Brett Favre's first game winning comeback as a Viking in 2009 and also to the last one of his HoF career when he led two TD drives in the last two minutes to send it to overtime against the Cardinals before Adrian Peterson but the game to bed early in the extra quarter. I sat through -9° temps when the Vikings played their last outdoor playoff game, at the Gophers TCF Bank Stadium, losing to the Seahawks when Blair Walsh shanked a 27 yard kick wide left because his holder mishandled the ball leaving the laces facing onward. I got to see the Minneapolis Miracle from my friend's living room in Tallahassee and I was witness to the greatest catch ever made, Justin Jefferson's one-handed 4th & 18 takeaway from a Bills defender to help the Vikings win in a really tough Buffalo stadium against a really tough Buffalo team. It's been a helluva ride, I only wish my dad had lived to see them finally win the most important game of each season.
My dad is the single biggest Cowboys fan I have ever known in my entire life. I would not be surprised if I found out he had a jersey for over 100 different players throughout the Cowboys history. Watching the Hail Mary with him and talking about it is a wildly different experience than hearing about it from the Vikings perspective. He still says it is the craziest thing in sports he ever saw.
At least someone out there can enjoy the end of the next episode
Jon Bois sure can spin one hell of a tale.
37:03 "With an insurmountable lead of 28-3 in the middle of the third quarter..." Oh god I know where this is going.
The absolute game sense of Alan Page to deliberately take the bait and get the penalty on the Rams.
It's hard not to let out a small laugh everytime the graph zooms out and the Colts keeps rocketing to the floor.
That final line was so subtly hurtful, I love it! Thank you, Jon and Alex
Watching this and I can't help but to think about those Bills teams with simlar fates. Would love to see a dorktown on them. Amazing episode and series as always!
the thing about the Bills is that talking about the Bills isn’t easy because at some point you’re going to have to talk about the 70s which inevitably means a discussion about you know who