Super Bowl: Five Vikings teams that should have won it all
By Dan Zinski
4. 1975 (12-2 record, lost in divisional playoff round to Cowboys)
The Vikings came back from the disappointment of a third Super Bowl loss in five years by posting a 12-2 regular season record, good enough to give them the #1 seed in the NFC. No one could know that the disaster of 1970 was about to repeat itself, and in much more hideous fashion.
Even young Viking fans know all about the play that would crush the Vikings’ chances of making it back to the Super Bowl in 1975. The Drew Pearson play.
The Vikings led 14-10 with just 1:51 left in the game. To that point, Cowboys receiver Drew Pearson had been totally shut down by the Vikings defense. That changed when Roger Staubach hit Pearson on a pair of quick completions to get Dallas to their own 31. The Vikings regrouped to force a fourth-and-16 but saw Staubach hit Pearson for 25 yards to get the Cowboys out of the hole.
A few plays later, Pearson made the play that would forever turn him into a villain in Minnesota, apparently pushing off on cornerback Nate Wright before hauling in a 50-yard go-ahead touchdown pass. Roger Staubach would label the play a “Hail Mary,” adding a brand new term to the football lexicon.
Did Pearson push off or did he not? In the end it hardly matters. The Vikings had multiple chances to put that game away late but failed. The 1975 team may have been one of the very best the Vikings ever fielded – the defense finished first overall against both the pass and run; Fran Tarkenton won the NFL MVP award – but they flopped big time.