A tweet posted on Wednesday reminded everyone about the time when Minnesota Vikings legendary QB Fran Tarkenton started a brawl during a game in 1974.
When looking back on the career of former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton, most remember the images of him scrambling around to make magical plays, and helping lead his team to multiple Super Bowl appearances. But not many people bring up how tough of a football player Tarkenton was.
Tarkenton ended up playing in the NFL for a total of 18 seasons, with 13 of them coming in Minnesota. During his time in the league, the former Hall of Fame quarterback rarely missed a game due to injury, which was even more impressive considering how many rushing attempts he had in his career (675).
It takes a certain kind of toughness to last as long as Tarkenton did in the NFL. A toughness that was on display in a clip from an old game that was recently shared on Twitter.
Fran Tarkenton ignited a brawl during a Minnesota Vikings game in 1974
In 1974, Tarkenton and the Vikings were back in the hunt for a championship after falling to the Miami Dolphins in the Super Bowl during the previous season.
Midway through the 1974 campaign, Minnesota hosted a 5-1 New England Patriots team on their home field at the old Metropolitan Stadium.
The Vikings trailed the Patriots 10-0 through the first three quarters of the matchup. Minnesota finally got on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter though after a two-yard rushing touchdown by Chuck Foreman.
Following Foreman’s score, the Vikings were able to pull ahead of New England after Tarkenton ran the football into the end zone from three yards away. Minnesota appeared to be on their way to a win. Well, that was at least until Tarkenton got into a fight with Patriots defender Ron Bolton.
On this date in 1974, Vikings QB Fran Tarkenton celebrated what seemed like a game-winning touchdown by spiking the ball off Patriots CB Ron Bolton's head and getting ejected after the ensuing fight. pic.twitter.com/oybbPLfIhR
— Quirky Research (@QuirkyResearch) October 27, 2021
One will notice at the end of Tarkenton’s touchdown run, Bolton took a swipe at him despite the play clearly being over.
The legendary Minnesota quarterback clearly took exception to that and proceed to chuck the ball at the head of the New England defender. Bolton and Tarkenton then threw a few punches and multiple players got involved in it all before things were able to be broken apart.
Bolton and, unfortunately for the Vikings, Tarkenton were both ejected from the game after the fight. Things then got even worse for Minnesota after that when the Patriots were able to score another touchdown and leave the field with a 17-14 victory.