Minnesota Vikings • 1971 Highlights 

Enigma71559 I am a58 yr old vikings fan since 71 seen most heartache won't give up!

I am 65 now (March 2021) and I remember these games like they were played yesterday....

53 years upon my viewing

Ed White was hardly a stand in..

Ball hawking defense brought on by all the up front pressure..

always admired Alan Page--he had the tremendous foresight to realize his football career wouldn't last forever and studied in his free time away from the field to become a lawyer and ultimately became a Minnesota Supreme Court Judge--he also didn't talk much about his football career after he left the game (despite his illustrious career)-in fact when Time Magazine did an expose on former Super Bowl teams-Mr. Page was asked to wear his old #88 jersey for a photo op--he refused-he didn't want to send a message to young people that sports should be something to focus entirely on

@@bufnyfan1 class act.. So many of the vikings of this era were..

Actually he was the MVP of the entire NFL in 1971...not just the NFC. To this day hes the only defensive player ever named league MVP other than Lawrence Taylor in 1986. Quite an accomplishment

My favorite Viking of all time !

It's the greatest defense in NFL history the '70s Vikings it was better than the steel curtain they just didn't get that super bowl had they beaten Pittsburgh in that super bowl I think you'd already have them crowned as the greatest defense ever people would do it and they shut Pittsburgh down in that game they gave up some rushing yards but they only gave up 16 points they just couldn't score The purple gang played good even though they gave up yards

So you are 61?

@@TheJohnnywbred Absolutely 🎉 just turned 61 on 5/18 🎤✊ ……I put out a new single on RU-vid 💫 Nicky D. I Need That Soul. ✨✨✨ please check it out!

MassVt You cannot win Without being on the Offense Sun Tse

low key, the greatest defense ever.

@@seanp3302 got my vote: ❤️ purple people eater Minnesota viking 1960s/ 1970s

Today they give NFC champion giants NFC champion 🏆 trophy

How's that goin'? I''m often tempted to play Paydirt on cold days... If you are a Paydirt geek, you must have kept stats. I'd like to know the results.

I'm not sure if they were named after the song. I like to call them the purple people or the purple gang.👍👍👍👍🏈🏈🏈🏈

When you have no running game...it's tough to generate much offense.

ah yes, long remember the '70s.

Yes I was 12 also, and have vague memories of that time

AND, IT'S REALLY TOO BAD THAT MET STA. WAS TORN DOWN. TO ME, A GREAT PART OF THE NFL WAS DONE AWAY WITH.

That was a frustrating game.. 2 of their 2 losses(Chicago & SF) were by a grand total of 7 pts..

Not really, they where on the way down come the late 70s. By the mid 80s they where competitive again

Bob Grimm was a good receiver...what really hurt was their lack of a running game.

Also injured was John Henderson. In 71' the WR's wherr Grim and Al Denson aquired from Denver. Played just one season with the team.

Building a mixed use facility was the only way to go if the Vikings wanted to move to Minneapolis and its corporate partners. The city county and state would not build a football only facilitybecause that would mean building a separate one for the Twins. It turned out the Metrodome was the beginning of the end for the mixed Football/Baseball stadium fad that started around1963 with Shea Stadium and ended with Joe Robbie in Miami in 1987.

Chuck Foreman would finally change that but he didn't come along until '73.

Getting Tarkenton, and John Gilliam, certainly improved their offense in 72, but the running game still lacked....until 73, and Chuck Foreman.

Yes, that is true. But by then the defense was not what they where before.

Who Minnesota viking quarterback in 1971

Love bud grant Minnesota Vikings

Was it on a late hit on Mike Garret by Wally Hilgenberg, only seen the tail end of Garret throwing the ball at him.

I think it started with a high hit by Carl Eller on John Hadl.

threeby8887 Alright than you.I've seen pictures of Mike Garret throwing the ball at Hilgenberg on a late hit out of bounds, thought maybe it started there.. Where did you see the footage?. I have the Vikings 1971 season in review doesn't show anything.

6400az Teams often did not include preseason footage in their highlight films, unless NFL Films did a sound-wiring of a player or a coach in a preseason game. I read about the brawl (I think there was another one earlier in that game as well) in a Los Angeles Times sports section from 1971 at a sports library in L.A.

threeby8887 Ahhh, ok. It was a preseason game. I've just seen that Garret/ Hilgenberg incident but never knew how it ended. The only time I recall the Vikings getting into a fight in the 70's was in the 16-14 win over Detroit in 72', They blocked Errol Mann's last second FG and there was a fight between several players.Thank you ( I typed than you last time , lol )

Yep. But it's all about money and Corporate America these days. How many luxury suites and PSLs they can sell. I actually got into a fairly heated argument with a guy and his wife at a season ticket holder event several years ago. They were complaining about the Metrodome and how it didn't have all the fancy amenities they had at the Super Bowl stadium the previous year when they went. I said I just want to watch football. I don't need seem some waiter coming to my seat to take my drink order. They got mad.

Right on all of the above, thumbs up. Who needs all the hoopla for a game? And $8 beer??? Jeez !

Enigma71559- could not agree more. I love these old videos, but I am a Raiders fan, and my team just deserted Oakland for the second time for a spaceship looking stadium. I hate it, I have lost so much interest in the nfl over the last several years, even as my team has become good again, I find it hard to care.

I really don't even watch the NFL any more. I don't feel like I'm missing anything at all.

@@massvt3821 it too about money now, players kneeling on the flag , I miss the 1970s nfl CBS pre game show

The Vikes also had quite a few veterans from the 1960s that played on well into the 70s so they were starting to age. Until recently I almost forgot about Gary Cuozzo. I think he only started for about a year & a half if I remember correctly.

In 1970 they drafted lineman John Henry ward. Better than Hayden, then again so is everyone on this thread..)

Viking fan since 72 when I first saw Tarkenton play. Chuck Foreman 1973 rookie of the year.👍🏈🏈

@@6400az Yes

Chuck Forman had hands like wide receiver : ❤️ chuck Forman spin move

Yep the 1970 and 71 vikings were dominant teams defensively and on special teams but the combination of cuozzo and lee weren't good enough.

+purple sword Don't forget Norm Snead, whom they got in 1971. Snead's biggest contribution to the Vikings was being part of the trade to the New York Giants which returned Fran Tarkenton to Minnesota. Snead would have a good season with the Giants in 1972, leading them to their last winning season until 1981.

I'm not sure that's fair. The running game was weak before Chuck Foreman came along.

Who was Minnesota viking quarterback in 1971

Gary cuozzo not a quarterback

Well, it IS a Viking highlight video. And that was about only Viking highlight in that Christmas Day playoff game.

+MrOneHotDog Actually it was in 1973 that Kassulke suffered his injury.

@@3243_ in the offseason, so 1972 was his last NFL season

Yeah... that's lame. Wasn't this man the ultimate stud? It can't really be cause of that wrong-way TD in '64? Playing DE in outdoor Minnesota for 20 years, jumping outta planes...Dude was dynomite!

It doesn't make sense: four NFC titles championship 1970s; original purple people eaters member ; I hear pro bowl stuff : today alot of football players doesn't want to be in pro bowl anyway: they let reserve get in

Carl Eller stats are better than Jim marshall; ❤️ Jim Marshall;; lots of great football players are not in NFL football hall of fame 🏈;; Jim marshall it his pro bowl stuff very low

Vikings fan since 68. It's a travesty that Jim Marshall isn't in the HOF. If I'm not mistaken ,he holds record for fumble recoveries by D.E. in a career. ​@@lloydkline1518

+zaraman0077 The offense under Tarkenton played pretty well, but the defense had several breakdowns, esp late in games, and they wound up 7-7. Very unexpected because for the previous 3 seasons, the Vikings had the best defense in the entire NFL..

The 1972 team ( tarks first back from the giants) were beset with injuries and lost a bunch of very close games including a 16-14 loss to miami a game minny outplayed the undefeated ( soon to be) 17-0 dolphins.

+purple sword That game with Miami was highlighted by Viking linebacker Roy Winston's shattering blindside hit that nearly broke Larry Csonka in half.

+zaraman0077 The 1972 team also played a very difficult schedule, so it was a perfect storm of things. They played Miami, Washington, Pittsburgh, Green Bay (twice), San Francisco....and who else am I missing?

They played the Rams, too, although they were having a down year themselves. Still had good talent, though..

There might have been an in jury, but I do know that Jones wasn't considered to be a good receiver out of the backfield, and Oscar Reed took his place in 1972. Jones had good years from 69-71, but never quite became the difference maker that he was thought to be as a Michigan State All-American..

Traded to Sand Diego after 1972

Jones got a huge amount of ink for several years from the likes of Ralph Reeve at the St. Paul Dispatch but as MassVT notes was not the difference maker everyone hoped he would be. Jones on a scale of 1 to 10? Five maybe. Chuck Foreman? Eight plus.

B. Frost Just don't know what happened to Jones. Like Washington he was a former track man. He had that 80 yard run again the Bears in 69' and actually became a starter think in 71'. After 72 he was gone though.. I think I'd give Foreman a flat out 10. There was little more he could do in those 5 years.His low yard per rush can be attributed to him always getting the ball on a 4th and inches, or goal line situation where he'd fly over the top. He probably should have been the league MVP in 75' but Tarkenton was getting more press since he chased Unitas' record all year. Had Foreman not been hit with the snowball in the eye and missed all of the 4th quarter in the Buffalo game, he'd a won the " Triple Crown"...MVP then ?

remember watching that game against Bills. got hit with a snowball and left the game. I believe Jim Otis of St Louis won the rushing title the next day (sunday) by just 6yds or so. AFC teams were just better in those days. more innovative I think and just better players at that time maybe. we just have to live with those 4 losses. made my childhood tougher that's for sure

Interesting perspective.

Nah, dont think so. It was in the 30's for SB IX. In all the others chilly except for XI.