Some defense those Purple People Eaters were,weren't they?Yeah,the offenses of Joe Kapp,Fran Tarkenton,Chuck Foreman,et al,blew it too,but to me,the defense deserves more blame. They have to be the most overrated "Great" defense of their era.We were always told how great they were (Especially Alan Page) ,how great they were against the run,etc.Then,they would go to the SB,and all four times,the other teams' running attack got around 150 yards,or more, against them.Not what the great defenses do.

It really is amazing how badly they lost to KC in SB IV, especially when they were so undeniably favorites. This loss, albeit not the first Superbowl loss from an NFC team to an AFC team, helped establish a legitimate respect for the AFC, which had just recently merged as the AFL into the NFL.

I well remember this game. It was I, papa the hun, mama the hun, my elder brother, attila the hun, Martha, and my younger brother, cedric the hun, watching in the elder hunnic yurt. My dad swore up and down that the whole thing was fixed. The Vikes were such hyped, overwhelming favorites, that this game was a shocker.

Poster children for great teams who choke in the big game. Scratch that. They didn't choke, they imploded.