The Minnesota Vikings have made four appearances at the Super Bowl, unfortunately having lost in all of them. Despite possessing one of the best quarterbacks in the league, the Minnesota Vikings could not suppress their superiority. The Minnesota Vikings joined the National Football League (NFL) in 1961, and selecting Fran Tarkenton in the National Football League (NFL) draft. The Vikings got off to a slow start, producing only one winning record in its first seven seasons. In 1967 Minnesota traded Tarkenton to the New York Giants for the rights to four draft picks. In 1968 Bud Grant guided the Vikings to the National Football Conference (NFL) Central Division championship. In 1970 the Minnesota’s defense, the league’s toughest, powered the Vikings to Super Bowl IV, where the Vikings lost to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Vikings’ offensive performance in 1969 was also the league’s best. Quarterback Joe Kapp directed a balanced unit that relied on both running and passing. In the 1970s safety Paul Krause and linemen Page, Carl Eller, and Jim Marshall anchored the era’s most feared defensive unit, which ranked first in the National Football Conference (NFC) five times from 1969 to 1976.

Minnesota dominated the NFC Central Division during this time, and in 1971 Page became the first defensive player to receive the most valuable player (MVP) award. Tarkenton returned to the Vikings in 1972 and subsequently piloted the team to three Super Bowl appearances. Running back Chuck Foreman and wide receivers John Gilliam and Ahmad Rashad were his favorite targets. An elusive scrambler, Tarkenton also used his agility to confound opponents. He was named league Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1975. Although they were clearly the National Football Conference’s (NFC) dominant club, the Vikings repeatedly fell to their American Football Conference (AFC) opponents in the Super Bowl. Minnesota lost to the Miami Dolphins 24-7 in 1974, to the Pittsburgh Steelers 16-6 in 1975, and to the Oakland Raiders 32-14 in 1977. Many of the star Minnesota Viking players retired by 1979, and the team entered a period of decline, but Minnesota soon recovered its success with a collection of new stars. From the mid-1980s through the late 1990s, the Vikings consistently recorded winning records, and the club reached the NFC Championship Game after the 1987 and 1998 seasons.

Stars for the Minnesota Vikings during this time included quarterbacks Tommy Kramer, Warren Moon, and Wade Wilson, and wide receiver Anthony Carter, who produced three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. Safety Joey Browner and linemen Chris Doleman, Keith Millard, and John Randle were among the league’s premier defensive players. Minnesota Vikings are one of four teams in the North Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) which is part of the National Football League (NFL). The Minnesota Vikings play at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and wear uniforms of purple, gold, and white. The team’s name refers to the Nordic peoples who were ancestors to Minnesota’s large population of Scandinavian Americans. Since the late 1960s, the Vikings have been one of the most consistently successful franchises in the National Football League (NFL). Tarkenton’s records only stood until 1995 when Dan Marino broke them. They were collectively known as the Purple People Eaters.