Trivia question:

Name the two only two teams to compile winning records during the Super Bowl era, but never win a Super Bowl.

You guessed right; it’s the Eagles and the Vikings. Both teams have been unmatched in raising fan hopes before exiting the postseason in soul-crushing defeat.

We all know about the Birds’ history, so I won’t waste too much time rehashing that garbage. The Eagles are 0-2 in the Super Bowl with a 20-21 playoff record.

The Vikings, however, are 0-4 in the big game and 20-28 all-time in the playoffs, putting together a spectacular list of failures along the way.

It begins during the years of Richard Nixon, who was not a crook. The Vikes lost all four of their Super Bowls in an eight-year span from 1970 to 1977, scoring just 34 combined points in those defeats. They put up a measly six points against the Chiefs, then wasted Fran Tarkenton’s prime getting bulldozed by Larry Csonka in 1974 and stuffed by Pittsburgh’s Steel Curtain defense in 1975. In ’77, they had a good shot against the Oakland Raiders, but couldn’t run the ball for shit and gave up more than 200 yards on the ground in a 32-14 loss.

That’s it.

Four Super Bowl losses in eight years. They went 45-10 in those regular seasons but lifted the Lombardi Trophy a total of zero times. That was more than 40 years ago, and they’ve gone 12-20 in the playoffs ever since without an SB return.

It’s been a lengthy compilation of fuck ups, most recently this short-range shank from Blair Walsh against the Seahawks in the wild card round a few years back:

In 2010, the Brett Favre-led Vikings played the Saints in the NFC Championship Game.

It was 28-28 in the 4th quarter, and Minnesota was on the cusp of field goal range, then this happened:

Man: “Ten frickin’ yards!”

Woman: “Aieeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”

They bombed in 1998, when Gary Anderson didn’t miss a single field goal the entire season…

…until the NFC Championship Game:

The Vikings went on to lose in overtime.

They were 15-1 that season, with Randall Cunningham throwing bombs to a rookie wideout named Randy Moss and a veteran second option known as Cris Carter. Only twice that season did the offense score less than 25 points in a game.

But they flubbed when it mattered most.

Go down the list and it’s the same story:

  • 1989 – 49ers 41, Vikings 13
  • 1988 – 49ers 34, Vikings 9
  • 1987 – Redskins 17, Vikings 10
  • 1982 – Redskins 21, Vikings 7
  • 1980 – Eagles 31, Vikings 16
  • 1978 – Rams 34, Vikings 10
  • 1977 – Cowboys 23, Vikings 6

So on, and so forth.

No matter how hard I try, I can’t muster up any sort of disdain for Minnesota fans. They’ve seen some shit, probably more than we have. The Vikings and Timberwolves have zero titles. The Wild (and North Stars) have zero titles. The Twins haven’t won the World Series since 1991. The pride and joy of Minny/St. Paul is the Lynx, or whatever high school hockey team just won states.

And even though they do that dumbass “Skol” chant and write cornball stories about Philadelphia fan behavior, I just can’t find the venom and vitriol.

I can’t.