An Oakland Raider Super Bowl win meant an 0-4 record for Minnesota in big games.

The Vikings played in their 3rd Super Bowl in 4 years against the Oakland Raiders at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA, on January 9, 1977. The Vikings however, couldn’t break its bad luck in the Super Bowl. Minnesota lost, 32-14.

Another year, another tear for the MN Vikings as the Raiders became the 3rd team to win their first NFL championship against the Purple. The thing I remember most about this Super Bowl wasn’t that Sammy White caught the ball even though his helmet was knocked off, but it was the halftime show, a Disney ensemble singing “It’s a Small World After All.” I knew the Vikings were in trouble when I read before the game that Fran Tarkenton had predicted a victory for Minnesota,
“I want the whole world to know that the Minnesota Vikings are going to win the Super Bowl this time.”

I think this was the first of the Big Time modern-day Super Bowls. A record crowd plus 81 million television viewers (the largest ever up to that time), watched the Raiders win 32-14.

The game started out like it was the Vikes to win as they received two big breaks early on. The first came when the Raiders marched the length of the field, only to have Errol Mann fail on a 29-yard field goal attempt. The second came soon after.

The Vikes had just held the Raiders on a critical possession deep in Raider territory when the TV color commentator bragged how Oakland punter, Ray Guy, had never had a punt blocked. The words left his mouth as Fred McNeill stormed through and snuffed out the punt, scoopimg up the ball and carrying it all the way down to the Oakland three yard line before Guy hauled him down. It was a golden opportunity for the Vikings! First and goal and a possible quick 7-0 lead. Chuck Foreman slammed into the right side on for a yard on first down and then disaster struck.

The opportunity was squandered when Brent McClanahan fumbled the ball away to the Raiders. The Raiders drove down the field and scored a field goal. The momentum swing was so obvious that the Black and Silver would soon dominate the game.

On the Vikings next possession, the Raiders held. When they got the ball back they drove down again, this time scoring on a Ken Stabler to Dave Casper touchdown and a 10-0 lead. Again, the Raiders held the Vikes. Again the Raiders drove down the field and scored when Pete Banaszak punched over the endzone. The kick failed but the Raiders had built a 16-0 halftime lead.

For the Vikings it had been another horrendous first half in the Super Bowl. In their four appearances they had yielded 51 points in the opening half. What’s worse, the Vikings hadn’t scored a point themselves. Super Bowl records will show that Vikings only made 4 first downs and 86 yards in the first half to the Raiders 16 first downs and 288 yards.

At halftime, I was already crushed. While the troop called “Up With People performed at halftime singing Walt Disney’s “It’s a Small World Afterall, my Uncle Warren, a Dallas Cowboys fan, started teasing me. He was calling me and the Vikings “losers for life” and other assorted digs. I snapped and took off to our family’s horse barn to destroy some hay bales.

I was depressed, bullied and felt very angry. I vowed to never care about football again, and actually planned on staying out in the barn for the rest of the game. The optimist in me won over, and I could not bear missing the greatest Super Bowl comeback in history so I returned to the house to watch a Vikings miracle. I should have stayed outside in the barn because when I returned, the score was 19-0 and my dork Uncle started taunting me again.

Luckily I had something to cheer about as the Vikes responded with a 12-play, 58-yard drive late in the 3rd quarter when Fran Tarkenton hit Rookie of the Year Sammy White, for an 8-yard pass, the Vikes were only down 19-7.

The touchdown seemed to bring the entire Minnesota team to life. The defense held the Raiders in check and Tarkenton got the ball back at his own 22. Down by 12, the Vikings still had more than enough time. Tark quickly drove Minnesota to the Raider’s 35 yard line. Under a heavy rush Fran “The Scrambling Man went out of the pocket and lofted a floater to Chuck Foreman that Raider cornerback Willie Hall picked off. A Vikings comeback just wasn’t meant to happen. Super Bowls and Vikings Purple equals heartache.

Ken Stabler drove the Raiders down to the Viking 2, tossing a 48-yard bomb to Fred Biletnikoff. Then Pete Banaszak scored his second TD and the Raiders led 26-7.

Again, Tarkenton wouldn’t quit. The Vikes drove to their own 47, where Fran tried a long sideline pass to Sammy White. As we all know this is the scene where the game turned“Butt Ugly” as the pass was picked off and is now and NFL Films classic shot of  “Old Man” Willie Brown running in slow motion for a Super Bowl-record 75-yard TD interception return. Mann missed his second extra point of the game and the score was 32-7.

Bob Lee replaced Tarkenton and spared the Vikings the humiliation of losing by a Super Bowl record 25 points. In the game’s final minutes, Lee directed an 86-yard, 9-play scoring drive. The touchdown came on a 13-yard pass from Lee to Tight End Stu Voight. Final Score 32-14.

The Score shouldn’t have been that close! Oakland gained a record-breaking 429 yards, including running back Clarence Davis’s 137 rushing yards and Fred Biletnikoff’s 4 key receptions, which earned him the game’s most valuable player trophy.

“They totally dominated,” Tarkenton said, “We have no excuses.”

Thirty Five years later, the Vikings haven’t returned to the Big Bowl.