Sunday, Dec. 28, 1969: Viking surge dumps Rams
Posted on August 6th, 2006 – 10:50 PMBy Ben Welter
In 1969, the Minnesota Vikings won their second straight Central Division title with a 12-2 record, scoring a league-high 379 points and allowing a league-low 133 points. Their first-round opponent in the playoffs that year: the Los Angeles Rams. Here’s what happened when Roman Gabriel and the “Fearsome Foursome” took on Joe Kapp and the “Purple People Eaters” on a gray December afternoon at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington.
Unfortunately, I was unable to find any photos from the game in the Star Tribune library. But I did find a few choice images from other days in that gritty, memorable season more than 35 years ago.
Vikings Surge Dumps Rams 23-20
RALLY FROM 17-7 HALFTIME DEFICIT
By MERRILL SWANSON
Minneapolis Tribune Staff Writer
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| Joe Kapp talked with reporters after the Vikings beat Cleveland a week later to advance to Super Bowl IV, where they were flattened by Kansas City 23-7. |
The Minnesota Vikings rebuilt a winning football team from the ruins of their crumbling defense Saturday and gouged the Los Angeles Rams 23-20 at Metropolitan Stadium to win the National Football League’s Western Conference championship.
It was the most important victory for the Vikings in their nine-year history, putting them in the NFL title game next Sunday against Dallas or Cleveland.
It also was as courageous a football game as the Vikings ever played.
The Vikings’ chances looked as bleak as the gray, overcast sky when the two teams retired to the locker rooms at intermission with the Rams leading 17-7.
“The feeling at halftime,” said defensive tackle Alan Page, “was that we had to pull ourselves together and hold ‘em. The offense had started out moving the ball and we knew they could in the second half, too. But the defense had to hold the Rams for the offense to do its work.”
And that is exactly what happened.
The defense held the Rams to 64 yards and 3 points in the second half while the offense produced the 16 points that created the victory.
It was Page who made the play that insured the triumph with an interception in the waning minutes of the game that deprived the Rams of their final chance for an overtime-producing field goal or winning touchdown.
But this was no victory that can be credited to an individual. It was a team effort and a team victory.
“It’s hard to say how far the Vikings will go,” said Los Angeles coach George Allen. “They’re a great team and they have great balance. The Vikings were just better than we were today – at least three points better.
“Sure, we played a good first half, but there are 60 minutes in a game.
Nobody realized that more than the Vikings.
They had been victimized by fumbles, pass interceptions and just plain unsound football in the first half and looked as if they were not ready for championship football.
But then the Viking defense stopped giving ground and key first downs to the Rams and started giving the football to their quarterback instead.
Joe Kapp was just the man for the job.
“We were only down 10 points,” he said later. “I didn’t feel that was such a big lead.”
He made sure it wasn’t.
Kapp picked the Rams defense apart with his passes and sent his backs crashing into the line to keep the Fearsome Foursome off balance. Then, for variety he took off on those lurching, bent-legged runs of his – including a rollout around left end for what proved to be the winning touchdown.
The Rams were in the same man-for-man coverage they used the last time the two clubs met. Last time the Vikings won, also, but their leading receiver, Gene Washington, didn’t catch a pass.
Yesterday Washington got even.
He pulled in four passes for 90 yards, including one for 41 yards that set up the Vikings’ second touchdown.
“I was surprised to see them in the same defense,” Washington said. “I think they learned they just can’t cover us that way. But I guess they learned too late.”
The lesson was, indeed, a painful one.
Kapp completed 12 of 19 passes for 196 yards, working primarily with Washington and John Henderson on those lonely cornerbacks, Jim Nettles and Clancy Williams.
The Rams, conversely, concentrated primarily on passes to their running backs. Roman Gabriel, who played an outstanding game for the Rams, completed just three passes to a wide receiver – all to Wendell Tucker and all short ones.
“We can’t go any further,” Vikings coach Bud Grant said in the early stages of a post-game interview, “without mentioning Roman Gabriel. He played an outstanding football game.”
Gabriel, who said after the Rams 20-13 loss to the Vikings three weeks ago that he had stayed too long with his running game, remedied the situation quickly yesterday.
He passed for two first-half touchdowns, each time taking advantage of a break, to prod the Rams.
He wound up with 22 completions in 32 attempts for 150 yards, but one was intercepted[,] and [he] was tackled three times for 21 yards in losses.
But as the sign of one fan said, Sept. [it probably said December] 27, 1969, was the date of the fall of Roman’s empire.
Page and defensive end Carl Eller put on the finishing touches.
With the Vikings leading 21-20, Eller caught Gabriel behind the goal line for a safety with 7:49 remaining to play. Then, just over seven minutes later, Page tipped Gabriel’s pass, caught it, and thundered 29 yards to the Los Angeles 26.
Kapp kept falling on the ball to run out the 31 seconds that remained on the clock. While the crowd of 47,900 roared, the Vikings players shook hands with each other on the sidelines.
Grant? He stood there, typically straight-faced, and watched Kapp. Bud probably was thinking about Jan. 4.
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| FAST CARS: The Vikings of 1969 made far less money than their 2006 counterparts, but that didn’t stop them from splurging on nice wheels. Quarterback Joe Kapp, halfback Clint Jones and safety Paul Krause rolled into training camp in, from left to right, a 1939 LaSalle, a 1968 Porsche and a 1968 Jaguar. (Star Tribune photo by John Croft) |
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| FAST TRACK: Back in the day (August 1969), video games were not an option for Vikings cooling off at training camp. Rookie defensive back Homer Cavitte, right, joined future Hall of Famer Paul Krause and iron man Jim Marshall for some action-packed slot-car racing in a dormitory laundry. (Star Tribune photo by Kent Kobersteen) |
28 Responses to "Sunday, Dec. 28, 1969: Viking surge dumps Rams"
WOW! THIS WAS AN OUTSTANDING PIECE! This was the very game where I first became a huge, avid Vikings fan! I’ve lived in L.A. most all my life. I D the L.A. Rams and was waiting for someone who could take them down. It was a blast to read about the 2nd half comeback that I still vaguely remember. Carl Eller and Alan Page became God-like to an 8 y.o. boy! Please publish more and I would REALLY LOVE TO BE ABLE TO GET OLD GAME PHOTOS; ESPECIALLY OF THE ONES AT THE MET!
I was there that day. As a season ticket holder for 27 years from 1965 thru 2002 ( a break from ‘77 to’88) this in my memory was the greatest game. The electricity in the air as the team came out after half time was terrrific. As they came out on the field there was a tremendous roar and then the crowd began to chant go go. The team seemed to resond and I remember not having any doubts about the outcome.
Thank You for the oppurtunity to relive another great game from a great era. I only wish the Vikings could be that good again year in and year out.
I was at the 1969 Viking/Ram game on that cold winter’s day.
What a great 2nd half with Vikings down by 10 points, Joe Kapp led the Vikings to victory. The 69′ Vikes were the best team in football that year, but like so many Minnesota sports teams, the Minnesota jinx reared its ugly head and we lost to the Chiefs in Super Bowl IV. I recall we lost the first game of the year to the Giants and the last game to Atlanta.
Love these old stories. Much more interesting than reading about Pat Williams’ weight. Please keep them coming!
I remember this because I heard Viking’s games that season broadcast late at night (most times after midnight) over AFTN (Armed Forces Thailand Network) when I was stationed in Thailand back in 1969. This was back during the Viet Nam war and it was my closest tie to friends and family back in the states. It was nice to know that my Dad and I were still able to catch a Viking’s game even though we were a world apart.
Thanks so much for the great memory jogger! In his era, as quaterbacks went, Joe Kapp was absolutely the most dangerous when near the goal line!!
It seems that Carl Eller smashed a chalk board in the locker room at half time of that game….if memory serves correctly? Does anyone else recall that?
The LA Rams did NOT like the cold conditions in MN and seemed to be somewhat self defeated, by the weather, during some of those wonderful old games!
Sincerely, THANKS AGAIN FOR THE STORY!
Jim Linscheid
Season ticket holder from 1961 thru 1993.Moved to Florida but always a avid VIKING fan!! Iwas a DDS in St Peter and served as team dentist for several years during training camp.Go for it this year!!
The Ram game was the first I saw from the Met on tv, and the first game I saw on color tv. My mom, who openly pined for Joe Kapp, took my brother and I to her uncle’s in Wabasha, just outside the blackout area, while my dad, a season ticket holder went to the game. A trememdous game in a tremendous year. I remember getting home to south Minneapolis the same time my dad did and jumping around in the kitchen. The passion for the purple has been there ever since.
thanks for the trip down memory lane. i wish our vikes could win like that again.those were great years and they still mean alot to me, keep the articles coming!!
I was stationed in Saigon, Viet Nam during this infamous game. It was televised live and I remember cheering for Joe Kapp and crew. For a few hours it transported me back to the world and it also made me proud to be an American, a Minnesotan and Viking fan all over again. The never say die attitude, currently employed by the Twins, hopefully will be enstilled in the current team. Thanks for the memories.
I have been a Viking fan since the middle 60’s. I remember watching that game. What a great comeback win. Bud Grant will always loom large in my memory. I am a LA area fan who will visit the Dome with my wife this Sept. for the third time. My Dad’s family were all from Minnesota.
This was the first game I ever watched the Vikings (and 1st NFL game I have any memory of watching). I was 10 years old. I remember rooting for them during the comeback and I have been a fan ever since. While there have been many happy moments & disappointments in years since, I am proud to have been, and continue to be a Viking fan. I am an Indiana native, now living in Florida, but will always say “GO VIKES!”
This was the game that made me become a life-long Vikings fan. Growing up in Mississippi where winters are mild to say the least, I loved watching the Vikings play so many of their games in the driving snow, their offensive line in short sleeve jerseys while the rest of the team stood along unheated sidelines! No heaters for Bud, baby! The Rams, led by Gabriel and later Pat Haden, seemed to be frequent late season victims. Thanks again for a great stroll down memory lane!
Hey, what great memories of the Vikes back when they were a powerhouse in the late 60’s and early 70’s. I remember watching games with my friends and we were so nervous cuz the Vikes rarely blew another team off the field. So many of their games were real nail biters, but we always had that confidence that they would somehow pull it out, which they did most of the time.I remeber one playoff game that they clobbered the Cleveland Browns. I think they beat them 52 - 3 or something like that. I wonder if that 52 -3 game took place one week after the 23 - 20 win over the Rams, can’t recall for sure. Anyway, GO VIKES ! and ya can throw in a Go Twins ! and a Go Northstars ! oops, I mean Go Wild in there too !
hey jim linscheid, carl eller did break a blackboard at halftime of a vikings playoff game. but it was in 1973 when the vikings were hosting billy kilmer and the washington redskins. the vikes had another great team that year but they came out tight, the main culperate was wide receiver john gilliam ( # 42 ) who droped a sure touchdown pass from tarkington in the first half, the vikes trailed at the end of the first half and as legend has it eller needed the playoff money so he was not to happy with a tight offense costing him some playoff loot. by the way star and trib, great story it’s always a pleasure to relive the glory days of vikings football. maybe some of the current guys wearing the vikings uniforms should read these stories to get a feel for what being a viking means to us longtime fans.
I remember seeing that game as a kid–that was the first year I was into football and chose the Rams as my team. They went 11-0 that year and after winning the division George Allen told the team (uncharacteristically) to take a break and enjoy the games for awhile. They proceeded to lose their last 3 games and became a classic case of not being able to turn it back on. Not to take away anything from the Vikes tho–I remember scrappy, determined Joe Kapp and the Purple People Eaters very well. At any rate, ever since the Vikes got away from being outdoors on cold grey days with lots of mud (the Rams had to go up there a lot during playoff time) they just haven’t been the same to me….
i will always remember the vikings as a great powerhouse team especially with the llkes of the great purple gang. and not to mention all the great players on those teams. joe kapp and fran tarkenton and last but not least bud grant provided me with great memories. i am from tucson az and the vikings will always be my team win lose or draw, as they have been for the last 39 years, go vikes. as injun joe says 40 for 60, always!
It’s funny how this game made Vikings fans of so many of us. I vividly remember being 6 years old, and my father had recently returned from Vietnam. We were stationed at Ft. Benning, Ga., and that was the first NFL game that I had watched and fully understood what was going on. I live in SC now, and people always ask me if I’m from Minnesota when they see me with Vikings stuff on, or see the tag on the front of my car. I always say, “Nope, never lived there a day in my life. But I remember seeing them play against the Rams in ‘69 and saying to myself, man, those guys in purple sure can play”! Been an avid Vikes fan ever since.
I well remember that game. I was 9 years old, and we were visiting my granparents for Christmas. That meant I was watching the game on their color console TV, which was exciting, since we only had a small B&W TV. The first half wasn’t much of a treat, though, and at halftime I went down in their basement by myself and prayed for the Vikings. I’m no longer a believer, but I sure was that day. That second half the Vikings played with what sure looked like divine intervention. My favorite Vikings game of all time.
I started following the Vikings in 1969 at the young age of 8. My 15 year old brother got me to watch the games with him. The season started out with a loss to the Fran Tarkenton-led New York Giants. I seem to recall Fred Cox missed an extra point and a FG during the game? The Vikes loses 24-23. Then they rattle off 12 consecutive wins. The most important win was the game in the L.A. Coliseum (in early December). It was a 3pm game carried by KEYC t.v. out of Mankato, MN. That was a KEY win, as it gave the Vikings the home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Then the Vikings lose game #14 to the Falcons in a rainy/muddy game. That was a classic win by the Vikings over the L.A. Lambs. Then they beat the Cleveland Browns 27-7 in the LAST N.F.L. Championship game. Thanks Tribune for publishing this article. Keep up the good stories.
I was 9 and this was the first full football game I ever watched. My dad, two neighbors, and I rented a room in Rochester so we could watch on TV since it was just past the blackout zone. The hotel was filled with Vikings fans and it was an exciting place to be. When Eller sacked Gabriel in the endzone, I thought the hotel was going to collapse. 1969 was my favorite Vikes team ever because they played with so much heart.
I listened to the radio broadcast in my bedroom (Willmar was within the blackout zone) and watched the taped delay of the game after the news on Sunday night on Channel 4. I can’t remember the play-by-play guy, but Paul Christman was the color commentator. The Vikings band played “impossible Dream” as the game ended.
God, that was a better time.
I was 10 living in Ham Lake at the time. I remember listening to the game with my older brother on the radio in our basement bedroom and being very upset with how poorly the Vikes had played the first half. I was so frustrated I stopped listening to the game and went out to play. Later my brother called back in and told me they were ahead. At first i didn’t believe him but I made it back in time to hear the end of the game. While that game was important, I think the game that really solidified me as a Vikings fan occurred earlier that season when the they beat the defending Super Bowl champ Baltimore Colts 52-3 in the 2nd or 3rd game of the year.
I started to follow the Vikes from overseas, as an expat kid, in the oil fields of Venezuela. I heard this game on shortwave radio and was glued to it! The half time score meant nothing knowing and trusting that the 12-2 Vikings would come back… and they did! I sat in front of that Zenith radio with the in and out white noise and the sound of the Met Stadium fans resonating. I have NEVER forgottent that game or that season! Go Vikings!!
I won’t say this was the game that made me an avid Viking fan, but this was the season. I had just returned from Vietnam, and realized the Vikings were no longer an expansion team. An opening 24-23 loss to Tarkenton and the Giants, followed by 12 straight wins, and ending in a muddy 10-7 loss to the Falcons. The next year, I couldn’t wait until the Vikings got a hold of Stram and the Chiefs in the season opener.
I just remember that the Vikings won, beat Cleveland 27-7 and then lost to the Chiefs. A simpler time, it helped that I was in 1st grade. I could always tell if the Vikings were losing/winning, father upstairs kicking back that recliner/swearing if the Vikings were doing something stupid. It’s a good thing he stopped being a hard core fan at the start of the 1980’s or else he wouldn’t have made it to 2007.
I was at the game with friend Tom Gross. Exciting game all the way through. Joe Kapp wasn’t pretty but he was a leader and delivered when it mattered.
Led to our first Super Bowl and loss. Well, it’s the Minnesota luck!
Live in California, but still a homer for all Minnesota Sports.
