1969 Minnesota Vikings season | |
---|---|
General manager | Jim Finks |
Head coach | Bud Grant |
Home field | Metropolitan Stadium Memorial Stadium (October 5) |
Results | |
Record | 12–2 |
Division place | 1st NFL Central |
Playoff finish | Won Western Conference Championship Game (vs. Rams) 23–20 Won NFL Championship (vs. Browns) 27–7 Lost Super Bowl IV (vs. Chiefs) 7–23 |
Pro Bowlers | DE Carl Eller C Mick Tingelhoff WR Gene Washington DT Alan Page T Grady Alderman DE Jim Marshall S Paul Krause QB Joe Kapp DT Gary Larsen |
AP All-Pros | DE Carl Eller (1st team) C Mick Tingelhoff (1st team) T Grady Alderman (2nd team) CB Bobby Bryant (2nd team) (2nd team) S Paul Krause (2nd team) DE Jim Marshall (2nd team) DT Alan Page (2nd team) WR Gene Washington |
Uniform | |
The 1969 season was the Minnesota Vikings' ninth season in the National Football League (NFL) and their third under head coach Bud Grant. With a 12–2 record, the best in the league, the Vikings won the NFL Central division title, to qualify for the playoffs for the second year in a row. This was the first of three consecutive seasons as the best team in the NFL for the Vikings. They beat the Los Angeles Rams in the Western Conference Championship Game, and the Cleveland Browns in the final NFL Championship Game before the merger with the American Football League. With these wins, the Vikings became the last team to possess the Ed Thorp Memorial Trophy, introduced 35 years earlier in 1934.
However, Minnesota lost Super Bowl IV in New Orleans to the AFL champion Kansas City Chiefs in the final professional football game between the two leagues. It was the second consecutive Super Bowl win for the younger league.
The season was chronicled for America's Game: The Missing Rings, as the second greatest NFL team to never win the Super Bowl, only behind the 1981 San Diego Chargers.