This is the latest installment of our semiregular ‘On this Date’ series. If you have an event that you’d like to see featured email sportsdr44@hotmail.com
In their eighth season in the NFL, the Minnesota Vikings made the playoffs for the first time in 1968.
Norm Van Brocklin was the Vikings’ first coach, holding the position from 1961-1966.
The team had approached Bud Grant about the position. He turned down the job. At the time Grant was coaching the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League and had won four Grey Cups.
Grant was hesitant about joining an expansion team, so he told the Vikings to call him when they needed a new coach.
Minnesota had a 29-51-4 (.369) record under Van Brocklin, who had a long-time feud with Fran Tarkenton over a disagreement over playing style. Van Brocklin wanted Tarkenton to stay in the pocket, while Tarkenton liked to scramble.
Here are the Vikings records under Van Brocklin:
1961: 3-11
1962: 2-11-1
1963: 5-8-1
1964: 8-5-1
1965: 7-7
1966: 4-9-1
The feud led to Tarkenton requesting a trade, and he was sent to the New York Giants in March 1966. Van Brocklin then resigned.
Grant was re-approached to become the Vikings' new head coach he joined the team on March 10, 1967 after 10 seasons in Winnipeg.
His first Vikings team was 3-8-3, and were 8-6 in 1968, good enough to win the Central Division title by one game over the Chicago Bears.
Here are the 1968 standings in the geographically challenged NFL, which had Baltimore and Atlanta in the Western Conference and Dallas and St. Louis in the Eastern Conference:
1968 NFL standings
Western Conference
Central Division
Minnesota Vikings 8-6
Chicago Bears 7-7
Green Bay Packers 6-7-1
Detroit Lions 4-8-2
Coastal Division
Baltimore Colts 13-1
Los Angeles Rams 10-3-1
San Francisco 49ers 7-6-1
Atlanta Falcons 2-12
Eastern Conference
Capitol Division
Dallas Cowboys 12-2
New York Giants 7-7
Washington Redskins 5-9
Philadelphia Eagles 2-12
Century Division
Cleveland Browns 10-4
St. Louis Cardinals 9-4-1
New Orleans Saints 4-9-1
Pittsburgh Steelers 2-11-1
Within each conference, the two division winners qualified for the playoffs.
In the first round, the Central and Coastal division winners were in the Western Conference game, while the Capitol and Century division winners played in the Eastern Conference Game.
Prior to 1975, the playoff sites rotated and were known at the start of the season. In 1968, the hosts were the Costal and Century division winners would host the conference championships, and the Eastern Conference would host the championship game.
In the West that meant that the 13-1 Baltimore Colts would host the Vikings.
In the East, the 10-4 Browns hosted the 12-2 Cowboys despite winning two fewer games and beating Dallas during the regular season.
The winners of the two conference games advanced to the NFL Championship Game to compete for the NFL league title and the right to face the American Football League champion in Super Bowl III in Miami.
Baltimore dominated Minnesota more than the 24-14 final indicates.
The Colts led 21–0 after three quarters.
The Vikings drove 77 yards to score, with QB Joe Kapp throwing a one-yard touchdown pass to tight end Bill Martin. Grant was familiar with Kapp from the CFL, where he won a Grey Cup with the British Columbia Lions.
A 33-yard field goal by Lou Michaels pushed Baltimore’s lead to 24-7.
The Vikings made the final closer when Kapp finished a 73-yard drive with a seven-yard touchdown pass to Bill Brown with four seconds remaining.
Kapp was 26-for-44 passing for 287 yards and two touchdowns, with two interceptions. He also led all rushers in the game with 52 yards on 10 carries. Gene Washington caught five passes for 95 yards.
Earl Morrall was 13-22 passes for 280 yards and two touchdowns for the Colts with one interception. Willie Richardson caught six passes for 148 yards, while John Mackey had three catches for 92 yards and a touchdown.
The Vikings’ season wasn’t over despite the loss.
At the time, the losers of the conference championship games played in the Playoff Bowl, a third-place game held at the Orange Bowl in Miami. Minnesota would play Dallas in that game. We’ll have more on that game in a future posting.
The Colts won the NFL championship game 34-0 over the Cleveland Browns, but would lose Super Bowl III to the New York Jets 16-7 in Miami.
Western Conference playoff box score
Minnesota 0 0 0 14 - 14
Baltimore 0 7 14 3 - 24
Scoring plays
First quarter
No scoring
Second quarter
BALT – Tom Mitchell 3 pass from Earl Morrall (Lou Michaels kick)
Third quarter
BALT – John Mackey 49 pass from Earl Morrall (Lou Michaels kick)
BALT – Mike Curtis 60 fumble return (Lou Michaels kick)
Fourth quarter
MINN – Bill Martin 1 pass from Joe Kapp (Fred Cox kick)
BALT – Lou Michaels 33 FG
MINN – Bill Brown 7 pass from Joe Kapp (Fred Cox kick)
Individual statistics
Offense
Rushing
MINN: Joe Kapp 10-52, Bill Brown 10-30, Dave Osborn 5-4, Clint Jones 2-0, Jim Lindsey 1- -1. BALT: Tom Matte 14-31, Jerry Hill 8-10, John Mackey 1-9, Preston Pearson 4-0.
Receiving
MINN: Bill Brown 8-82, Gene Washington 5-95, John Beasley 5-69, John Henderson 5-33, Jim Lindsey 1-9, Bill Martin 1-1, Dave Osborn 1- -2. BALT: Willie Richardson 6-148, John Mackey 3-92, Jimmy Orr 2-36, Tom Mitchell 1-3, Preston Pearson 1-1.
Passing
MINN: Joe Kapp 26-44-287-2-2. BALT: Earl Morrall 13-22-280-2-1.
Defense
Fumble recoveries
MINN: Earsell Mackbee 1-0, Dave Osborn 1-0. BALT: Mike Curtis 1-60.
Interceptions
MINN: Ed Sharockman 2-21. BALT: Bobby Boyd 1-20, Jerry Logan 1-24.
Team statistics
First downs: Minn 22, Balt 15.
Rushing: Minn 28-85, Balt 27-50.
Passing: Minn 26-44-287-2-2, Balt 13-22-280-2-1.
Fumbles-lost: Minn 2-1, Balt 1-1.
Penalties: Minn 4-30, Balt 2-28.
NFL PLAYOFFS
Western Conference
Championship
Baltimore Colts 24, Minnesota Vikings 14
Eastern Conference
Championship
Cleveland Browns 31, Dallas Cowboys 20
NFL championship
Baltimore Colts 34, Cleveland Browns 0
AFL PLAYOFFS
Championship
New York Jets 27, Oakland Raiders 23
Super Bowl III
New York Jets 16, Baltimore Colts 7
We are the champions
Here are the reigning champions in each sport when the Vikings and Colts played on Dec. 22, 1968.
Super Bowl: Green Bay Packers
World Series: Detroit Tigers
NBA: Boston Celtics
Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens
College football: USC
College basketball: UCLA
Masters: Bob Goalby
Daytona 500: Cale Yarborough
Indy 500: Bobby Unser
On that date
No. 1 TV show: Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
No. 1 Movie: Funny Girl
No. 1 song: I Heard It Through the Grapevine, Marvin Gaye
No. 1 book: A Wizard of Earthsea
Governor of Minnesota: Harold LeVander
U.S. President: Lyndon Johnson
Significant news story: North Korea released the 82 crew members of the USS Pueblo after 11 months of captivity. The ship had been seized by North Korean ships on Jan. 23, 1968.
SOURCES: National Football League, Minnesota Vikings, pro-footballreference.com, Wikipedia, Detroit Free Press, Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, NCAA, Augusta National Golf Club, Daytona International Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Library of Congress, Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, United States Navy.