In every sport there is one or at least a couple prestigious tournaments that teams, national or otherwise, want to win above everything else. The same goes for individual players, be it in regular sports, or other types of competitions. That being said, some teams never get close to winning such a tournament. For example the Champions League played in Europe in soccer, is a competition that some teams have never come close to winning.
In the United States, there are several such tournaments, or rather, championship matches. The Stanley Cup in the NHL, the Commissioner’s Trophy in MLB, and in football, the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy in the NFL.
Winning the Super Bowl is what all NFL teams want to do every single season. Yet, some of them have never won a Super Bowl. One such team is the Minnesota Vikings, a favorite of many fans. The question is, will they ever win a Super Bowl?
What is the Super Bowl?
Before we tackle the Vikings and their unsuccessful attempts at winning the Super Bowl, first we should explain what the Super Bowl is.
The Super Bowl is the championship match in the NFL, where the winners of the two leagues, the National Football Conference and the American Football Conference, meet in the final match to determine that season’s champion. The Super Bowl is the world’s second most watched annual sports event, second only to the Champions League final. In order for a team to even appear in the Super Bowl, they would have to win in their league/conference. The teams that never appeared in the Super Bowl are the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Cleveland Browns, the Houston Texans and the Detroit Lions.
The Minnesota Vikings, on the other hand, had 4 Super Bowl appearances.
The Vikings’ Super Bowl Journeys
During the 1970s, the Vikings had formidable teams and they appeared in 4 Super Bowls. They appeared in the 1970, 1974, 1975 and the 1977 Super Bowl, in all of which they lost the matches. Their 1970s journey had some of their most famous players on the team, the hall of fame Fran Tarkenton, a quarterback, being one of them.
Each of their Super Bowl appearances were difficult losses, where the opposing teams beat them handily. Following their success in the 1970s, the team declined in the 80s, 90s and even 2000s, to an extent. Only recently had they found some success.
The Recent Years – Things Are Looking Up
The Vikings had a decent 2017 season, where they lost in the NFL championship game to the Philadelphia Eagles. That game was not as thrilling as their other games were, particularly in the playoffs for that season. Their 2017 season was one of the Vikings’ best seasons since the 1970s.
Given their loss to the Eagles and the relatively stale 2018 season, their loss in the divisional finals to the 49rs in the 2019 season and their stale 2020 season, they are perhaps still far from winning the Super Bowl.
What About the Future?
Every fan wants their team to win and in the case of the Vikings, the same can be said of this fan and all others. With good offseason moves and perhaps a change in team direction the Vikings could recapture their 1970s glory days, but with that extra bit to help them push through the finish line. The Super Bowl is on the list for the Vikings and they will eventually get there, hopefully in the near future.
