The 1998 Vikings are the best team in franchise history that didn't reach a Super Bowl. This year's Vikings are hoping to avoid joining that team and these three others on the list of the best who didn't make it:
1975 Vikings
A lot of vintage Vikings fans say of all the teams from the organization's Super Bowl era, this was the best. The numbers bear that out: The 1975 Vikings were third in the NFL in both points scored and points allowed, putting up gaudy offensive numbers behind QB Fran Tarkenton and RB Chuck Foreman while remaining stifling on defense.
The Vikings finished 12-2 and faced the 10-4 Cowboys in the division round. Minnesota held a 14-10 lead late, before the Cowboys received two massive breaks.
On the first, they converted a 4th-and-16 from their own 25 on a play in which WR Drew Pearson could (should?) have been ruled out of bounds. Shortly thereafter, Pearson caught a 50-yard "Hail Mary" touchdown pass. Vikings fans and players will insist for the rest of their lives that Pearson pushed off against CB Nate Wright before making the catch.
Dallas won the game 17-14 and went on to lose 21-17 to the Steelers in the Super Bowl. The Vikings' season ended painfully short of their ultimate goal.
1987 Vikings
Is a team that went 8-7 in the regular season really worthy of being on this list? It's a good question, since that was the record of the 1987 Vikings, but dive deeper and you might agree they're worthy of inclusion.
The biggest reason: That Vikings team was actually 8-4 but went 0-3 with replacement players during the NFL's labor dispute in the middle of the year.
Fully equipped, that Vikings team was a force. They faced 12-3 New Orleans and 13-2 San Francisco in the first two rounds of the playoffs and clobbered them by a combined score of 80-34.
