The Vikings honored the 1969 team, the only unit in franchise history to win a championship. The Star Tribune‘s Sid Hartman, of course, has a nice profile of the team that began the Purple People Eaters 1970s-era dynasty. Mark Craig writes about the Ed Thorpe Trophy awarded to the NFL’s champion, which should’ve rightly have gone to the Vikings in 1969 but had been stolen by…wait for it…the Green Bay Packers.
Quarterback Joe Kapp was brought out as an honorary captain for the coin flip and defensive end Jim Marshall blew the Gjallarhorn (though you really just press a button).
The following two videos recap the Vikings 1969 season.
This NFL Films piece provides the highlights of the Vikings’ victory over the Los Angeles Rams for the divisional playoff game.
This is the full game broadcast (complete with old school commercials) of the Vikings championship victory over the Cleveland Browns. 1969 would be the last year the NFL awarded championships prior to the NFL/AFL merger.
The Vikings’ championship defeat of the Browns was followed, of course, by their own defeat at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl IV, the first of the team’s four Super Bowl appearances.