Thank you for this. Not a Vikings fan, but I LOVE watching those 70's Vikings teams. This was before my time, but I know all about the Vikes legendary defense, Fran Tarkenton ,and Chuck Foreman.
There has NEVER been a better broadcaster than Vin Scully! The man is class personafied! A true professional
The athletes are way better today...Paul Krause wouldnt get on the field. I do think the game is better during this era because there isn't the showboating after EVERY play and the refs are not the deciding factor in the games.
I know announcing was different then. Ex-jocks were al the rage and all...but Hawkins was pretty bad in some respects. However....his ability to add something another announcer might not have is evident when he speaks of Lee's reluctance to use Foreman's receiving skills..... I always thought Lee did that because he wanted to differentiate himself from Francis in using WR's instead. But Lee did use Miller as a target, so it is kind of weird. Hawkins hit on a good point here, I think.
I don't really think Lee would want to differentiate himself from Tarkenton by not throwing to the teams best receiver.
He may have thrrown to Robert Miller more because like Lee, he was with the second team. Mclanahan was injured so it was Miller, Lee felt more comfortable with.
@6400az Certainly the conventional wisdom according to announcers at the time. I do think that they went overboard when describing Page as not being strong. Even in the later years of his career, when he got down into the 220's he was doing remarkably strong things with his hands against blockers and ball carriers
At this stage in their career, Lee probably had a better arm. Not that he had a good arm, he was'nt very accurate and threw wobblers.Did have a few good games with the Falcons.There was the 1973 MNF when the Atlanta snapped the Vikings 9 game winning streake. This game here, and also the previous weeks game againt the Lions.
After Kapp left the Vikings, Lee was given every opportunity to become the 1st string QB. Like Dolphins Don Strock, both proved to be strictly backups.
I remember watching this game. Vin Scully at the the beginning of this game said "The Minnesota Vikings broke the drought and brought their weather with them" LOL That wasn't shown in the beginning of this clip. For much of their histories the Minnesota Vikings seemed to have the LA Rams number. The Rams were favored to win in many of the games but the Vikings usually found a way to beat them anyway.
I was 4 years old when this game was played and I remember my dad and brother watching it. I was just starting to watch football and of course I became a Viking fan right around this time. I have loved the Vikes ever since.
Can't blame Knox for gambling on fourth down, since a 48 yard FG on that field was a pipe dream, especially with the mud between the hash marks. But getting stuffed on fourth and one by an aging Vikings front four.........!? Eller and Page were gone after one more season, Marshall lasted two years after that, retiriing alongside the Ice Box stadium.
Did not know it was played the day after Christmas. Well, there goes the title of "Muddy Christmas." I pity the person who was the groundskeeper for the Los Angeles Coliesum at the time: This was the worst handling of a football field in terms of weather. I also pity the Vikings' Chuck Foreman since that he changed jerseys between halfs...and it got muddy in an instant like it was a nosebleed!
After losing in Minnesota in the 1969, 1974 and 1976 playoffs, the Rams were convinced they finally had the Vikings in L.A. Then it rained in socal...
I grew up in SoCal and I remember as a kid there was a muddy Rams/Vikings game in LA. It was blacked out and we had to listen to it on the radio. This must be it. The magic of you-tube!
Hard to fault Knox' decision to go on fourth down and one. A 48 yard field goal was extremely unlikely on that field, the running game was already clicking, and they had destroyed the Vikings 35-3 earlier that year. If you can't make one yard in the playoffs on your home field, you sure aren't going far anyway.
@6400az Doug France (#77) totally blew the block on the Vikings #77 (name?) on that 4th down play. However, the Rams shouldn't have just mentally "froze" after that. It was only the first quarter! Just keep playing.
That # 77 was the Vikings first round draft pick in 75' Mark Mullaney. Steady player until about the mid 80's,but never the great one fans thought he would become.
That 4th down stop may have been the backbreaker, even if it was early on. The Rams had lost 3 playoff games to them and their confidence level had to have been very fragile.It had to have sucked the wind out of them right away. VERY similar to when the Vikings played in the Superbowls.......Mclanahan's fumble??
This game reminds me of the Super Bowl scene in 'Gus'. A few years back, Madden 07 and 08 had deteriorating grass fields during gameplay, It was really cool to play on a grass field in the rain. By the end of the game, the field was a large mud puddle but the uniforms were still clean.
@higgy04 I remember that scene in "Gus" . There is also the scene in "The Best of Times" with Robin Williams at the end when their game was muddy in the second half. Oh and don't forget "All the Right Moves" with Tom Cruise when they played in the mud like the last 2 minutes of their game.
@gymcoach15 Thanks for the other great football movie moments. The reason I mentioned 'Gus' was because this game was played in the same stadium of course.
I had forgotten that the Rams were 12 point favorites for this game. For some reason, even with the 35-3 drubbing on Monday Night football, it all seemed so inevitable as the game went on that purple would rule the day. Sort of like betting on the Dolphins to beat the Bills during the 1970's. Some higher power, jinx, curse, that Minnesota became world beaters when they played the Rams. Streak even continued for another 30 minutes in the 1978 playoffs, before arthritis set in (34-10).
Man I HATE FieldTurf !! (their HeadQuarters is in Peachtree City, Georgia BTW)
Football when played outdoors is MEANT to be played on grass.
WTH the hell is the problems with the home fields that they need fake grass for these teams :Ravens, Patriots, Seahawks, Bengals, (too many colleges to name)
@indyfan22k When I was a kid, astro turf was the thing and that was like playing on cement. Apparently, field turf is supposed to cut down on injuries but every game I watch on field turf seems like there are the same amount of injuries as on grass. I just hope that teams like the Bears and Packers keep their fields grass.
Great footage. I've enjoyed watching it. It seems like every year during the decade of the 1970's, the Vikings, Rams, and Cowboys were always in the playoffs battling each other.
By the way, Bob Lee's son, Zac, is currently a QB at Nebraska. He started last season, but is 3rd string this year.
@MrFlabass During the 1977 season, Tarkenton broke his leg, and missed several games, due to his injury...Bob Lee, who was both Tarkenton's immediate backup QB, as well as the Vikings starting punter, started the game instead...
I lived in both in Minnesota and Miami Fla. How any man could play football in the bitter cold of the north, AND the just as agonizing Miami humidity / heat, is beyond me.
I once walked to a coffe house in St. Paul, about a block from my house. I thought my face was going to brake apart like a sheet of glass.
The Rams humiliated the Vikings 35-3 on Monday Night Football this season. I can just imagine the noose tightening around their necks from the opening kickoff. All the pressure was on them, the Vikes had little to lose. Every minute that went by, the Rams had to be thinking "Here we go again!" Those damn Purple People Eaters. This was the last win for the Vikes front four, Eller was traded after the season, Page was gone after 1978, Marshall retired after 1979.
@sportshistorybuff If the Rams had just relaxed and played, they would have been fine. They were the biggest chokers in the playoffs in the 1970s. The '77 team was loaded with talent and they could have won the Super Bowl that year.
@sportshistorybuff the vikings were to the rams during that time as the broncos were the browns of the 80's. im a viking fan but the rams were jsut as good during that era.
The Vikings must have been to the Rams , what AFC teams where for the Vikings come Super Sunday.
When the Vikings stopped the Rams on the 4th and inches, THAT was the equivalent for the Vikings as when Brent Mclanahan fumbled in SB XI at the 1 yrd line. In both cases, it must have had a deflating psychological effect on both teams.
The Rams finally get the Vikings at home in a playoff game, away from the winter conditions of Minneapolis, and this happens. What a nasty twist of fate.
To this day that loss hurts. We were SO much better and faster than the Vikings and, had we found a way to win this game, I have no doubt we would have won the Super Bowl as well. '77 was the year we w/o question should have won it all. Damn.
You are talking about 1977 Dallas Cowboys as much as I loathe "America's Team" that team led by Dorsett as a rookie would have killed the Rams in NFC Championship which would have been played in Dallas they only lost 2 games in 1977 to Pittsburgh and Denver. That Cowboys team is one of the top 5 Teams in the modern era of Pro Football maybe in 1975 the Rams probaly should have won but they couldn't beat the Vikings.
I was thinking 1974-1975 Rams which if they could have beaten the Vikings I think they would have been a better matchup against the Steelers sorry bout that
Vin at CBS when he did PBP, had Hawkins, Sonny Jurgensen, George Allen, Paul Hornug(sic), Jim Brown, John Madden, and Hank Stram for color at various times.
@Ariamaluum Good point. He missed the first six games the next season, then came back, but he definitely wasn't the same runner. He started the next six, then severely injured a groin muscle against the Browns where he was bent backward over the leg (I remember watching the game) and was lost for the season.
I think your right about the horse collar. One of the thing I find about watching the old Viking video, is how often their D-line would chse down a ball carrier down field and make the tackle. Really amazing. They were so fast and light, I guess that's why such plays happened.
It's hard to choose. But this victory ranks as one of the Vikings all time greatest. Injuries, away from home, long on the tooth, 12 point underdogs,yet they won. Man,I loved those guys !!
Thank you for this. Not a Vikings fan, but I LOVE watching those 70's Vikings teams. This was before my time, but I know all about the Vikes legendary defense, Fran Tarkenton ,and Chuck Foreman.
There has NEVER been a better broadcaster than Vin Scully! The man is class personafied! A true professional
GialloHorror 3 weeks ago
Ouch. As a lifelong 46 year old Rams fan, this game brings back painful and long-supressed memories.
foggdood 3 weeks ago
Paul Krause tackling demonstration @ :51 seconds
tknippe 1 month ago
@tknippe LOL!
GialloHorror 3 weeks ago
The athletes are way better today...Paul Krause wouldnt get on the field. I do think the game is better during this era because there isn't the showboating after EVERY play and the refs are not the deciding factor in the games.
thechucker44 1 month ago
Merlin Olsen's last game.
WatchVenusSpa 1 month ago
@WatchVenusSpa
Nope:).
Olsens' last game was exactly one year before this game. Dec. 26 1976. In the 76' NFC Championship Game.
6400az 1 month ago
@6400az Yep....I have that game.
thechucker44 1 month ago
@thechucker44
Ok, can't fine my post. Wich game do you have your reffering to?
6400az 1 month ago
@6400az You were talking about Merlin Olsens last game. It was the year before NFC Championship game.
thechucker44 1 month ago
@thechucker44
Yes, right. Thanks.
6400az 1 month ago
I know announcing was different then. Ex-jocks were al the rage and all...but Hawkins was pretty bad in some respects. However....his ability to add something another announcer might not have is evident when he speaks of Lee's reluctance to use Foreman's receiving skills..... I always thought Lee did that because he wanted to differentiate himself from Francis in using WR's instead. But Lee did use Miller as a target, so it is kind of weird. Hawkins hit on a good point here, I think.
camvantasco 1 month ago
@camvantasco
I don't really think Lee would want to differentiate himself from Tarkenton by not throwing to the teams best receiver.
He may have thrrown to Robert Miller more because like Lee, he was with the second team. Mclanahan was injured so it was Miller, Lee felt more comfortable with.
6400az 1 month ago
One difference between Trakenton and Lee, Lee had a much liver arm.
drwayne88 2 months ago
@drwayne88
@ 3:39..."Run right at the Vikings" ??
6400az 2 months ago
@6400az Certainly the conventional wisdom according to announcers at the time. I do think that they went overboard when describing Page as not being strong. Even in the later years of his career, when he got down into the 220's he was doing remarkably strong things with his hands against blockers and ball carriers
drwayne88 2 months ago
@drwayne88
Yea, Page was always strong. How do the announcers know he was'nt?
6400az 1 month ago
@drwayne88
At this stage in their career, Lee probably had a better arm. Not that he had a good arm, he was'nt very accurate and threw wobblers.Did have a few good games with the Falcons.There was the 1973 MNF when the Atlanta snapped the Vikings 9 game winning streake. This game here, and also the previous weeks game againt the Lions.
After Kapp left the Vikings, Lee was given every opportunity to become the 1st string QB. Like Dolphins Don Strock, both proved to be strictly backups.
6400az 1 month ago
If this type of game was played today, the very next week field turf would be installed.
gymcoach15 2 months ago
Nice horse-collar at 0:55
1508inf 3 months ago
@1508inf
Yes, but what I find more amazing is how the Vikings D-linemen where waaaay down field making tackles. You see it consistently in other videos.
6400az 3 months ago
I remember watching this game. Vin Scully at the the beginning of this game said "The Minnesota Vikings broke the drought and brought their weather with them" LOL That wasn't shown in the beginning of this clip. For much of their histories the Minnesota Vikings seemed to have the LA Rams number. The Rams were favored to win in many of the games but the Vikings usually found a way to beat them anyway.
theskeptic2010 4 months ago 2
I was 4 years old when this game was played and I remember my dad and brother watching it. I was just starting to watch football and of course I became a Viking fan right around this time. I have loved the Vikes ever since.
gymcoach15 6 months ago 3
Can't blame Knox for gambling on fourth down, since a 48 yard FG on that field was a pipe dream, especially with the mud between the hash marks. But getting stuffed on fourth and one by an aging Vikings front four.........!? Eller and Page were gone after one more season, Marshall lasted two years after that, retiriing alongside the Ice Box stadium.
sportshistorybuff 7 months ago
Vin Scully: great, smooth, informative, timeless. Alex Hawkins: eh, not so much.
thishereguitar 7 months ago
Did not know it was played the day after Christmas. Well, there goes the title of "Muddy Christmas." I pity the person who was the groundskeeper for the Los Angeles Coliesum at the time: This was the worst handling of a football field in terms of weather. I also pity the Vikings' Chuck Foreman since that he changed jerseys between halfs...and it got muddy in an instant like it was a nosebleed!
EricandDish 8 months ago
Ahhh...football on real grass! <3
Unperson68 9 months ago
After losing in Minnesota in the 1969, 1974 and 1976 playoffs, the Rams were convinced they finally had the Vikings in L.A. Then it rained in socal...
mesmursur 9 months ago
I recall this game being played on a sataurday. No tv, no vinny. Dick enberg and ron bass
thranktwaddler 10 months ago
@thranktwaddler Nope, this game was played on a Monday afternoon, the day after Christmas.
DNSKansas 9 months ago
Back in the 70's vin sculley was doing it all, masterfully.Did jawarski get hurt, beatin out for the job or gone to philly at this time?
thranktwaddler 10 months ago
@thranktwaddler
Jaworski had been traded to Philly after the 1976 season.
paulsonj72 5 months ago
I grew up in SoCal and I remember as a kid there was a muddy Rams/Vikings game in LA. It was blacked out and we had to listen to it on the radio. This must be it. The magic of you-tube!
mct1967 10 months ago
Hard to fault Knox' decision to go on fourth down and one. A 48 yard field goal was extremely unlikely on that field, the running game was already clicking, and they had destroyed the Vikings 35-3 earlier that year. If you can't make one yard in the playoffs on your home field, you sure aren't going far anyway.
sportshistorybuff 11 months ago
The 4th down stoppage @3:40. HUGE paly for the Vikings.....play of the game I think. The Rams had to have been thinking...." not again".
6400az 1 year ago
@6400az Doug France (#77) totally blew the block on the Vikings #77 (name?) on that 4th down play. However, the Rams shouldn't have just mentally "froze" after that. It was only the first quarter! Just keep playing.
GeorgiaKev 1 year ago
@GeorgiaKev
That # 77 was the Vikings first round draft pick in 75' Mark Mullaney. Steady player until about the mid 80's,but never the great one fans thought he would become.
That 4th down stop may have been the backbreaker, even if it was early on. The Rams had lost 3 playoff games to them and their confidence level had to have been very fragile.It had to have sucked the wind out of them right away. VERY similar to when the Vikings played in the Superbowls.......Mclanahan's fumble??
6400az 1 year ago
This game was played the day after Christmas because Christmas was on a Sunday. So they are actually playing on Monday, isn't that wierd?
gymcoach15 1 year ago
Comment removed
timjumper7 1 year ago
Old school days of the NFL where parody was almost non-existent. The Cowboys, Rams & Vikings pretty much ruled the NFC in the 1970's.
LT9856 1 year ago
@LT9856 pretty much, you would have a few dominant teams that that made the playoffs every year and then the rest consisted of bottom feeders.
halodystroyer44 1 year ago
Besides that now illegal horse collar tackle, notice the driver of OJ's Bronco standing on the sidelines, Al Cowlings.
higgy04 1 year ago
This game reminds me of the Super Bowl scene in 'Gus'. A few years back, Madden 07 and 08 had deteriorating grass fields during gameplay, It was really cool to play on a grass field in the rain. By the end of the game, the field was a large mud puddle but the uniforms were still clean.
higgy04 1 year ago
@higgy04 I remember that scene in "Gus" . There is also the scene in "The Best of Times" with Robin Williams at the end when their game was muddy in the second half. Oh and don't forget "All the Right Moves" with Tom Cruise when they played in the mud like the last 2 minutes of their game.
gymcoach15 1 year ago
@gymcoach15 Thanks for the other great football movie moments. The reason I mentioned 'Gus' was because this game was played in the same stadium of course.
higgy04 1 year ago
@higgy04 Yeah thats true.
gymcoach15 1 year ago
Lucky the ref didn't see the horse collar tackle by Page. Oh.. right.
mybigoltoe 1 year ago
Well the Vikings will be playing outside this Sunday in the snow. Can't wait to see it.
careal 1 year ago
I had forgotten that the Rams were 12 point favorites for this game. For some reason, even with the 35-3 drubbing on Monday Night football, it all seemed so inevitable as the game went on that purple would rule the day. Sort of like betting on the Dolphins to beat the Bills during the 1970's. Some higher power, jinx, curse, that Minnesota became world beaters when they played the Rams. Streak even continued for another 30 minutes in the 1978 playoffs, before arthritis set in (34-10).
sportshistorybuff 1 year ago
You'll never see games like this anymore thanks to field turf.
gymcoach15 1 year ago 2
@gymcoach15
Man I HATE FieldTurf !! (their HeadQuarters is in Peachtree City, Georgia BTW)
Football when played outdoors is MEANT to be played on grass.
WTH the hell is the problems with the home fields that they need fake grass for these teams :Ravens, Patriots, Seahawks, Bengals, (too many colleges to name)
???
indyfan22k 1 year ago
@indyfan22k When I was a kid, astro turf was the thing and that was like playing on cement. Apparently, field turf is supposed to cut down on injuries but every game I watch on field turf seems like there are the same amount of injuries as on grass. I just hope that teams like the Bears and Packers keep their fields grass.
gymcoach15 1 year ago
@indyfan22k
the old and legendary teams like the Bears and Packers IMO have to always play on Grass. I think both teams have heating coils under the field.
indyfan22k 1 year ago
The players looked like normal humans back then.
UA767 1 year ago 2
This is why I love Vikings football.
Macrinus6 1 year ago
Great footage. I've enjoyed watching it. It seems like every year during the decade of the 1970's, the Vikings, Rams, and Cowboys were always in the playoffs battling each other.
By the way, Bob Lee's son, Zac, is currently a QB at Nebraska. He started last season, but is 3rd string this year.
HuskerTexan 1 year ago
where in the world did you get this video footage? I would love to have this game
TheDjbod 1 year ago
Where's Fran Tarkenton? I thought he was playing this game. Whose Bob Lee, never heard of him.
MrFlabass 1 year ago
@MrFlabass During the 1977 season, Tarkenton broke his leg, and missed several games, due to his injury...Bob Lee, who was both Tarkenton's immediate backup QB, as well as the Vikings starting punter, started the game instead...
GemCan78 1 year ago
@GemCan78
Actually Lee punted for the Vikings in 1969 and a couple of other years. In 77' their punter was Neil Clabo.
6400az 6 months ago
One of the few NFL playoff games I remember watching with my Father who died in 1978. Thanks for posting this!
wdm1219 1 year ago
Maybe it was something about those purple uniforms or the white helmets that
was a psychological block for the Beach Boys Rams. Playing in Los Angeles
cannot be a boost to discipline, focus or mental toughness. At least the Dolphins of 1972-73 had to endure the brutal humidity.
sportshistorybuff 1 year ago
@sportshistorybuff
I lived in both in Minnesota and Miami Fla. How any man could play football in the bitter cold of the north, AND the just as agonizing Miami humidity / heat, is beyond me.
I once walked to a coffe house in St. Paul, about a block from my house. I thought my face was going to brake apart like a sheet of glass.
6400az 1 year ago
The Rams humiliated the Vikings 35-3 on Monday Night Football this season. I can just imagine the noose tightening around their necks from the opening kickoff. All the pressure was on them, the Vikes had little to lose. Every minute that went by, the Rams had to be thinking "Here we go again!" Those damn Purple People Eaters. This was the last win for the Vikes front four, Eller was traded after the season, Page was gone after 1978, Marshall retired after 1979.
sportshistorybuff 1 year ago 2
@sportshistorybuff If the Rams had just relaxed and played, they would have been fine. They were the biggest chokers in the playoffs in the 1970s. The '77 team was loaded with talent and they could have won the Super Bowl that year.
GeorgiaKev 1 year ago
@sportshistorybuff the vikings were to the rams during that time as the broncos were the browns of the 80's. im a viking fan but the rams were jsut as good during that era.
halodystroyer44 1 year ago
@sportshistorybuff
The Vikings must have been to the Rams , what AFC teams where for the Vikings come Super Sunday.
When the Vikings stopped the Rams on the 4th and inches, THAT was the equivalent for the Vikings as when Brent Mclanahan fumbled in SB XI at the 1 yrd line. In both cases, it must have had a deflating psychological effect on both teams.
6400az 1 year ago
The Rams finally get the Vikings at home in a playoff game, away from the winter conditions of Minneapolis, and this happens. What a nasty twist of fate.
pronkb000 1 year ago 2
You wouldn't think you were in Los Angeles if you saw this weather
FRSFreeState 1 year ago 2
I remember this game the day after christmas it was muddy and you couldn't see the numbers, I was in the 6th grade 1977
TheNewsoul2 1 year ago
Good stuff. I remember watching this when I was a kid (Grade 7). I was a Vikes fan...
Arnsybill 1 year ago
To this day that loss hurts. We were SO much better and faster than the Vikings and, had we found a way to win this game, I have no doubt we would have won the Super Bowl as well. '77 was the year we w/o question should have won it all. Damn.
alexlarams 1 year ago
@alexlarams
You are talking about 1977 Dallas Cowboys as much as I loathe "America's Team" that team led by Dorsett as a rookie would have killed the Rams in NFC Championship which would have been played in Dallas they only lost 2 games in 1977 to Pittsburgh and Denver. That Cowboys team is one of the top 5 Teams in the modern era of Pro Football maybe in 1975 the Rams probaly should have won but they couldn't beat the Vikings.
TheNewsoul2 1 year ago
@TheNewsoul2 The Cowboys lost to Pittsburgh and St. Louis - not Denver. The 75 Rams lost in the playoffs to the Cowboys - not the Vikings.
porter4 1 year ago
@porter4
I was thinking 1974-1975 Rams which if they could have beaten the Vikings I think they would have been a better matchup against the Steelers sorry bout that
TheNewsoul2 1 year ago
Vin at CBS when he did PBP, had Hawkins, Sonny Jurgensen, George Allen, Paul Hornug(sic), Jim Brown, John Madden, and Hank Stram for color at various times.
IowaRocker1 1 year ago
Very cool.
Looking for this for a long time.
Vikings were way past there prime at this point and the Rams still couldn't beat them, even in LA.
toscodav 1 year ago
Tackle of McCutcheon by Alan Page at 1:08 would have been illegal today (horse collar).
therevphil 1 year ago
@therevphil. I wonder if he got hurt on that play because he wasn't effective after 1977.
Ariamaluum 1 year ago
@Ariamaluum Good point. He missed the first six games the next season, then came back, but he definitely wasn't the same runner. He started the next six, then severely injured a groin muscle against the Browns where he was bent backward over the leg (I remember watching the game) and was lost for the season.
therevphil 1 year ago
@therevphil
I think your right about the horse collar. One of the thing I find about watching the old Viking video, is how often their D-line would chse down a ball carrier down field and make the tackle. Really amazing. They were so fast and light, I guess that's why such plays happened.
It's hard to choose. But this victory ranks as one of the Vikings all time greatest. Injuries, away from home, long on the tooth, 12 point underdogs,yet they won. Man,I loved those guys !!
6400az 1 year ago