Tag Archives: 1969 Minnesota Vikings

Top Ten Single Season Defenses in NFL History : #6 1971 Baltimore Colts

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Article Reissue: 29, June 2014

“In this study every season’s #1 defense, record setting defenses, trend setting defenses, and every Super Bowl & NFL championship defenses dating back to 1960. The nod would lend to those post the AFL/NFL merger of 1970. That wasn’t enough as now lets take each defense and cover what they did vs Pro Bowl QBs that season, 1,000 yard rushers, and playoff teams and talk about their effectiveness along with their statistics. Here turnovers forced is a big marker. Nothing watered down so a favorite team can’t be given favor. So The Chancellor of Football took over 200 defenses and boiled it down to this 11 article series and this team was a surprising 6th…”

One of the greatest defensive performances in NFL history happened in 1971. The defending Super Bowl champion Colts had the #1 defense and drug a struggling offense to the AFC Championship Game. They allowed the 2nd fewest yards per game mark in the NFL since 1970 with 203.7 yards. With only 140 points allowed, it would have been an NFL record had the ’69 Vikings not broken the ’68 Colts old scoring record of 144 with 133.

Another interesting aspect of the ’71 Colts was how anemic their once great passing offense had become.  The 38 year old Unitas completed just 52.3% of his passes for 3 TDs and 9 interceptions. Earl Morrall, who was 37, fared no better with an even lower 50.3% with 7 TDs to 12 ints. They were 21st in passing offense and 12th overall making the defense work harder.

Kill, Bubba, Kill!

During the ’71 season the defense held 7 of their 14 opponents to 10 points or less. Including 5 of their first 6. Baltimore’s D recorded 3 shutouts and held their first playoff opponent to 3 points. In facing 5 top ten offenses that year, they were 4-1 and held two of those to 10 points or less. Yet why aren’t they remembered?? The sporting press of that era never forgave the 1968 Colts for losing Super Bowl III and the media tarnished this once great defense in the memory.

Now the media anoints others of that era and obscures this team…lets compare a few:

  • 1971 Baltimore Colts – #1 overall / 203.7 yds all. / 140 points given up / 28 int
  • 1971 Dallas Cowboys – #3 overall / 243.3 yds all. / 222 points given up / 26 int
  • 1972 Miami Dolphins – #1 overall / 235.5 yds all. / 171 points given up / 26 int
  • 1970 Minnesota Vikings – #1 overall / 200.2 yds all. / 143 points given up / 28 int
  • 1975 Pittsburgh Steelers – #4 overall / 261.5 yds all. / 162 points given up / 27 ints

Right now fans of the Doomsday Defense, The No Name Defense, and the Steel Curtain are saying to themselves ‘Its not all about stats”. Which is true until you realize this was a defending Super Bowl champion that made it back to the AFC Championship Game despite its offense. Had they won against Miami, they would have taken on the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl VI. Well that is who they beat in Super Bowl V to become champions in the first place.

Led by Pro Bowlers DE Bubba Smith, MLB Mike Curtis, LB Ted Hendricks, SS Jerry Logan, and FS Rick Volk, its amazing only Hendricks is in the Hall of Fame. Curtis definitely should be but when you think of Hendricks making the Hall that is primarily from his work with the Raiders.

This was the last hurrah for the Colts as everything came apart starting in 1972. That was the year owner Carroll Rosenbloom swapped franchises with Robert Irsay. Head Coach Don McCafferty fired, John Unitas sent to the bench and the run as an NFL elite team ended.

Yet a tremendous performance by the defense in 1971 allowed them to hang on for one more season.

Dedicated to the memories of Don McCafferty, Bubba Smith, & Carroll Rosenbloom

Hispanic Heritage Month: Joe Kapp

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With it being Hispanic Heritage Month, I have always found it hard to believe how Joe Kapp seems to be forgotten among Hispanic football fans. Not one time has The Chancellor met a hispanic Minnesota Viking fan or a Viking fan because of Joe Kapp. In a historic sense, Tom Flores and Jim Plunkett’s exploits are remembered more fondly and that is sad for Kapp’s contributions were just as great.

 

Flores was the first QB of Mexican descent that won a Super Bowl. Yet he did so as the backup to Len Dawson on the Super Bowl IV champion Kansas City Chiefs. The first Mexican-American quarterback who led his team to the Super Bowl as a starting quarterback was Kapp who was across the field for the Minnesota Vikings.

Although he spent the bulk of his career in the CFL, Bud Grant brought him down to play for him in 1967. He had won several Grey Cups and was known for being a fiery leader. That and the fact he threw some of the ugliest wobbly passes from not using the football’s laces.

In 1968 Kapp led the Vikings to the first playoff game in the franchise’s history. However they lost to the Baltimore Colts 24-14. The Colts set the NFL record that year only allowing 144 points and were lauded as the best in history. Only a loss in Super Bowl III diminished their impact. They had defeated Joe Kapp….right?

In 1969 the Vikings lost the first game of the season 24-23 to the New York Giants. Kapp didn’t start or play in that game. However he was available for the week 2 rematch with Baltimore.

The NFL record for most touchdown passes in a game has Kapp’s name on it with 7. It would take rule changes and another 44 years before Payton Manning tied this record in 2013. The Colts loss to Joe Namath’s Jets in Super Bowl III strained Don Shula’s relationship with owner Carroll Rosenbloom, this 52-14 loss broke it. The next season he would be gone to Miami where he became the NFL’s winningest coach. Joe Kapp had a hand in that.

Starting with the week 2 win over Baltimore, Kapp led the Vikings to 12 straight wins. The longest win streak in the NFL in 35 years. Keep in mind the NFL was only in its 50th season. No quarterback would win 12 straight regular season starts in the same season until Tom Brady in 2003, some 34 years later. Finishing with a 12-2 record the Vikings went on to Super Bowl IV where they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs 23-7.

He left the Vikings after a contract dispute and joined the New England Patriots where he only played the 1970 season. Was he not afforded the respect of prominent white quarterbacks of the time?? Why wouldn’t they sign him?? The 1969 Vikings broke the NFL’s defensive scoring record allowing only 133 points on their way to Super Bowl IV. If Kapp stayed to lead the offense would they have made it to Super Bowl V?? Last year I did a series on the best ever defenses, where it was discovered the ’70 Vikings gave up the fewest yards per game for every defense since. Yes they would have…

  • 1970 Minnesota Vikings – #1 overall / 200.2 yds all. / 143 points given up / 28 int

Joe Knapp Minnesota Vikings Quarterback
July 20, 1970
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credit: Heinz Kluetmeier – contract

Joe Kapp only played 5 seasons in the NFL but he was a trailblazer. Tom Flores was the first Mexican American starting QB with the AFL’s Oakland Raiders and was a Kansas City Chief across the field in Super Bowl IV.  Yet Kapp played with distinction and set several records on his way there. He’s a cult hero who should be celebrated for his contributions to the game. He led his teams to championship games at Cal, the CFL, and the NFL. The very definition of a champion. To complete this circle for Hispanic Heritage Month… Who was the quarterback drafted #1 by the New England Patriots in 1971 after Joe Kapp?? Some guy named Jim Plunkett…

One day I hope to walk by and see a Hispanic kid with a Vikings jersey with the number 11 on it. That would be the coolest thing. Don’t forget Joe Kapp.

Thanks for reading and please share the article.

SUPER BOWL IV RUNNER UP 1969 MINNESOTA VIKINGS

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The NFL’s northern most outpost was originally an AFL territory yet the story has been told how they jumped ship and were given an NFL franchise. However the years that followed saw a team that struggled for respectability. superbowliv

However the 1969 Minnesota Vikings sported the first Mexican American to quarterback his team to the Super Bowl in Joe Kapp. Never understood why they don’t have a larger Hispanic following with such a significant historic backdrop.

The Minnesota Vikings had departed with Fran Tarkenton and brought in Joe Kapp (California Bears) from Canada to play quarterback. He threw ugly passes and played football from his gut. He was a fearless leader who avenged a playoff loss the year before against Baltimore. In 1968 the Colts were regarded as the greatest team with the greatest defense ever. The Colts beat Minnesota 24-14 in a divisional playoff match where they sacked and hit Kapp repeatedly.

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In 1969, game 2 he threw for a record 7TDs in a rematch with the Colts to wrest the NFL dominance mantle winning 52-14. It crushed the relationship between Don Shula & Carroll Rosenbloom hastening his departure to Miami following the season.

Led by The Purple People Eaters defensive line of Alan Page, Carl Eller, Gary Larson, and Jim Marshall, the league’s #1 unit carried the team through the season. The Vikings went on to finish on a 12 game winning streak and broke the Colts 1968 defensive record of 144 points allowed with 133. It was just the tonic the NFL needed as writers / loyalists established the Vikings an 11 point favorite. Not since the 1934 Chicago Bears rolled into the NFL Title Game undefeated had the league witnessed a winning streak as long as the Vikings.

It was during the NFL playoffs where Kapp cemented his legacy. On a routine pass play, protection breaks down and Kapp escapes the pocket. Coming up to make the tackle was Cleveland Brown linebacker Jim Houston. Joe gave a shoulder fake and went right into Houston. Unwittingly he kneed him in the head knocking him out cold. Quarterbacks don’t knock out linebackers. This further enhanced the image of the Vikings as a rough and tumble ball club.

super-bowl-logo-1969Although Super Bowl IV was the last game for Joe Kapp, he galvanized the team as they remained among the league’s elite over the next decade. They were the last NFL champion before the merger with the AFL and were a team in every sense of the word.