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1975 NFL season

1975 Minnesota Vikings: Fran Tarkenton’s Best Year Ends In Heartbreak

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Fran Tarkenton had the best of year of his career at age 35 for the 1975 Minnesota Vikings. The team might have been the best in the seven-year stretch that Tarkenton played for Bud Grant (1972-78). Tarkenton won the MVP award, the Vikings went 12-2 and were poised to reach the Super Bowl for the third straight year and perhaps this time, finally bring home a championship. Heartbreak caught up with them at the end.

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Tarkenton threw for nearly 3,000 yards and had a 25/13 TD-INT ratio, sparkling numbers in this era when defensive backs could essentially assault wide receivers. Chuck Foreman, the third-year running back, ran for 1,070 yards. The offensive line got a spark when right guard Ed White developed into a Pro Bowler at age 28, joining right tackle Ron Yary, who was a perennial first-team All-Pro.

The Viking offense ranked third in the NFL in points scored, and the defense also ranked third. Alan Page, a 1st-team All-Pro at defensive tackle was the anchor on a front four that was no longer dominant, as they had been in the early part of this decade, but still had a lot of veteran savvy in Carl Eller and Jim Marshall at the ends.

Jeff Siemon was a young Pro Bowl linebacker, and two defensive backs had great years. Paul Krause, the veteran free safety made his usual Pro Bowl trip, and his ten interceptions were an unusual display of ballhawking. Bobby Bryant was another Pro Bowler at corner, picking off six passes.

Minnesota’s early schedule was soft—none of their first four opponents finished better than 5-9 at the end of the season. The Vikings were sluggish at home against the San Francisco 49ers, leading 13-10 and then pulling away in the fourth quarter to a 27-17 win. Minnesota went to Cleveland and picked off four passes to key a 42-10 rout.

Tarkenton then began a home game with the Chicago Bears by hitting veteran receiver John Gilliam  on an early touchdown pass, and he completed 19/30 passes for 250 yards in an easy 28-3 win. There was a lot of hype surrounding the visit of Joe Namath and the New York Jets one week later.
Namath’s Jets weren’t very good anymore, but they did lead 21-20 in the fourth quarter, before a blocked punt for a safety give Minnesota the lead and they eventually won 29-21. Tarkenton threw for 244 yards, while Foreman ran for 96, including the clinching touchdown.

The Detroit Lions were 3-1 and hoping to give Minnesota a run in the NFC Central (the same teams as the current NFC North), but the Vikings jumped out to a 25-3 lead behind Foreman’s 107 rushing yards. Detroit rallied to make it 25-19, but Minnesota extended its division lead to two games.

Minnesota’s trip to Chicago was on Monday Night Football, and it was a defensive battle. Tarkenton was the difference—he completed 16/30 for 234 yards, while counterpart Gary Huff was only 10/22 for 97 yards. The Vikings won 13-9. Tarkenton then went to Green Bay and completed 24/30 for 285 yards, including two fourth-quarter touchdown passes that turned a 17-14 deficit into a 28-17 win.

It was the defense’s turn to shine at home against Atlanta. The Viking D held the Falcons to 43 rush yards and intercepted quarterback Kim McQuilken five times in a 38-0 rout. A win over another bad team, the New Orleans Saints, followed, when Tarkenton threw for 310 yards and helped overcome five turnovers in a 20-7 win.

The Vikings won their tenth straight over the terrible San Diego Chargers, although it wasn’t an inspiring blowout. The Chargers hung around until Foreman, who ran for 127 yards, went for two fourth-quarter touchdowns to break open a 28-13 win.

Even though Minnesota was 10-0, they hadn’t played a team that would finish the season with a winning record. The first chance came at RFK Stadium and the Washington Redskins on November 30. A consistent playoff team under George Allen, the Redskins were fighting for their lives and they put Minnesota in a 21-0 hole.

Tarkenton got hot, and rolled up 357 passing yards against a proud, veteran defense. He brought the Vikings all the way back, to a 30-24 lead. It should have been the stuff of legends, but the Minnesota defense allowed Billy Kilmer and the Redskin offense to drive back and win the game 31-30. Washington would not ultimately make the playoffs, but they had derailed the Viking bid for perfection.

Minnesota came back with an easy 24-3 home win over Green Bay, but a road trip to Detroit resulted in a 17-10 loss. The offense played one of its worst games, with the only points coming on a Krause fumble return when the score was 17-3. The Vikings’ first visit to the new Detroit stadium, the Pontiac Silverdome, hadn’t gone well.

Under the old playoff format rules, this would have been irrelevant, because until 1975, homefield advantage for the playoffs was determined by a rotation system, rather than record. Once a team won its division, nothing else mattered, and with no other winning teams in the NFC Central, the Vikes had put that to bed long ago.

But 1975 was the first year that record would be the criteria for seeding division champions, and Minnesota’s second loss meant they needed to win the season finale at Buffalo to hold off the Los Angeles Rams for the #1 seed. The Bills had O.J. Simpson, and they were 8-5 coming in—a reminder that the Vikings still had not beaten a team that would finish on the plus side of .500.

Minnesota’s defense met the moment. They held O.J. to 57 yards and intercepted Joe Ferguson three times, two of the picks by Bryant. Tarkenton led an easy 35-13 win and the road to the NFC title would come through the Twin Cities, and the frigid outdoor environment and old Metropolitan Stadium.

The Dallas Cowboys were the opponent, the one wild-card team in the four-team NFC bracket. Tarkenton didn’t have a bad day, but it wasn’t his best, at 12/26 for 135 yards. Cowboy counterpart Roger Staubach completed 17/29 for 246 yards. Even so, the Vikings led 14-10 and had Dallas backed up on their own 15-yard line with 1:51 left.

Dallas faced a 4th-and-16, when Staubach found Pearson for a first down near midfield with 24 seconds left. Pearson then ran down the right sideline. Staubach launched a desperation pass. Minnesota corner Nate Wright appeared overrun the play, though Viking fans and players argued ferociously that Pearson gave him a nudge to aid that. The Cowboy receiver caught the ball and walked into the end zone.

It was a stunning end to a great season for the Vikings. Say what you will about the schedule, any team that goes 12-2, produces the MVP and has the eventual NFC champs (Dallas) on the ropes to that extent is awfully good.

Perhaps it’s a small consolation to consider that the Pittsburgh Steelers, who beat Dallas in the Super Bowl, were probably too good to be stopped anyway. But the 1975 Minnesota Vikings deserved a better ending than they got.

1975 Washington Redskins: George Allen’s Playoff Streak Comes To An End

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The fan base of Washington had been riding high since George Allen arrived in 1971, making the playoffs each of his first four years as Redskins head coach, and reaching the Super Bowl in 1972. The streak finally came to an end, as the 1975 Washington Redskins were the odd team out in a tough three-team race in the NFC East at a time when only four teams per conference qualified for the postseason.

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Washington was not loaded with talent, but they had proud veterans. On defense, that started with linebacker Chris Hanburger and strong safety Ken Houston, both All-Pros, and it included corners Pat Fischer and Mike Bass.

Offensively, it started with 36-year-old quarterback Billy Kilmer and included Pro Bowl receiver Charley Taylor. The offensive line didn’t produce a Pro Bowler, but they blocked well enough to allow some dynamic youth, in the person of rookie running back Mike Thomas, to rush for over 900 yards in a schedule that was then only 14 games.

The offense came exploding out of the gate, dropping a combined 90 points in wins over bad teams in the New Orleans Saints and New York Giants, both at home. Taylor was getting help at wideout with 25-year-old Frank Grant, who had the first of what would be two productive seasons in the nation’s capital.

A trip to Philadelphia for Week 3 in early October produced a costly 26-10 loss. The Redskins turned it over six times, and the fact it was a divisional game would haunt them later in December.

The St. Louis Cardinals had won the NFC East the prior year, while the Redskins had been the wild-card (each conference was then a three-division format similar to how major league baseball looks today). The Cardinals came to old RFK Stadium for a Monday Night battle. The Cards were also 2-1, although their loss—an overtime defeat at the Dallas Cowboys, the third team in this NFC East dogfight, was considerably better than Washington’s.

Washington led the Monday Night game 10-3 at the half and was completely shutting down St. Louis’ talented running back, Terry Metcalf. But Metcalf did on special teams what he couldn’t do out of the backfield, and returned the opening kick of the second half for a touchdown. The teams traded touchdowns after that, and it was 17-17 going into the fourth quarter.

The Redskins defense delivered, intercepting St. Louis’ Jim Hart three times and getting five turnovers in all. Thomas rushed for 100 yards, including the tiebreaking touchdown and Washington won 27-17.

But the good times didn’t last. The Houston Oilers (today’s Tennessee Titans) were an up-and-coming team and on their way to a 10-4 season. They forced Kilmer into a 12-for-29 passing day and beat the ‘Skins 13-10 in the Astrodome. Washington bounced back against a bad AFC team in the Cleveland Browns, recovering four fumbles in a 23-7 win.

The Dallas Cowboys were coming to town on November 2. The Cowboys had been the odd team out of the playoffs in ’74 and were 5-1, leading the NFC East. After an early Redskin field goal, Dallas quarterback Roger Staubach threw for one touchdown and ran for another. Trailing 14-3, the game and season was starting to look bleak for Washington.

Kilmer responded by hitting Grant for a 46-yard touchdown pass and the lead was down to 17-10 by the half. Kilmer later connected with Charley Taylor to tie the game. The quarterback then appeared to make a fatal mistake, throwing a Pick-6 deep in his own end.

In spite of the Washington defense having taken over since the second-quarter Cowboy burst, the ‘Skins trailed 24-17. But while Kilmer was often erratic, he was never without spunk. And he led a drive that was capped off with a seven-yard TD pass to tight end Jerry Smith with 1:52 left that tied the game.

Staubach gave Dallas a fair chance to win it, but a 38-yard-field goal was missed in the closing seconds. Then in overtime the Cowboys again reached midfield. Washington’s two best defensive players came up with the play of the game.

Hanburger blitzed and as Staubach released, his arm was hit by the linebacker. The ball floated and Houston came up with it. He returned it back to midfield, and Staubach then was whistled for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike call. It took Washington ten plays to go the 36 yards, but Kilmer snuck it over from the one and the Redskins had a 30-24 win. The NFC East was a three-way tie at 5-2 halfway through the season.

Washington’s road game with the New York Giants was a little lackluster and they needed a couple fourth quarter touchdowns to pull out a 21-13 win. It was the classic “sandwich” game, stuck in the midst of a tough stretch of games, so a win was a win. The next two games didn’t turn out quite as well.

November 16 was the return visit to St. Louis, and circumstances forced the Redskins to rely on journeyman quarterback Randy Johnson. He played pretty well and threw for 252 yards, including a 36-yard touchdown pass to Taylor. It was the defense that failed the ‘Skins on this day. Jim Otis ran for 109 yards for St. Louis, and Mel Gray got the same amount receiving. Hart led a fourth quarter drive to tie the game 17-17 and St. Louis won it in overtime.

The fate of overtime turned against Washington the following week at home against an Oakland Raider team that was a perennial playoff participant under John Madden. Raider running back Pete Banaszak ran for three early touchdowns and the Redskins trailed 20-9 at the half. Kilmer rallied the troops hitting Grant from 33 yards for one score and ultimately pulling even, 23-23. But Kilmer was erratic—18-for-39-while counterpart Ken Stabler was efficient, at 20-for-32. Oakland won in overtime.

Now the season was on the line and the parade of tough games continued. The Minnesota Vikings were on their way to a league-best 12-2 record and quarterback Fran Tarkenton would win the MVP. The scrambling quarterback showed why. Even though Kilmer threw a pair of second-quarter touchdowns and the Redskins led 21-0, Tarkenton threw for 357 yards and eventually put his team ahead 30-24.

Once again, Kilmer, flaws and all, delivered a winning drive. He found Grant on a 15-yard touchdown pass and with their 31-30 win, the ‘Skins were 7-4 and still alive.

The Atlanta Falcons were a bad team, but they nearly destroyed the Washington season. Kilmer had to reach deep, go 25/38 for 320 yards and outgun young Falcon quarterback Steve Bartkowski for a 30-27 win. The Cards beat the Cowboys head-to-head on the same day. It set up the Redskins’ Week 13 trip to Dallas with both teams at 8-4.

The stakes were simple—the winner would wrap up a playoff berth. The loser, so long as St. Louis also won (they did), was out. It was a de facto playoff game. For Washington, this is where the loss to Philadelphia hurt double, as it put them behind Dallas in a tiebreaker if the head-to-head games were split.

Kilmer and Grant hooked up for an early touchdown pass and with a 10-0 lead, the outlook was promising for the Redskins. Staubach then hit Golden Richards on a 57-yard touchdown strike, and later ran for another touchdown.

The game was still a competitive 14-10 in the fourth quarter, but Washington couldn’t run the ball, while Dallas would pile up over 200 yards on the ground. The dam broke in the final quarter. The Cowboys got a field goal, then got an insurance touchdown. Then they got an in-your-face touchdown when a Kilmer interception was returned for a score. The final was 31-10. The run of playoff berths under Allen was over.

Washington essentially mailed in their final game, an ugly 26-3 home loss to Philadelphia. St. Louis took the NFC East title, but lost the first playoff game to the Los Angeles Rams. Dallas took the wild-card route to the Super Bowl, the first time to do so, before losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Allen and the Redskins would both be back. For the present though, the immediate aftermath of 1975 was a bitter taste in the mouth.