PURPLE PEOPLE
EATERS:
Long
ago, a Professional American Football team destroyed every
one of their opponent’s offenses every single week.
This was because of the Minnesota Vikings' lethal defensive linemen which
consisted of five of the most feared men in professional football. If you don’t know what I am referring to, I am talking about Alan
Page, Gary Larsen, Jim Marshall, Carl Eller, and Doug Sutherland. Their constant dominance between 1967 and 1977
put the Vikings on the map and would become one of the best defenses in football
history. The Minnesota Vikings quickly became
a popular team because of their fearsome defenses. Their nickname at the time was “The Purple
People Eaters”. This group of men that
turned the Vikings into every opponent’s nightmare was heavily predicated on
this team’s successful decade of defense.
During their decade of defensive dominance, Minnesota won ten NFC
Central division titles within eleven years.
Minnesota never won the Super Bowl with The Purple People Eaters,
although they still managed to do something special in that era.
During
the Minnesota Vikings' years of defensive supremacy coached by their Head Coach
Bud Grant, they were known for having a powerhouse defensive line that both restricted their opposing teams and also constricted the offenses on the other
side of the line. As one of the NFL’s
best defenses to ever play, The Purple People Eaters set some highly, unlikely
repeated feats. In 1969 the Vikings gave
up only 3.4 yards per attempt, while only allowing the second-lowest total points
per game (9.5 ppg) in NFL history. In
1970 this same defense only yielded 10.2 ppg, in 1971 the purple and gold ended
the season second in the fewest yards allowed while also ranking first in the
NFL in ppg (9.9). 1971 was a special
year for their defense, allowing twenty or more points only once that
season. Minnesota had reached yet
another benchmark with their suffocating defense in 1975 by becoming the first NFL team to end the season leading the league in total defense, pass
defense, and rush defense.
Indeed, The Purple People Eaters had
a fantastic decade-long run and appeared in four Super Bowls (1970,1974,1975,1977)
though unfortunately for the Vikings and Minneapolis, Minnesota they lost all
four games. Their reward didn’t exactly
come in the results that they and their die-hard fans of Minneapolis would have
hoped for, yet they did get something out of it. While not everyone was recognized for the
purple and gold through their defensive golden years, four men had received the
best possible honor you can outside of hoisting the Lombardi. Alan
Page, Carl Eller, Jim Marshall, and Gary Larsen eventually all ended up in Canton, Ohio when they were inducted into the Hall of Fame. Though they may not have ended up with those
prestigious Super Bowl Championship rings that could’ve been passed down for
generations through loved ones. They
instead got some of their player's faces sculpted into busts that will live on
forever in the NFL’s Hall of Fame.
KEVIN O’CONNELL
ERA:
When the 2022 NFL season approached,
the previous Offensive Coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams (2020-2021) Kevin
O’Connell along with, at the time, Washington Redskins (2019) coaching various
other positions such as quarterbacks coach, (Cleveland Browns, 2015, San Fran,
2016, Washington 2017-2018) special projects, and passing gamer coordinator was hired to replace the Minnesota Vikings previous head coach
(Mike Zimmer) of several seasons. Before
O’Connell arrived in Minnesota, he came fresh off a Super Bowl victory with the
Los Angeles Rams who beat the Cincinnati Bengals in a closely contested 23-20
win. In Kevin O’Connell’s first season
as the Vikings' Head Coach, they won the NFC North with a surprising 13-4
record, however, what was even more surprising was that they ended up losing to
the New York Giants in the NFC Wild Card game at home 31-24. For both Kevin and the Vikings to win the
division in his first year was crazy, especially because Aaron Rodgers was
still on the Green Bay Packers at the time plus the Detroit Lions were on the
start of an upswing, just barely missing the playoffs due to a tiebreaker to
the Seattle Seahawks that had beat the Lions earlier that season.
2024 MINNESOTA
VIKINGS:
Some of Minnesota’s top familiar
faces have been shipped out of town in the last few seasons, like superstar
wideout Stefon Diggs. In 2020 Diggs was the
first big name that left the Vikings after being traded to Buffalo and since
has been traded again this past offseason to the Houston Texans. They also decided to release their old running
back Dalvin Cook plus yet another Pro Bowler, wide receiver,
and hometown hero Adam Thielen. After
Thielen’s ten seasons as a Viking, he was signed by the Carolina Panthers as a
free agent just a few seasons ago. Still, with all those missing offensive pieces, they continued to be very good on offense
because of Head Coach & offensive guru Kevin O’Connell and quarterback Kirk
Cousins. In with the new out with the
old right? That’s exactly how the
Vikings handled their business, even with Kirk Cousins. Kirk was injured last year as he suffered a
torn Achilles back in week eight of last season. As heartbreaking as it was seeing Kirk’s last
season as a Viking cut short due to such a grueling injury, it was pretty much
assumed before the injury that it would’ve probably been his last one there regardless. Kirk turned 36 years old in mid-August and he
never quite brought Minnesota to the promised land, so this is the business side
of things in the NFL.
Now we start the J.J. McCarthy era, actually, we will have to put that on pause until next season. McCarthy ended up on IR (injured reserve) and
needs a complete Meniscus repair. This dreadful
injury came in a preseason game where McCarthy oddly enough threw a touchdown. On the play in which he got injured, there wasn't any contact, and J.J. walked off
the field without showing any signs of an injury. J.J. McCarthy was drafted in the first round
of this year's NFL Draft and is fresh off his National Championship Win, where
he played under now ex-Michigan Head Coach Jim Harbaugh who signed a massive
deal to be the Los Angeles Chargers' new Head Coach. J.J. was very efficient as the Michigan Wolverines
quarterback in his junior year, he completed over 72% of his passes. However, his numbers do not reflect that of a
top-caliber quarterback as he threw for 2,991 passing yards, 22 touchdowns, and
4 interceptions. J.J. may not have had the
greatest stats but fortunately for him, he was not asked to produce at a high level given Michigan’s stout defense alongside their efficient ground game.
When Michigan’s
Head Coach needed to rely on the passing game, he knew that McCarthy wouldn’t
turn the ball over, which is apparent as he only threw 11 total interceptions in his collegiate career. In J.J.’s sophomore and junior seasons, he averaged about 200 yards through
the air per game and had a passer efficiency rating of 155.0 or higher. Like I said above McCarthy may not have had eye-popping
statistics in Michigan, but he did end up finishing tenth in Heisman Trophy Voting
in 2023. That alone shows how good of a
player he was when you think about how many teams and players there are in the
nation. I know that McCarthy will be itching
at the bit to get back out on the field as soon as he is healthy again and I figure
he must be dying to be able to throw some darts to the Viking’s incredibly
talented wide receiver Justin Jefferson.
Justin Jefferson
is an elite standout player not just for Minnesota but is also highly regarded throughout the league as one of one. You have Ja'Marr Chase, Tyreek Hill, and Justin Jefferson at the top of the list of wide receivers in the NFL. There are a couple
of other great receivers, but most people in the league would tell you that
they are the top dawgs right now. Justin
Jefferson started his dominance as an LSU Tiger in 2019 as a junior when
his ex-QB, now Cincinnati Bengal Joe Burrow helped him achieve insane numbers
in just 15 games (111 rec, 1540 yds, 18 TDs).
From that time on, a star was born.
During Jefferson’s rookie NFL season fans watched him ball out, grabbing
88 receptions, 1,400 yards, and scoring 7 touchdowns. In his second season, he continued to further elevate his game
once again hoisting in 108 passes, 1,616 yards, and 10 TDS. In 2022 Justin made it to his third consecutive Pro
Bowl while receiving a First Team AP All-Pro nod. That season he was targeted 184 times, caught
128 balls for 1,809 yards, and brought in 8 touchdowns. He averaged 106.4 receiving yards per game in
his third year before missing seven games last season. Jefferson recently made NFL history this
week for tying a record as the fastest player to reach 6,000 receiving yards in
only his sixty-second career game. This benchmark
matched Jefferson to an all-time great Hall of Fame NFL receiver Lance Alworth
who set this incredible record in the 1960’s while playing for the San Diego
Chargers.
There are a lot
of unknowns for the Minnesota Vikings and their fans for this season. What is known is that they have a hell of a
Head Coach, a great Defensive Coordinator in Brian Flores, a very reliable backup
quarterback Sam Darnold, and a top wideout in Jefferson. They pose a threat both on offense and defense
with a very talented roster plus they brought in some good veterans like ex-Packer’s
runner Aaron Jones alongside a slew of defensive vets. Even in one of the toughest divisions in
football, the sky is the limit for these Minnesota Vikings. Throughout the first two weeks of the season
Minnesota finds themselves in sole possession for the division lead in the NFC North
at 2-0. Week one may come as no surprise
as they beat the lackluster New York Giants 28-6, then this past Sunday the Purple
& Gold hosted last year’s NFC Champs and came out on top with a massive
upset winning 23-17 against the San Francisco Forty-Niners.
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