In 1968, the Minnesota Vikings stepped into the postseason for the first time in their franchise history, only to suffer a swift defeat at the hands of the Baltimore Colts. But the conclusion of their season didn’t quite materialize as expected. During the 1960s, a peculiar fixture known as the Playoff Bowl emerged in the NFL landscape, a contest often dubbed “The Losers Bowl” for its peculiar premise of pitting the two defeated teams against each other.
Reflecting on this bygone era, Tom West, the Vikings’ director of legends relations, mused on the oddity of the concept. Meanwhile, former Vikings running back Dave Osborn recalled the lackluster significance attached to the game, dismissing it as nothing more than a perfunctory event. The Vikings found themselves facing off against the Dallas Cowboys amidst the rain in Miami, with a meager crowd of approximately 22,000 spectators in attendance. Curiously, just a week later, the New York Jets would go on to claim victory in the inaugural Super Bowl at the very same venue.
Despite the ostensibly trivial nature of the Playoff Bowl, both teams approached the contest with earnestness. Bobby Bryant’s electrifying 81-yard punt return for a touchdown handed the Vikings an early advantage, though the Cowboys mounted a late resurgence, ultimately securing a 17-13 victory.
Remarkably, the game has largely faded into obscurity, with even the most ardent Vikings supporters often unaware of its existence. Notably, the NFL itself appears to share this sentiment, as evidenced by the omission of statistics from the game in Vikings media guides. The prevailing question lingers: what purpose did this game serve?
According to Osborn, the Playoff Bowl primarily served as filler programming for television during an off week in the NFL calendar. Following their sole participation in the Playoff Bowl, the Vikings bid farewell to this peculiar tradition, which mercifully met its demise the subsequent season, signaling the end of one of the league’s more curious experiments.
In contemplating the prospect of reviving the Playoff Bowl, West expressed skepticism, citing the challenge of motivating players who had narrowly missed out on a Super Bowl berth to vie for the title of third-best team in the league. Ultimately, the era of the Playoff Bowl remains a peculiar footnote in NFL history, unlikely to be revisited in the modern era.
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