The Hail Mary - 50 Years Later

[CSKreager]

If the Hail Mary pass had failed, the Vikings would have hosted the Rams in the 1975 NFC Championship game. The Vikings of that era always said the 1975 team was their best, better than the teams that made (and flopped in) the Super Bowl.

In my opinion, if the Vikings in 1975 were good as advertised they would have put the Cowboys away earlier in the game. My point being the Vikings should have owned a commanding several touchdown lead late in the game and not be in a position to lose on a 'Hail Mary' at the end.

When I did the math on every team's strength of schedule going back to the beginning, the 1975 Vikings by opponent win percentage showed up as playing the single easiest schedule by opposing win percentage since 1936 (.332). (before which point not everyone's schedule was intended to be the same length)

It's a good team for sure, but they had easier schedules than the teams around them did.

The 75 Cowboys didn’t exactly face a gauntlet: Patriots, Jets, Giants/Eagles 2x, and that’s not including home losses to the Packers and Chiefs

[SeahawkFever]

In my opinion, if the Vikings in 1975 were good as advertised they would have put the Cowboys away earlier in the game. My point being the Vikings should have owned a commanding several touchdown lead late in the game and not be in a position to lose on a 'Hail Mary' at the end.

When I did the math on every team's strength of schedule going back to the beginning, the 1975 Vikings by opponent win percentage showed up as playing the single easiest schedule by opposing win percentage since 1936 (.332). (before which point not everyone's schedule was intended to be the same length)

It's a good team for sure, but they had easier schedules than the teams around them did.

The 75 Cowboys didn’t exactly face a gauntlet: Patriots, Jets, Giants/Eagles 2x, and that’s not including home losses to the Packers and Chiefs

75 Cowboys show up with an opposing win percentage of .459; tied for 18th out of 26 teams that season.

The Rams who those Cowboys beat 37-7 in the NFC Championship Game had the next easiest opposing win percentage in 1975 at .383.

Interestingly, the Steelers who Dallas lost to in the Super Bowl narrowly, played an identical opposing win percentage and those two played the hardest schedules of any playoff team that season. (the Dolphins and 49ers being the only two non-playoff teams who had an opposing win percentage easier than the Steelers and Cowboys)

On the other end of the spectrum, the Browns had the misfortune of playing a schedule of opponents with a win percentage of .648; other than the 1982 Colts who played nine games, the highest since 1944. The 1975 Eagles (.592) and Jets (.581) also show up in the top 100 hardest schedules a team has been handed by opposing win percentage through 2024 (haven't yet calculated this season's opponent win percentages yet)