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Re: A Vikings/Broncos Super Bowl XXII
Posted: Sun May 24, 2026 11:35 am
by SeahawkFever
One thing I’ll say:
The Super Bowl opponent they might’ve had the best shot against in the 86-89 range would be the 87 Broncos.
I’d say they might’ve been a bit better in 86 and 89 (I know they lost as badly as they did in 1989, but they still had the number one defense), and the 1988 Bengals were better than those Bronco teams I’d say.
Re: A Vikings/Broncos Super Bowl XXII
Posted: Sun May 24, 2026 5:59 pm
by CSKreager
PaulDeVos wrote: ↑Sun May 24, 2026 10:21 am
Great question.
The 1986 Vikings were 4th in offense, 5th in defense.
The 1988 Vikings were 4th in offense, 2nd in defense.
The Vikings 1987 beat the 10-2 Saints (10.1+ SRS) and the 10-2 49ers (13.3+ SRS) as an 8-4 team. [non-scrubs games only] Those were the two best teams in the NFL and they beat both of them on the road. The Vikings were a pretty strong team in that 1986-1988 stretch before they overreached and did the Herschel Walker trade in 1989.
Back to 1987... Keith Millard missed 3 games in the middle of the year, 2 losses and defense gave up 403 yards to the Cowboys and 423 to the Bears in those games and the other game was a loss to the Packers. Vikings lost by 6 in both losses. Those were the two worst defensive games of the year. For those who may not know or may not remember, the 1986-1989 Keith Millard was JJ Watt lite. Perhaps they win those two games and look like a 10-2 team. Redskins were an 8-4 [non-scrubs] games team. The Vikings lost to Reskins by 3 and by 7. Doug Williams was a combined 20-48 336 yds 4-2 TD-INT 76 Rtg.
Earlier in the year, Vikings played the Broncos and Won 34-27 despite 5 INT by Wade Wilson in a 5-1 turnover deficit.
To blow out the Broncos, the Redskins got the two best career games ever from their QB and RB. Timmy Smith had 204 yards in one game vs 470 as his career high season total. Doug Williams, terribly for most of his career, also had his best career game as a pro in that Super Bowl, 340 yards 4 TD with a career game best 127.9 Rtg.
I feel like the Vikings win this one. Possibly a blowout as well.
Minnesota had no running game and a pedestrian offensive line outside of Gary Zimmerman.
If an 8-7 team that backed into the playoffs won the SB, 1987 would have gotten an even bigger asterisk than it already does
Re: A Vikings/Broncos Super Bowl XXII
Posted: Mon May 25, 2026 10:35 pm
by ShinobiMusashi
I think it would have been a close back and forth game and up there with XXIII as best Super Bowls of the 80's.
Re: A Vikings/Broncos Super Bowl XXII
Posted: Sat May 30, 2026 4:58 pm
by PaulDeVos
CSKreager wrote: ↑Sun May 24, 2026 5:59 pm
PaulDeVos wrote: ↑Sun May 24, 2026 10:21 am
Great question.
The 1986 Vikings were 4th in offense, 5th in defense.
The 1988 Vikings were 4th in offense, 2nd in defense.
The Vikings 1987 beat the 10-2 Saints (10.1+ SRS) and the 10-2 49ers (13.3+ SRS) as an 8-4 team. [non-scrubs games only] Those were the two best teams in the NFL and they beat both of them on the road. The Vikings were a pretty strong team in that 1986-1988 stretch before they overreached and did the Herschel Walker trade in 1989.
Back to 1987... Keith Millard missed 3 games in the middle of the year, 2 losses and defense gave up 403 yards to the Cowboys and 423 to the Bears in those games and the other game was a loss to the Packers. Vikings lost by 6 in both losses. Those were the two worst defensive games of the year. For those who may not know or may not remember, the 1986-1989 Keith Millard was JJ Watt lite. Perhaps they win those two games and look like a 10-2 team. Redskins were an 8-4 [non-scrubs] games team. The Vikings lost to Reskins by 3 and by 7. Doug Williams was a combined 20-48 336 yds 4-2 TD-INT 76 Rtg.
Earlier in the year, Vikings played the Broncos and Won 34-27 despite 5 INT by Wade Wilson in a 5-1 turnover deficit.
To blow out the Broncos, the Redskins got the two best career games ever from their QB and RB. Timmy Smith had 204 yards in one game vs 470 as his career high season total. Doug Williams, terribly for most of his career, also had his best career game as a pro in that Super Bowl, 340 yards 4 TD with a career game best 127.9 Rtg.
I feel like the Vikings win this one. Possibly a blowout as well.
Minnesota had no running game and a pedestrian offensive line outside of Gary Zimmerman.
If an 8-7 team that backed into the playoffs won the SB, 1987 would have gotten an even bigger asterisk than it already does
100%. Asterisk for sure!
But it's not just the Vikings... for the non-scrub records of the Final 4 teams:
Redskins 8-4
Vikings 8-4
Broncos 8-3-1
Browns 8-4
The Vikings were missing Keith Millard for 2 of those losses which they likely win, both. For the 1987 season, the only two teams that were more in line with "normal SB Winners" were the Saints and 49ers and the Vikings beat both of them on the road, handily when they had a healthy defense. 49ers and Saints were #1 and #4 in defense, but the offense put 36 and 44 pts on them respectively.
And yes, while true, the offense was horrible, the non-scrub games they averaged 25 ppg and did that in 1986 and 1988, which was top 5. They were big play offense, with being 2nd in the NFL in Y/A per pass in non-scrub games for 3 years running. The 2011 NY Giants were 9-7 and ranked much lower in both OFF and DEF than the 1987 Vikings.
In 1986 thru 1989, the Vikings were a top 5 NFL Defense for 4 years in games Keith Millard played. Top 5 NFL defenses average 11+ wins per 16 games irregardless of if the offense is run by Matt Cassell, Trent Dilfer, Doug Williams, Rex Grossman, or Wade Wilson. The 1988 Vikings defense gave up a 41.6 QB Rating, which was better than the 1985 Bears defense at 51.2 Rating. The 1989 Vikings had 71 sacks, eclipsed by only the 1984 Bears with 72 sacks. So that Vikings defense was neck-and-neck with the 1985 Bears defense.