With Super Bowl LI just two days away, it feels only natural to revisit the Vikings Super Bowl history.
Star Tribune columnist Sid Hartman spoke with Hall of Fame defensive tackle Alan Page **about his time with the Vikings**, during which Minnesota lost four Super Bowls. Page maintains mixed feelings about the big game results.
"You know, the object of the game is to go out and play, and play as well as you can and get as far as you can," Page told Hartman. "And my view of the world is, you go out and tried no matter what — and you know, if you stop and think about it, there are a whole lot of teams that never make it.
"And am I happy we lost? No," Page continued. "But then the object is to win and whether it is, quite frankly, a preseason game, you go out to perform and to play well and do the best you can, and losing hurts no matter what it is."
Page said that the two closest games, a 23-7 loss to Kansas City in Super Bowl IV and a 16-6 loss to Pittsburgh in Super Bowl IX were the toughest.
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Still the former Purple People Eater doesn't think the Vikings were outclassed in those games.
"You look at those teams we had, and I think certainly the team that played Kansas City, the team that played Pittsburgh, I think those were great football teams," Page told Hartman. "Would it have been better [to win]? For sure, but we did as well as we could."
2017 Draft prospect son of former Vikings lineman
A number of talented athletes were invited to this year's Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, last week.
One of those players, an offensive lineman, has Vikings connections. Kyle Kalis is the son of former Vikings offensive lineman Todd Kalis, who played in purple from 1988-93.
Tim Yotter of Viking Update caught up with Kalis after a Senior Bowl practice and asked him about his **ties to Minnesota**.
"It's cool having a dad who has played and done it before just because he'll give you the kind of advice that you've never gotten before," Kyle told Yotter. "You always want to listen, but he always preached, 'Listen to your coaches first. If you have any other questions that maybe they haven't done with experience, come to me and that's where I'll help.' It's been really nice having that kind of figure in my life."
Kalis played for Michigan under former 49ers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh and said he loves two things about the game of football: the camaraderie of the team and "the physicality and the hits." Yotter wrote:
The "physicality and the hits" are something you might imagine a current Vikings offensive lineman to espouse. Kyle Kalis sounds an awful lot like Alex Boone and his tough, physical attitude.
Yotter went on to explain that Kalis and Boone attended St. Edward High School in Cleveland and continue to stay in touch. It's Kalis' goal to bring a mentality similar to Boone's to the NFL if he's drafted.
"That's the name of my game," Kalis told Yotter. "Wherever I go, that's what I'm bringing."
