Minnesotans have waiting a long time for a championship in men's college and professional sports. Special props here to the Minnesota Lynx who brought home four WNBA championships (2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017).
But in men's sports it's been a real slog since the Twins popped the champagne in 1991 and Gopher Hockey took home back-to-back titles in the early 2000s. So it's time to revisit the most disappointing, and best, Minnesota teams that we think "should have won" a championship.
We could do a list just with Viking teams. Start with the four Super Bowl losses. In those four Super Bowl losses, you can easily make the case the teams that beat the Purple were just better, so we'll leave them off to focus on the other disappointments (and there are many).
There are a lot of Minnesota teams that standout and make you wonder "what if". Some are recent, some only Sid Hartman would have remembered. These are the best of the bunch.
1975 Vikings
The Vikings finished the 1975 season with a 12-2 record and won the NFC Central for the third straight season. Heading into the postseason they looked like a Super Bowl contender, but they had to get through the Cowboys, something Minnesota wasn't able to do. Thanks to a certain wide receiver named Drew Pearson and the first ever "Hail Mary".
The Vikings led late 14-10 but Roger Staubach and the Cowboys had one last shot. The Cowboys' offense moved 35 yards to midfield with 32 seconds left on the clock. On second-and-10, Staubach pump faked to his right before going for it all down the near sideline. The slightly underthrown pass fell right into the hands of Drew Pearson, who put the Cowboys in front for good.
But Viking fans were apoplectic. Drew Pearson clearly pushes Viking cornerback Nate Wright to the ground and makes the catch.
Instead of the Vikings, it would be Landry's Cinderella Cowboys advancing to the NFC Championship game. They easily beat the Rams before losing to Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl. Could the Vikings have gotten their ring in '75? We'll never know.
1998 Vikings
Sigh. This is a tough one for Viking fans. The 1998 Vikings were the best team in the NFL by far. And this could possibly be the best NFL team in history not to win a Super Bowl.
It was the year Randy Moss came to Minnesota. Randall Cunningham took over for the injured Brad Johnson at QB, and the offense scored more points than any team in NFL history.
They went 15-1 in the regular season, blazed through a divisional playoff game against Arizona, and then it all went "splat" in the NFC Championship game against Atlanta.
Eventually Atlanta lost to Denver in the Super Bowl and Viking fans sat there knowing this was the best Viking team of all-time and they blew it. We can stop here. You all know.
2009 Vikings
2009 was one of the most memorable seasons in Vikings history. During training camp, the Vikings managed to bring in Brett Favre to serve as their starting quarterback. Instantly, expectations were raised about the season, and the team didn't disappoint. Until the NFC Championship game where disappointment - and anger - still resonate today.
Taking a 12-4 record into the playoffs, the Vikings blew out Dallas in the divisional round and were off to 13-3 New Orleans with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. Despite multiple turnovers derailing the Viking offense, they hung in there and had a chance to win at the end.
But a penalty for too many men on the field (ugh!) pushed them out of field goal range in the final seconds. On the ensuing play, Favre had a chance to run for a few yards and give them a chance to win the game, but chose to throw back across the field instead. Interception. Overtime.
And in OT, the Saints were able to move down the field and get into range for a game-winning kick, thanks to a very questionable pass interference call against linebacker Chad Greenway. Season over.
This Viking team had what it takes to win the Super Bowl over Peyton Manning and Indianapolis (which New Orleans did), but would have been coming into that game extremely beat up after New Orleans really went after QB Brett Favre. They beat him down with "Bountygate" leading to multiple suspensions and fines after Gregg Williams' defense targeted the Viking QB with several late hits and cheap shots. It was one of a string of games where they actually paid players to go after opponents.
2006 Minnesota Twins
There are a lot of Twins teams that could be on this list: 1969 and 1970 teams that lost to Baltimore in the ALCS, Mauer's MVP season in 2009, the Bomba Squad from 2019, and several more. There are numerous Twins teams in the 2000s that fans thought had a shot.
Then there is the 1965 Twins that fell just short in 7 games against the Dodgers but when you're beat by Sandy Koufax, you're just not the better team. Sorry.
But the 2006 Twins might have been the best of the bunch and had a ton of talent. They barely won the AL Central, finishing one game better than Detroit in a dogfight. This was a darn good Detroit team and it took winning 96 games and the last day of the season to get it done.
Following that grind, expectations were that the Twins would easily dispatch the Oakland A's in the American League Division Series. Joe Mauer won the AL batting title. Justin Morneau was the AL MVP. Johan Santana won the AL Cy Young and had the best season on the mound since Dwight Gooden's insane 1985 campaign. This was the year of the "little piranhas". The Twins were primed for playoff success.
And they were swept in three by Oakland. It wasn't even competitive. What happened? They never led in any of the games. The first two at the Metrodome were close but Oakland stole them both late. In game three the A's won 8-2 to easily dispatch the Twins in a massively disappointing series.
Could the Twins have gotten by Division rival Detroit in the ALCS? Could they have beaten St. Louis in the World Series? They had the talent and sadly fell far, far too short.
It was also pitcher Francisco Liriano's legendary rookie season, but unfortunately he blew out his arm and never recovered that rookie season form. But if he stayed healthy, that Twins team was loaded.
1988 Minnesota Twins
If there's a Twins team better than 2006 that should have won it all, it's 1988. Coming off a World Series win in 1987, the Twins of 1988 were actually better. If not for the Oakland A's.
The Twins had the second best record in the America League, winning 91 games (six more than in '87). And they still finished 13 game games behind the Bash Brothers in Oakland in the AL West!
Five Twins were AL All-Stars, Frank Viola won the AL Cy Young, Allen Anderson had a tremendous season on the mound as well, and Kirby, Hrbek, Gaetti, all had what you could call career years. Puckett had more hits than anyone in the American League since 1937. Jeff Reardon saved 42 games. This was a tremendously talented ballclub.
And in 1988, they didn't even sniff the playoffs. Oakland went on to sweep Boston the championship series before a shocking 4-0 sweep by the LA Dodgers in the playoffs.
This Twins team could have absolutely repeated as champs if they could have gotten to the postseason. But the Wild Card didn't exist in 1988. So it goes.
1903 Gopher Football Team
Prior to the last 25 years, picking a college football national champion was simply a vote. Whether it was the Associated Press who started picking champions in 1936 (won by Minnesota), or other national publications, it was really a popularity contest.
All that aside, you could pick a few Gopher teams over the years that could have won a title and the 1903 team has a legitimate claim to at least share it.
The Gophers went 14-0-1 which is a little deceiving. Some of those games were against high school teams. But, in their five games against legitimate teams, the Gophers were shockingly good. They beat Iowa State 46-0, obliterated Iowa 75-0, beat Illinois 32-0 and shutout Wisconsin 17-0. That's right, no points.
Yes, it was a different era.
The lone blemish is a 6-6 tie against the team that was crowned national champ, Michigan. The tie in 1903 was the game that established the trophy between these two teams as well. The Michigan team forgot to bring their earthenware water jug with them after the tie and Minnesota told them they'd have to "win it back". The Little Brown Jug was born.
There is no reason Michigan and Minnesota shouldn't have been co-national champions in 1903. Instead it was Michigan and - Princeton? Michigan outscored opponents 565 to 6, and Minnesota outscored opponents 656 to 12. And the two teams tied head-to-head. How is Michigan better?
2003-04 Minnesota Timberwolves
There's one Wolves team we can talk about, although 2023-24 is looking good so far!
This Wolves team finally gave some help to star Kevin Garnett, adding guards Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell to complete the team's "Big Three". And it paid off. The Timberwolves won the Midwest Division, then dispatched Denver for their first-ever playoff series win (and only series win to this date, which is almost shocking).
Then they were pushed to the limit, winning a memorable game 7 against Sacramento to advance to the Western Conference Finals where Shaq, Kobe and the Lakers waited.
The Lakers would win in six games but it was an injury to Cassell that Wolves fans remember. A bad hip, allegedly injured during the game 7 win against Sacramento, limited Cassell to only 16 minutes a game against LA and it losing one of their big three was too much for the Wolves to overcome.
The Lakers eventually lost to Detroit in the NBA Finals. Would Minnesota have fared better? Garnett and Co. seemed like they were on a mission that season. Unfortunately, the Cassell injury ended the dream.
1990-91 Minnesota North Stars
There hasn't been a Minnesota Wild team (yet) that inspires enough confidence that they could have won a championship. Yes, the made it to the Western Conference Finals in 2003 where they lost to Anaheim. But that was really a "Cinderella Story" for an expansion franchise in only its third season.
You could say the same thing about the 1990-91 North Stars. They finished the regular season under .500. How can that be considered a championship team? The NHL is different and the Stanley Cup Playoffs tend to bring out different aspects of teams compared to the regular season, as proven by this North Stars bunch who took it all the way to game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Beating teams far ahead of them in the standings, the Stars took down Chicago and St. Louis before dispatching the defending champion Edmonton Oilers.
The North Stars finally saw their playoff run end in game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals when they lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins 8–0 in front of their home fans in the Met Center. Was Pittsburgh, led by the all-time great Mario Lemieux, better than these North Stars? Yes. That was proven on the ice. But they sure seemed like a team of destiny.
The North Stars would stick around for two more seasons before the infamous Norm Green uprooted Minnesota's beloved hockey team for Dallas.
1996-97 Minnesota Gopher Basketball
Yeah, yeah, yeah. This one doesn't "officially" count. Erased because of the Jan Ganglehoff, Clem Haskins academic scandal (revealed in 1999), this team was erased from the NCAA record books. But before all of that, it was the best chance the Gophers ever had to winning it all.
Bobby Jackson was incredible, Sam Jacobson an athletic freak, the starting big men of Courtney James and John Thomas were extremely difficult to handle and the team's youngster, sixth-man Quincy Lewis, could score in bunches. And it was all orchestrated by point guard Eric Harris.
This was the first team in Gopher history to make the Final. They ended up losing to Kentucky in the national semifinals with the Rick Pitino, full-court pressure becoming too much for them to handle.
The main reason Kentucky was too much was an injury to Harris who separated his shoulder in the Clemson game Elite Eight game, and he was not himself by the time they got to Indianapolis for the Final Four. 26 turnovers doomed the Gopher dream season when their point guard wasn't able to handle the ball like usual.
1974-75 Gopher Hockey
There are at least a half dozen Gopher Hockey teams that could go on here. 1985-86 stands out, as do 1989-90 and 1990-91. In more recent years, the horrific loss to Holy Cross ended the 2005-06 season way too early, and 2006-07 was also disappointing. You could make a case for last year's Gopher team that lost in the national championship game too.
But go back in time to the Herb Brooks teams of the mid-70s that were utterly dominant. They wont the national championship in 1974 and 1976. What happened in 1975?
That team was 31-10. Read that again. 31-10. They won 24 games in the WCHA. They blew out Minnesota-Duluth and Michigan in the playoffs. Knocked off Harvard in the national semifinals.
And laid a total egg in the championship game against Michigan Tech. Yes, Michigan Tech. It should have been a three-peat. Brooks probably figured out how to handle big games prior to a certain 1980 Olympic game after that one.