Bill Simmons of ESPN wrote a column about the "most tortured" sports teams, and the Vikings came in at #2. Here's what he wrote about them:

2. Minnesota Vikings

Last Title: Never.

Last Truly Devastating Defeat: This past Sunday.

Rock Bottom: Hard to top four Super Bowl losses in eight years. (Although we just topped it with the Bills, so I guess it's not THAT hard.) But since there were so many rock bottoms, let's go with the first one: Super Bowl IV, when the Vikes were favored by 12 and ended up losing by 16 to the Chiefs. Before the game, a Vikings mascot tried to take off in a hot air balloon, failed and nearly crashed into the stands. Don't believe me? Go to the 20-second mark of this clip. It's like a deleted scene from a Christopher Guest movie. Not a good omen for the Vikes and big games. Call it a retroactive rock bottom.

Additional Thoughts: As Geoff said on my podcast, "If there's any upside [from Sunday's loss], it's that no city will be willing to lure the Vikings away." I bumped them ahead of Buffalo only because of their unparalleled streak: Every 10 years or so, they rip the intestines out of their fans. Happened in 1975 (the Hail Mary), 1988 (Darren Nelson), 1998 (Gary Anderson) and 2009 (12 men). ... By the way, none of those were the four lost Super Bowls. Not even the Red Sox annihilated their fans at such a consistently efficient pace.

And here's the link to the article. It's a pretty good list, although I think the Lions should've made it:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100129&sportCat=nfl 

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You're preachin' to the choir Greg. :sad1:

It's pretty bad. I also think the Lions should've made that list. Managing to screw up that badly with Barry Sanders on your roster must've hurt like hell. I'd put the Bills at 2 and the Vikes at 3, but their innerchangable.

I think Packers fans were pretty well tortured in the last decade of Favre's tenure here, and Cowboys fans have endured a significant amount of suffering under Romo.

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Yes, and the first Aaron Rodgers playoff run ended in heartbreaking fashion as well. We still have that '96 championship to hang our hats on, but it is getting kind of old.

There was a Lions fan who wrote to Bill Simmons, arguing that the Lions should've made the list, and he made a really good point. He said that Lions fans WISH that their team was like the Vikings. I agree with him that it is better when your team at least comes close, rather than just sucking every year. However, the operative word in the title of the article is "tortured." It really is torturous to come close to a title, only to be denied by some flukey play or weird sequence of events.

I would rather be tortured, however, than to live in a perennial state of defeat, like Lions fans. Think of it this way: Has it been more fun to be a Packer fan during the last 12 years than it was during the 70s and 80s? I say yes.

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Are you a baseball fan, vikesrule? Have you been downtown to see Target Field lately? I can't wait for baseball! The Twins have huge potential this year, and now with Target Field, I don't have to be conflicted about the Metrodome anymore! hahaha. I will be moving in June so I need to get there at least a few times before then.

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Yep.

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How about the 70's and 80's... I grew up watching football in which we never won.. lol.

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Nice.

I know I'll make at least one trip to the new park.

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