Even with Sunday's loss, things are going much better for the Purple and Gold this year than they were the day Jim Marshall made the worst play in Vikings history.

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This past week was the 54-year anniversary of what HAS to be the worst single play in the storied 58-year history of the Vikings. Heck, I'm a Packer fan, and even I can empathize with Viking fans over the agony of this play-- even though it happened well before I was even born.

I'm talking, of course, about the fumble recovery that Vikings defensive end Jim Marshall made on October 25th of 1964. The Vikings were playing the 49ers that day in San Francisco, and Marshall thought when he scooped up the football and rumbled into the end zone that he'd be a hero.

Except, of course, that he ran it into the WRONG end zone. So, as this TwinCities.com story noted, instead of getting the Vikings 6 points, his recovery actually ended up giving the 49ers a safety. It's a colossal wrong-way play that not only went down in Vikings history, but in the entire history of the NFL. Even the fact that the Vikings still won that game, 27-22 is lost when compared to the humiliation of that one play.

Marshall, of course, would go on to be a stellar defensive end who donned a Vikings uniform throughout the Purple People Eater years from 1961 to 1979 and was elected to the Vikings Hall of Fame. But his epic miscue is still tough to watch-- even for a Packers fan like me-- all these years later, isn't it?

So, no matter what happens with the Vikings (or my Packers, for that matter), you can take some solace in that it can't possibly get any more humiliating than that play. We hope...

Listen to Curt St. John from 6 to 10 a.m. on Quick Country 96.5
and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 103.9 The Doc

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