Mary Tyler Moore Once Jinxed The Minnesota Vikings’ Super Bowl Chances

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show" was a wildly popular sitcom set in Minnepolis, Minnesota. Running from September of 1970 to March of 1977, the show won 29 Emmy Awards.

Of all 168 episodes, we are here to discuss only one: the January 11th, 1975 episode titled "The System," which aired the night before the Vikings and Steelers played in Super Bowl in New Orleans.

The episode centers around Ted, who is making pretend football bets using his 'system' and Lou, who is losing his butt making actual bets on games. Essentially, Ted bets on underdogs IF the other team is favored by 11 points or more.

Eventually, Ted starts betting real money with Lou and the pair make $2,000 in profit... which they bet the entirety of on Super Bowl IX on the Steelers to win.

In the episode, the Vikings win, meaning Lou and Ted lost everything. There is a bit of an urban legend (because the clip cannot be found) that Mary Tyler Moore did a voice-over over the closing credits, saying essentially  'sorry to Steelers fans for depicting your team as losers... but if the Vikings win remember you heard it here first!'

Unfortunately for Vikings fans, the Steelers defeated the Vikings 16-6 to hand the Vikings their third Super Bowl loss of the 1970's.

By the way, the uniform MTM wears in the opening credits is not, in fact, a Fran Tarkenton jersey. It just says "Vikings" on the back, according to this YouTube video: