with a 10–4 record. In the playoffs, they built on their cold weather reputation, defeating both the St. Louis Cardinals 30–14 and the Los Angeles Rams 14–10 in frozen Metropolitan Stadium. On January 12, 1975, The Vikings played in their second straight Super Bowl, Super Bowl IX (3rd overall), losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 16–6, at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. In 1975, Mike Lynn, who had been hired the previous year as an assistant to Max Winter, was named general manager of the Vikings. In 1975, the Vikings, led by MVP Tarkenton and Chuck Foreman, finished 12–2, losing only to Detroit and Washington while remaining undefeated until late in the season. However, the Vikings lost to the Dallas Cowboys in the playoffs, 17–14, on a controversial touchdown pass from Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach to wide receiver Drew Pearson that became known as the Hail Mary. On the Vikings' next possession, Tarkenton was sacked just short of the end zone as he stepped back to pass, but the referees refused to penalize Dallas for pass interference. Afterwards, angry fans pelted the field with snowballs and one referee was struck in the head with a beer bottle, mimicking an incident two weeks earlier during the regular season finale in Buffalo where Foreman was hit in the eye with a snowball. The Vikings finished 11–2–1 in 1976, winning their division once again and beating Washington at home, 35–20. They then won the NFC Championship in the last playoff game at Metropolitan Stadium over the Los Angeles Rams, 24–13, to advance to their third Super Bowl in four years. However, a championship continued to elude them when they lost to Oakland 32–14 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on January 9, 1977. Co-owner Ole Haugsrud died on March 13, 1976, and his widow, Margaret, took his place on the team's board of directors. In 1977, team attorney Sheldon Kaplan replaced Ridder on the board. Co-owner H. P. Skoglund died on November 5, 1977. In 1978, John Skoglund replaced his father on the team's board of directors, and general manager Mike Lynn replaced Margaret Haugsrud on the board. In 1977, Minnesota again won the Central with a 9–5 record, but the team was showing signs of age. Fran Tarkenton had torn his ACL in the previous season's playoff game with the Redskins and lost the ability to perform his trademark scrambling. After years