by van brocklin's final season at the helm, his relationship with starting quarterback fran tarkenton had deteriorated to the point that the two could no longer work together. this resulted in van brocklin's resignation on february 11, 1967, shortly followed by tarkenton being traded to the new york giants. in the search for van brocklin's replacement, vikings founder max winter and general manager jim finks re-approached bud grant, who joined the minnesota side on march 10, 1967 after 10 seasons coaching the winnipeg blue bombers. with a record of 8–6, the vikings finished top of their division in grant's second season in charge, reaching the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. however, they lost out to the baltimore colts 24–14 in their western conference championship game. the following year, they went two better by beating the los angeles rams and the cleveland browns to claim the nfl championship, before losing out to the kansas city chiefs 23–7 in super bowl iv. nine more divisional titles followed in the next 11 seasons, including nfc championships in 1973, 1974 and 1976, making grant the first head coach to lead teams to four super bowls, despite never winning one.