The NFL MVP award has almost always belonged to quarterbacks and running backs. Alan Page broke that rule.
Coming in at #2 on our list of the Top 5 Defensive Linemen of All Time is a defensive tackle who became so dominant that in 1971, he was named the most valuable player in the entire NFL. Not Defensive Player of the Year. Most Valuable Player.
Alan Page became the first defensive player in NFL history to win the award, and more than half a century later, only Lawrence Taylor has joined him. That alone tells you how special Page was.
From Notre Dame to Minnesota
Before becoming an NFL legend, Page starred at Notre Dame and helped the Fighting Irish win the 1966 national championship. The Minnesota Vikings selected him 15th overall in the first round of the 1967 NFL Draft.
It did not take long for Minnesota to realize what it had. Page was exceptionally quick for an interior defensive lineman. Instead of simply occupying blockers and holding his position, he attacked. His philosophy was simple: a defensive player should be the aggressor.
That mentality helped turn him into one of the most disruptive players of his generation. By his second NFL season, Page was already a Pro Bowler, and it would become an annual tradition.
The Purple People Eaters
Page became the centerpiece of one of the most famous defensive lines in NFL history. Alongside Carl Eller, Jim Marshall and Gary Larsen, Minnesota’s defensive front became known as the Purple People Eaters.
They were fast, aggressive and relentless. Page was particularly difficult to handle because his speed and quickness gave interior offensive linemen problems they were not accustomed to seeing from defensive tackles.
Minnesota quickly became one of the NFL’s premier teams. In 1969, the Vikings went 12–2, won the final NFL Championship before the AFL-NFL merger was completed and advanced to Super Bowl IV. They lost to the Kansas City Chiefs, but Minnesota had established itself as a legitimate championship contender.
Page and the Vikings would return to the Super Bowl three more times.
A Defensive Tackle Wins NFL MVP
Then came 1971.
Page put together one of the most remarkable seasons ever produced by a defensive player. He recorded 109 tackles, nine sacks, three fumble recoveries and two safeties while helping Minnesota allow the fewest points in the NFL for the third consecutive season. The Vikings finished 11–3.
Page was named Defensive Player of the Year, but apparently that wasn’t enough. He was also named NFL MVP, becoming the first defensive player in league history to win the award.
Think about how difficult that is. Defensive players almost never receive serious MVP consideration because quarterbacks naturally control so much of what happens offensively. Page was playing defensive tackle, yet his impact was considered great enough that voters determined the most valuable player in professional football was lined up in the middle of Minnesota’s defensive line.
Since Page won the award, the only defensive player to accomplish the same feat has been Lawrence Taylor in 1986. That puts Page in extremely rare company.
Four Trips to the Super Bowl
Minnesota remained one of the NFL’s premier teams throughout the 1970s, and Page helped the Vikings reach four Super Bowls: IV, VIII, IX and XI.
Unfortunately, the championship ring never came. Minnesota lost Super Bowl IV to Kansas City, Super Bowl VIII to Miami, Super Bowl IX to Pittsburgh and Super Bowl XI to Oakland.
It remains one of the biggest missing pieces from Page’s otherwise extraordinary career, but reaching four Super Bowls as one of the defining players on the defense speaks to how consistently competitive those Vikings teams were. Minnesota won its division repeatedly throughout Page’s prime and became one of the signature franchises of the decade.
The Purple People Eaters were a huge reason why.
Year After Year of Dominance
Page’s MVP season was his greatest individual accomplishment, but his career was not built around one spectacular year. It was built around sustained dominance.
He was selected to nine consecutive Pro Bowls from 1968 through 1976 and earned six first-team All-Pro selections during his career. He was also named Defensive Player of the Year again in 1973, giving him two major DPOY awards during his prime.
Page wasn’t simply one of the best defensive tackles of his era. For years, he was one of the best football players in the league regardless of position.
The Minnesota Chapter Ends
Page’s Vikings career eventually ended in an unusual way. Six games into the 1978 season, Minnesota waived him.
For most players in their 30s, that could have been the beginning of the end. For Page, it became another chapter.
The Chicago Bears signed him almost immediately, and he moved directly into their starting lineup. Page would spend the remainder of the 1978 season and three additional years in Chicago.
His career wasn’t finished. Not even close.
Still Dominant in Chicago
Page continued creating havoc after leaving Minnesota. During his time with Chicago, he remained a productive pass rusher from the interior and gave the Bears several strong seasons late in his career.
Most impressively, Page’s durability never disappeared. He played through the end of the 1981 season, finishing a career that had begun all the way back in 1967.
Page appeared in 218 regular-season games and started 215 of them across 15 seasons and two franchises. For a player battling offensive linemen in the trenches every week, that durability was remarkable.
The Numbers Before Sacks Were Official
There is one important complication when discussing Page statistically. The NFL did not begin recognizing sacks as an official individual statistic until 1982, the season after Page retired.
Historical research credits Page with enormous sack production, although totals vary depending on the source and methodology. The Vikings credit him with 148.5 career sacks, while the Pro Football Hall of Fame has cited an unofficial total of 173.
Either way, Page wasn’t merely a run-stuffing defensive tackle. He was an elite interior pass rusher.
He also recovered 23 opponents’ fumbles, while historical figures credit him with an incredible 28 blocked kicks. Page could affect a football game in almost every way a defensive lineman possibly could.
From Football to the Hall of Fame
Page retired following the 1981 season and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 1988.
He was named to the NFL’s 1970s All-Decade Team, recognizing his dominance throughout the era. Decades later, Page received an even greater historical honor when he was selected to the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team, placing him among the defensive tackles chosen to represent the greatest players from the league’s first century.
Page’s life after football became remarkable in its own right. He earned a law degree during his playing career and eventually served for more than two decades as a justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court.
But even before everything he accomplished after football, Page had already created one of the greatest careers an NFL defensive lineman had ever produced.
A Defensive Player Valuable Enough to Win MVP
Page was the centerpiece of the Purple People Eaters, helped Minnesota reach four Super Bowls and remained an elite player year after year. But nothing captures his greatness better than 1971.
The voters looked across the entire NFL at every quarterback, running back, receiver and every other player in professional football.
And they chose a defensive tackle.
NFL MVP. Two-time Defensive Player of the Year. Nine consecutive Pro Bowls. Six first-team All-Pro selections. Four Super Bowl appearances. 1970s All-Decade Team. NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team. Hall of Famer.
That historic peak combined with his longevity and sustained dominance is why Alan Page is our #2 defensive lineman of all time.
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