Minnesota Vikings • History Of (First Quarter)

I tell people I bleed purple is a player you can't find a better city to plan in here it's because of the fans I just remember that dome just Rocking just felt like being shot out of a gun when they called us you can just feel the place moving it's never been like that anywhere else this is football pure football you know this is the old style football part we were better than everybody thought we were better than what bud told us we were Jim Marshall Carl Ellen Ellen Page Fran Tarkenton chuckle Foreman these are tough honest players just to be part of that legacy makes it special I think we did a pretty solid job Pech awaiting that tradition just really get to play with some great guys and become lifelong friends we play so hard for each other because we all liked each other you're going on a field with your family basically that's the most memorable part of beings we got we got each other has been a wonderful wonderful 50 years I thank the Lord all the time we give me an opportunity to be here in Minnesota in 1960 Minneapolis businessman and sports enthusiast max winter and a group that brought an NFL expansion team to the Twin Cities to begin play in the fall of 1961 the team's home would be Metropolitan Stadium in suburban Bloomington it's coach would come from the players ranks in 1960 Philadelphia took on Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers for the NFL title Eagles quarterback Norm Van Brocklin led Philadelphia to the championship the only playoff game Vince Lombardi ever lost several months later the Dutchman was introduced as the first head coach of the Minnesota Vikings the first wave of Vikings arrived in the expansion draft most notably future hall-of-fame running back humic Lenny who still had a few good moves first day I was here with norm Van Brocklin I had just come in and they were out in practice and I looked over the guide said hey you're out of here marshal go in and get some stuff on you got this position and I'm going what kind of guy am I going to work for now you know two lanes all-american halfback Tommy Mason was the team's very first draft pick I'm the first overall selection in the 1961 college player lottery you know everybody got the questionnaires that this team sent out to various college people I got a Viking inquiry one day and said Minnesota Vikings Minnesota Vikings and somebody said well that's in the seven Man League and the old Midwest seven man but nobody knew who the Vikings were round three produced a quarterback from Georgia by the name of Francis Asbury Tarkenton we had the cast off the tools the reprobates from the other team it was a great time for me to come out 21 years old son of a preacher man adness Georgia it it's a world that I'd never see I didn't drink at that time or nothing and they were the greatest personalities greatest learning experience and the team played well Tarkington didn't start the team's first ever regular season game after about the first half of the quarter he put me in and of course it was his start game we beat the Bears 37 or 38 to 13 and I had a big day and you know I did my thing I scrambled around in the Bears this 1961 now they're the most famous team in the National Football League their head coach was George Halas their owner was George Halas their general manager was George Halas Fran had one of his career days three touchdown passes he scored a couple on runs and it was a wildly exciting time for bunch of young players that really didn't know if they belong in the league or not they won three times that first season all at the Met including a mid-november upset of a Baltimore Colts team quarterback by John Unitas in 1962 a free agent Center named Mick tingle off range far downfield to take out tacklers a square-jawed all-purpose fullback named Bill Brown proved to be tough to bring down in 1963 the Vikings won five games and Tommy Mason became the team's first all-pro you know you can run pretty fast when you're scared you know get through and get on out I think I was lucky to come to this team and I think my whatever talents I had or something that fit into Van Brocklin uh type of offense at the heart of the team's climb to our contention was the young quarterback who credited his tactics to a 1961 preseason encounter with the Chicago Bears they beat me to death I mean they they bloodied me and I said you know I got to do something I've got I got to change how this position is played it we're not gonna win the game I had athletic ability Heights and quickness I had good sense of where I was on the field and I just didn't accept the sack I started using my athletic ability and my scrambling to buy me time to be able to throw the football and it became my trademark it was an unwritten rule for quarterbacks not to go on the pocket to the defensive lineman weren't in great shape in those days they don't want to run especially you go out in the Coliseum you play Deacon and Merlin Olsen and Lamar Lundy you know on a hot day in Los Angeles and here I come out there running all over the field they got a run all over the field chased me I think I drove them nuts and if you kind of went out of the pocket they'd find a way to try to get you and they tried to find a way to try to get me they never did though I thought a quarterback should use his ability he just didn't stay in the pocket so I thought to use my ability to maneuver to run to gain yards to pick up a first down whatever I had to do I thought that that's what I was supposed to do so at quarterback ought to be able to make first downs make that team drive that team get first downs and get points on the board a great quarterback can take a bad team and make them by 1964 scramblin Fran was the man and the expansion team from Minnesota was ready to make a move the Minnesota Vikings the only team to go undefeated in pre-season play open the regular campaign against Baltimore everybody was getting more consistent on offense and we were probably more afraid of Van Brocklin than we were of the other teams and hutch times and so you just want to do a good job and we'd put a lot of points on the board in their first three seasons the Vikings never beat Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers in 64 they went to Lambeau and won they took a 500 record to Kezar Stadium in San Francisco they're a rookie defensive end named Karl eller returned a fumble forced by Jim Marshall for a score earlier that afternoon Marshall did the same thing sorta stops close completes it to Kilmer up at the 30 kilmer driving for the first downloads of the football gets checked out by jim marshall is running the wrong way the wrong way GMAC we're running along even on the plane coming back from San Francisco they said hey Jim yes snowing in Minneapolis why don't you get up in the cockpit with the pilot we'd go the wrong way go back out to the west coast two weeks later the same 49ers come to Metropolitan Stadium to see if they can change their luck a swing pass from Fran Tarkenton Tommy Mason begins the point parade as Mason powers past the prospectors for a Minnesota TD as the points and wins piled up at home against Los Angeles Minnesota scored 34 in a rout of the Reds where victory number six in a visit to the big city Tarkington tore up the defending Eastern Division champions for win number seven on the season's final weekend Minnesota destroyed the defending NFL champion Chicago Bears the Vikings tied Lombardi's Packers for second place in the NFL West and those in the know were predicting big things in 1965 but norm Van Brocklin spudding dynasty never bloom he was tough man come up in tough times and he was a knowledgeable coach I mean he taught me professional football he gave me the grounding in football that few people had I knew as much football from an offensive standpoint in a passing game standpoint as anybody the 65 Vikings started the season five and three among those wins was a victory in Cleveland over the defending NFL champion Cleveland Browns clearly the expansion team from Minnesota was poised for a title one we always offensively were pretty well represented and we didn't always win game but we'd lose a maybe by 28 to 24 in a late season downward spiral Minnesota dropped four straight games including two to Lombardi's Packers one of which occurred when this potential game-winning touchdown was ruled incomplete the side judge bore the brunt of Minnesota's frustration the Vikings finished 5th in the division and for all intents and purposes the norm Van Brocklin era in Minnesota was over Dutch coached one final season Fran Tarkenton continued to mesmerized with his impromptu magic but together they'd peaked in their sixth season the Vikings finished dead last in the division a tough pill to swallow I've never had a failure of my life before trying to take an expansion team from start you know getting everybody's rejects and I was so headstrong so confident myself I thought I could do it when you have an expansion team you get all these people in the expansion and try to make a living with it Van Brocklin almost destroyed me as a human being it wasn't about scrap it wasn't about that it was just about his personality if I was a pocket passer with with with with Van Brocklin we're gonna have conflicts he had conflicts with every human being he came in touch with but so that he even fueled it even more that you cannot win with a scrambler in 1967 a new head coach and quarterback offered a brand new direction Canadian League veteran Joe Kapp will never be remembered as cat light but his toughness and leadership appealed to Bud Grant the nicest thing he ever said about me was Joe Kapp will never stop looking for a way to win the game the only thing he ever said to me personally up close was three words get a haircut the four-time Canadian Grey Cup champion coach brought his own unique agenda practice is almost over we thought we'd go in a kicking game but as us lining up for attention for the national anthem fortunately we had people like Carl eller who had been in the in the service and so I put him in charge of making sure there but he knew how to stand and hold a helmet and look at the flag and sing if they wanted to and it became known as the grant formation pulled the players I said if you come to training camp in shape we don't have to worry about getting you in condition then we just start practicing we have the shortest training camp there is this come in shape also we're only going to have players that can play one of the most important things you do is evaluate players I mean the assets of the team are the player so you can't make a mistake in evaluating players having played in the league having played every position other than interior lineman both offense and defensive lead that I had a pretty good idea and my staff had a good idea who the players were but grant worked no sudden miracles his first Vikings team won just three games but the team's assets improved three first-round draft choices became wide receiver Jean Washington running back Clinton Jones and Notre Dame defensive end Allen Paige grant immediately converted Paige to tackle their the rookies disruptive instincts proved the perfect complement to the hard outside charge of defensive ends eller and Marshall we had diverse skills and we kind of fell into this this pattern we could talk to each other up and down the line and we knew what we would do within the parameters of the called defense bud grant fashioned his team in the mold of his defensive line athletic and persistent weather-resistant capable of winning low-scoring games in the Upper Midwest special teams would be crucial for the next decade and a half no NFL club would be more successful blocking kicks ball control was paramount if Minnesota didn't put the ball at risk if opponents couldn't take it away the scoring opportunities were limited and close games were always winnable 67 I think we won three games but we were pointed in the right direction but grant gave us the leadership the the system that allowed us to be the team that we were in addition to three wins the Vikes also posted three times including one against the powerful Colts but the low-scoring games grant favored were a tough sell to his quarterback we're at Green Bay we played labardi and we didn't you know we had a pretty good defense we ran the ball Bill Brown was having a good day and Joel kept saying we'll only gonna open up coach and I'd say Joel as long as the game is this tight that it was close we'll just do what we're doing and do what we do best Joel old I think he completed seven out of ten passes for the whole game he's a coach I've never ever pulled it throwing ten passes in a ball game I said Joe you got to remember one thing we won and he said you're right coach C says I'll do whatever you say from now on it was grants first victory with the Vikings it came against a Lombardi team that went on to win Super Bowl two it marked a turning point in Minnesota's football fortunes bud grunts Vikings belong to the NFC Central Division four Midwestern teams playing old school football soon to be known as the black and blue division one the Vikings would dominate for a decade when we went out there nobody's going to score a touchdown on us we're not giving up anything we had to say nothing cheap nothing deep deep now meant pall crops applied by trade prior to the 68 season until we got Paul we were struggling in the second in our secondary all kind of pulled the whole thing together with a future hall-of-famer now patrolling the perimeter the attack troops could cultivate their violent side the 1968 Vikings allowed the fewest points in team history Minnesota's might make things right when point-scoring failed offensively Joe Kapp and company mustered enough first downs and muscled out enough scores for seven wins in the first 13 games a victory in Philadelphia on the season's final Sunday would give bud grants Vikings a shot at their first ever divisional title offensively the Vikings black and blue print call for ball control with an occasional big play bud grants team was built precisely for these late season conditions at day's end the Minnesota Vikings prevailed 24 to 17 later that afternoon in black and blue division action elsewhere the Green Bay Packers defeated the Chicago Bears making Bud Grant spikings the champions of the NFC Central one week later in rainy Baltimore the Vikings took on the courts for the Western Division title they'd used some blitzing that we had not seen in those days of black and white film and the Colts were successful with their blitz we looked at that film it was a risky blitz it was a but an outstanding blitz and by the end of the game we figured it out but it was too late to win the Baltimore Colts game in the playoffs so in 69 we looked at that film they came up and really did try to use it again and we were ready for in the title game rematch gelcap made history he was out for revenge and he was going to everything necessary that he could to win this game Baltimore's vaunted blitz was blown away you can't cover Jayne Washington so we throw to him I believe he got two of the touchdowns the Blitz exposed their weakness and we throw a couple more DRO responds to challenges I mean you know he's a kind of a guy you can challenge some players and they accept a Joel acceptance in spades six different receivers caught seven cap touchdown passes tying the NFL single game record the entire 40 man roster gave it their all for 60 minutes and the season's championship slogan was born everything kind of clicked in 69 and we started winning games and once you get going in all its kind of steam rolling along and ended up with a great ear you don't just become a winner there is a process and that was put together by blood grass if you go back and look at the records and the games that we want how we won between Jim Marshall being the leader on defense and Joe Kapp being the leader on offense a lot of it can go back to Jim Marshall and Joe cab our strength in our talent at that time was our defensive line and we had three about three pretty good linebackers in there by then and we could stop a lot of teams you know without blitzing a lot in 14 games the Vikings allowed just 133 points the lowest single-season total since 1946 when teams only played 11 on Thanksgiving Day in Detroit Minnesota clinched the black and blue division crown as Jim Marshall made one of the greatest plays Bud Grant had ever seen he knew he was going to be tackled and be just as he was tackled he reached back and threw the ball lateraled the ball Allen Paige who was coming behind him and Jim Marshall I don't know to this day look to the film many times I don't know how he ever saw the guy to great leaders but only one postseason award there is no most valuable Viking they're only 14 most valuable by 44 16 put it that way I just can't accept this on December 27 1969 the playoffs came to Minnesota and the LA Rams built a 17 to 7 halftime lead and I don't know how many people in that stadium hold they might have held 45,000 people but I've talked to 150,000 people that said they were there that day not a day for the tin is Hollywood beach bums they'd like to set out there and Beach it nice and warm and we got face snow form and zero weather don't serve too well with that in the second half Joe Kapp rallied the Vikings the defense got us the ball back so that we could have the game-winning drive and that Jean Washington caught the ball down in the corner there's one of the most fun I've ever had in my life and don't expect to ever duplicate the man who declined the most valuable Viking award and 39 others downhearted men played 60 minutes of football later as a game warden they had to control from their end of the field and Alan Paige didn't penetrate like he ordinarily usually does and go back there and watch the quarterbacks I was sliding with him and Alan's got good enough hands he could catch the ball and he made the interception what and that was the end of the game it took nine full seasons but the Minnesota Vikings could finally celebrate a playoff victory one week later conditions were ideal for playoff win number two I took pride that we got inside the 10-yard line that we would Ram it in that's part of the Central Division black and blue division and that game the last NFL championship game it was Jean Washington I mean he got behind people so we skated in for for that touchdown but later in the game there's this obstacle his name is Jim Houston the knee got him pure accident right on the jaw so he's knocked out well I got up and you know and he didn't he was kind of every man for himself when the game was over fans are crazy you know I think he ran out like I was a whole sea of people it was quite a celebration in Super Bowl four bug grants Vikings were double-digit favorites they're a good team I mean we probably got beat by a Tina had better talented we did we did not play Viking football we went out and didn't dominate Kansas City defensively they put in some new wrinkles and we just did not make the adjustments so here I am it's my chance to win the world championship and I get knocked out so it's depressing because when you get your chance you got to be ready and we didn't quite get it when we did not get it done there was no under estimating our our opponent or anything like that we felt that we could certainly do the things that we needed to do the win and it just didn't happen to a man nobody cried nobody made excuses nobody blamed anybody it was a team right to the end

Channel: Randy Fast

Views: 70,762

Rating: 4.800384 out of 5

Keywords: Minnesota Vikings, Vikings Video

Id: G6_5fJ_I9wY

Length: 26min 42sec (1602 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 11 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/WolfyTheWolf312]

This is a 4 part history of the Vikings, from the very beginning with Fran Tarkenton to Bud Grant, Randy Moss to Adrian Peterson. It’s truly amazing so check it out of you haven’t. Totally worth it!!!