Minnesota Viking Information
The Minnesota Vikings have been members of the National Football League since the 1961 season. Bud Grant coached the team from 1967-1983 and the team won their only championship in 1969. The Vikings also won four conference championships, 11 division championships for Grant and the team made 12 playoff appearances in his 17 years as coach. Grant had the honor of coaching hall of fame players like Fran Tarkenton and Alan Page for the majority of his career. When Tarkenton retired from the NFL, he held almost every record a QB could hold, and Page was only the second defensive player in the NFL to win the MVP Trophy. The last eight playoff appearances for the Vikings all came while Coach Dennis Green was in charge. The team went 15-1 in the 1998 season and they were favored to win the Super Bowl but they were upset in the conference semifinals by the Atlanta Falcons. Mike Tice, a former player in the league, took over as coach in 2001 and has a 15-18 record with the team. Tice is quite a motivating factor in the locker room and has even put on his old equipment to work out with the team to show the passion he has for the game and the team.
The two superstars on the Vikings roster are QB Daunte Culpepper and WR Randy Moss. Culpepper has single-handedly changed the way people think about the quarterback position. Years ago, the QB had to be weak and immobile, but Culpepper is a burly 265 pounds with a killer arm and speed to match. When Culpepper is in the open field, he looks like a tight end and cornerbacks and safeties have a tough time bringing him down. To say that Randy Moss has had his ups and downs over his first few seasons would be quite an understatement. In college, Moss was arrested and it hurt his draft stock. He used that as motivation to record 69 catches for 1,313 yards and 17 touchdowns including three against the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day. Moss has the ability to take over any game he wants to, but often he simply doesn’t feel like playing. Moss also has quite a temper that has gotten him into trouble over the years. In 2004, the duo will welcome RB Michael Bennett back to the lineup after his recovery from a broken foot. Bennett has explosive speed but it’s uncertain how the foot will react to a game situation. Kevin Williams led the Vikings with 10.5 sacks while Kenny Mixon had a team high three forced fumbles to go along with his four sacks and five tackles for loss. The team finished with 28 interceptions on the season, second only to the New England Patriots. Brian Russell, the team leader in tackles, had a team leading nine interceptions while Corey Chavous added eight and Brian Williams had five.
The Minnesota Vikings made eight picks in the 2004 NFL draft. With the 20th overall pick, they selected Kenechi Udeze, a defensive end out of USC. Udeze had health issues near the end of the season that dropped his stock, but if he can stay healthy, he could be the steal of the draft. In the second round, the team drafted Dontarrious Thomas out of Auburn. Thomas played inside linebacker in college, but he’ll likely shift to different linebacker positions in the NFL. The Vikings really didn’t have any glaring weakness in the 2003 season, so they basically took the best player available when each of their picks came up. In all, they selected five defensive players and three offensive players.