Throwback Thursday: 1970s All-Decade Team

The NFL really got started for me in the 1970s. That's when I discovered football, the NFL and the Minnesota Vikings. It was a great time, perhaps the best time, to discover the Vikings. All of the football players from that decade will hold a special place with me and it's fun to look back at some of the very best. Here is the NFL's All-Decade Team of the 1970s as chosen by the Hall of Fame Selection Committee members.

Quarterbacks
Terry Bradshaw
Ken Stabler
Roger Staubach

Running Backs
Earl Campbell
Franco Harris
Walter Payton
O.J. Simpson

Wide Receivers
Harold Carmichael
Drew Pearson
Lynn Swann
Paul Warfield

Tight Ends
Dave Casper
Charlie Sanders

Tackles
Dan Dierdorf
Art Shell
Rayfield Wright
Ron Yary

Guards
Joe DeLamielleure
John Hannah
Larry Little
Gene Upshaw

Centers
Jim Langer
Mike Webster

Kickers
Jim Bakken
Garo Yepremian

Defensive Ends
Carl Eller
L.C. Greenwood
Harvey Martin
Jack Youngblood

Defensive Tackle
Joe Greene
Bob Lilly
Merlin Olsen
Alan Page

Linebackers
Bobby Bell
Robert Brazile
Dick Butkus
Jack Ham
Ted Hendricks
Jack Lambert

Cornerbacks
Willie Brown
Jimmy Johnson
Roger Wherli
Louis Wright

Safeties
Dick Anderson
Cliff Harris
Ken Houston
Larry Wilson

Punter
Ray Guy


I like looking at the various All-Decade Teams and seeing which of the players may/may not have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. It's been said that to make the Hall of Fame a player must be among the best of his era. Making an All-Decade team is a pretty good indication of being one of the best of a particular era. Some decades may not have been particularly strong at certain positions so an All-Decade player doesn't necessarily mean a Hall of Fame player. As for the 1970s All-Decade Team. Ken Stabler, Harold Carmichael, Drew Pearson, L.C. Greenwood, Harvey Martin, Robert Brazile, Louis Wright, Dick Anderson, and Dick Anderson aren't currently honored in Canton. That's not counting the kickers. Of these players, Stabler is the most curious. He makes the 1970s team over Bob Griese and Fran Tarkenton. Griese and Tarkenton are both in the Hall of Fame. Tarkenton had all of the 1960s to add to his Hall of Fame resume' but Griese is honored in Canton for what he did in the 1970s. Griese has two Super Bowl rings. Stabler has one. It's interesting to see the Hall of Fame Selection Committee prefer Stabler over Griese for the All-Decade Team but not good enough for the Hall. Each played the majority of their career, and the best years of the career, in the 1970s. It would only seem to follow that if Stabler was more deserving than Griese of All-Decade honor that he had the better career. For whatever reason, that isn't the case in the eyes of the Selection committee.

I like seeing former Houston Oilers linebacker Robert Brazile on this team. I don't think that he gets enough recognition for his terrific NFL career. I rarely see his name mentioned for Hall of Fame consideration and I think that he deserves it. For a handful of years, he might have been the best linebacker in the game. He played on some great Oilers teams. Unfortunately, those Oilers teams played in the same division as the Pittsburgh Steelers.

A linebacker that isn't on this team but probably should be is Randy Gradishar. Like Brazile, he should be receiving more Hall of Fame consideration. Gradishar was the leader of a tough Denver Broncos defense. A defense that got the Broncos through an AFC conference stacked with the Steelers and Raiders and into a Super Bowl.

The guards and defensive tackles of this team are awesome.

The one other Viking player that I'd like to see on this team is running back Chuck Foreman. From 1975-77, he might have been the best back in the league. Certainly the most versatile. Unfortunately for Foreman, you can remove any of the four backs from the 1970s team. Campbell, Payton and Simpson are among the best six or seven backs ever.

Looking through this team brought back some wonderful football memories.