Tingelhoff for the Hall of Fame

Former Minnesota Vikings center Mick Tingelhoff is the senior nominee for the 2015 Class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. As is the case with pretty much every senior nominee, he should already be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The senior nominee process is meant to clean up the voter mistakes of the past. Fritz Pollard was inducted 80 years after he retired. Benny Friedman was inducted 71 after he retired. Both should have been in the Hall before the Hall was ten years old. Lavvie Dilweg's family is still waiting. Tingelhoff's 32 year wait doesn't seem so long. He's closer than he's ever been. Hopefully, he's closer than he'll ever need to be. If the Vikings had won at least one of the four Super Bowls in which they played he wouldn't be waiting. Neither would another Vikings player or two.

Mick Tingelhoff was named the starting center of the Minnesota Vikings in 1962. He played 17 years and started 240 consecutive regular games. That number grows with playoff games and the Vikings played a lot of playoff games from 1968-78. Only Brett Favre and teammate Jim Marshall started more consecutive games. Tingelhoff was named All-Pro/All-NFL seven times. He basically the NFL equivalent to the AFL's Jim Otto in the 1960s. Each was their league's representative for postseason honors for most of the decade. Otto's been in the Hall since 1980. Center has been the most stable position in team history. Bill Lapham held the Vikings center spot in 1961. Tingelhoff basically ended Lapham's 2-year career in 1962. Tingelhoff won the position in training camp and held it for the next 17 years. Dennis Swilley took over when Tingelhoff retired and held it from 1979-86. Kirk Lowdermilk from 1987-1992. Jeff Christy from 1994-99. Matt Birk from 2000-2008. John Sullivan from 2009-present. Three centers started single seasons for the Vikings. Lapham(1961), Ron Sams(1984), and Adam Schreiber (1993). In a 54-year history the Minnesota Vikings have had 6 centers for all but three of those years. That stability started with Tingelhoff. He's the best of the bunch and one of the best of all time.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame voters meet today to decide the 2015 Class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Class will be announced tonight during the NFL Honors show. Mick Tingelhoff should be a part of that class. Bringing the Minnesota Vikings population in Canton to 13.