With about two months to pass until training camp, I decided to rank the 100 Greatest Players in the history of the Minnesota Vikings. My time with the team started in the early 1970s. I’ve watched most of the players on this list. Through highlights, research, reading, and interviews I feel like I’ve watched the players that played before my time with the team. The franchise has had a lot of great players over its 62 years in the NFL. 13 of the players are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A few others should be. A handful more will be. As with any list like this it’s very subjective. It’s how I see the greatest players in Vikings history and the order can change daily, even hourly. It’s a very fluid thing. The following is how I see it now. Hopefully, I can refrain from tinkering with the order during the course of the reveal. The countdown to #1 starts today with the players ranked from 100-91. The reveal will continue over the next several weeks.
100 Greatest Minnesota Vikings Players: 100-91
100. Randall Cunningham, QB
99. Brett Favre, QB
98. Joe Senser, TE
97. Cordarrelle Patterson, WR/KR
96. Leo Lewis, WR/KR
95. Terry Allen, RB
94. Mark Mullaney, DE
93. Bryant McKinnie, OT
92. Greg Coleman, P
91. Fred Cox, K
Randall Cunningham and Brett Favre kick off this list. In many ways, their inclusion is more ceremonial than deserving. Each had one great season for the Vikings. Despite arguments from Fran Tarkenton and Daunte Culpepper, the greatest quarterbacking seasons in franchise history were Cunningham in 1998 and Favre in 2009. My goodness, those seasons were a blast. Those seasons have to be recognized and I’m including Cunningham and Favre in my first two spots of the Top 100. If only each had guided the Vikings to that final game.
One of the great “What if’s” in Vikings history is tight end Joe Senser. He played during the era of Dave Casper, Kellen Winslow, Todd Christensen, and Ozzie Newsome. Senser had 42 catches for 447 yards and seven touchdowns as a rookie in 1980. He exploded for 79 catches for 1004 yards, and eight touchdowns in 1981. In only two seasons he had played his way into the orbit of the league’s great tight ends. Then we had the sad strike-shortened season of 1982. Senser missed the 1983 season with a knee injury. He was never the same and his career was over after the 1984 season. If not for that injury, who knows what his career would’ve been. He seemed unstoppable in 1981 and it felt like he was just getting started. Chuck Foreman, Keith Millard, Joey Browner, Terry Allen, Teddy Bridgewater. The Vikings have had several players with promising, even Hall of Fame caliber, careers cut short by injuries. All teams have. Injuries will always be an unfortunate part of football. Joe Senser could’ve been an all-time great. Not just a Vikings all-time great but a league all-time great. For what he did before the knee injury cut short his career, he’s #98.
If Cordarrelle Patterson ever learned to run a route and be where he was supposed to be, his stay in Minnesota would’ve been longer. He’d also be in the top half of this list. He’s one of the greatest kick returners in league history. He was a blast with the ball in his hands. Because Patterson could never be relied upon to do what he was supposed to do on offense, he goes down as one of the more frustrating players in Vikings history.
Another receiver/kick returner. Leo Lewis is one of the smallest players to ever play for the Vikings. He had a very underrated 11-year career in Minnesota. He was a fine receiver and impactful punt returner. It felt like every game of his that I watched an announcer would mention that Lewis’ father had played for Bud Grant in the CFL.
It feels like Terry Allen should be higher. He had two 1,000-yard seasons during his four seasons in Minnesota. He missed a season to injury. If he’d done in Minnesota what he continued to do in Washington, he’d be much higher on this list.
Another frustrating player, probably the most frustrating Vikings player, is Bryant McKinnie. He had the physical gifts to be one of the best offensive tackles to ever play. Instead of dominating, it felt and looked like he simply ambled his way through his assignments. He made one Pro Bowl and he got himself sent home from that one Pro Bowl. Fitting. McKinnie had the talent to be in the Top 20 of this list. Instead, he’s #93. I suppose that’s something. Honestly, he probably should be in the 60-70 range. He gets penalized for being frustratingly disappointing.
I close the first ten with a couple specialists. It can be tough to place kickers and punters on a list like this. Bobby Walden, Greg Coleman, Mitch Berger, and Chris Kluwe are the best punters in franchise history. Mitch Berger is the only one of the four to reach a Pro Bowl. I went with Coleman for his 10-year Vikings career and because he was a fun punter. Few punters are fun and Coleman was fun. Fred Cox is the Vikings all-time scoring leader. And he helped invent the Nerf football. Both contributions put him among the 100 Greatest Minnesota Vikings Players.
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