Finally. This countdown of the 100 Greatest Minnesota Vikings Players comes to an end with the Top 10 players in franchise history. Well, one person’s view of the 10 greatest players in franchise history.
100 Greatest Minnesota Vikings Players: 10-1
10. Jim Marshall, DE
9. Steve Hutchinson, OG
8. Carl Eller, DE
7. John Randle, DT
6. Fran Tarkenton, QB
5. Adrian Peterson, RB
4. Randall McDaniel
3. Randy Moss, WR
2. Cris Carter, WR
1. Alan Page, DT
Jim Marshall is the outlier among the Top 10 Greatest Minnesota Vikings Players. He’s the only one of the ten not honored in Canton (Adrian Peterson will soon be there). I’m not going to discuss whether Marshall’s Canton absence is right or wrong. I flip back and forth on the topic so frequently that it’s pointless to try. Besides, this is about his place in Vikings history. I have Marshall among the top ten mostly for his importance to the franchise. He was a very good football player but he wasn’t even the best football player on the defensive line. Or the second best. Despite that, Marshall might be the most important football player in team history. That is why his Hall of Fame candidacy is such a sensitive topic for Vikings fans. He was the leader of the Vikings throughout the team’s first AND second decades. He played defensive end for twenty years. He never missed a game. He played in a 12-game season, 17 14-game seasons, and two 16-game seasons. I guess that he needs to come back at the age of 85 to experience a 17-game season. I wouldn’t put it past him. Marshall was incredible. He was always there for his team. Through four Super Bowls and the team’s “glory” days, he was the heart and the soul of his team. The players looked up to him. The coaches looked to him. If only the Hall of Fame voters could quantify that. With up to three senior players making it to Canton each year for the next two years, Marshall’s best shot is now.
The Vikings offensive line has been a problem for so long that it’s a struggle to remember a time when Steve Hutchinson was a part of the line. It’s worth the struggle. Remembering his blocking for the Vikings is pure joy. In 2006, his first in Minnesota, Hutchinson was probably the team’s MVP, certainly the offensive MVP. He was brilliant. That brilliance became his baseline over the next five seasons. The only issue that I have with Hutchinson’s career is that it started in Seattle and ended in Tennessee.
When I was discovering football and falling for the Vikings, I was drawn to Alan Page when the defense was on the field. No matter how focused I was on Page I couldn’t ignore the hulking “81” flashing across the screen. Carl Eller looked huge. I was always intrigued by Page. I think that I was scared of Eller.
John Randle was too small for the NFL. He was too small to hold up in the trenches. He still dominated both. I was at a Vikings-Raiders game in 1996. The Vikings won in overtime. Randle took over the game in the fourth quarter. That was nothing new. He often did that. It was fun to see it in person. He was a fun, entertaining, and great football player. Among Vikings fans of his era, Randle is a universal favorite.
Any player in the final six could take the top spot. Due to the position that he played, Fran Tarkenton might be #1 on many lists. He was the quarterback of my youth. Due to injuries, bad luck, whatever, the Vikings are still looking for a franchise quarterback to replace him. At the time of his retirement after the 1978 season, Tarkenton held every career passing record. He held those records longer than any quarterback ever has. It took Dan Marino until the mid-1990s to finally chase down those numbers. Every quarterback that came after Tarkenton played a game that favored the pass. Heavily favored the pass. Tarkenton played all of his career during an era that heavily favored the run.
In a passing league, Adrian Peterson made it fun to run again. He had games of 224 yards and an NFL-record 296 yards as a rookie in 2007. He was just getting started. The highlight of his brilliant career was his NFL MVP season of 2012. A knee injury ended his 2011 season. He wasn’t supposed to be ready for the start of the next season. He was. 2097 yards. Eight yards short of Eric Dickerson’s season record. Peterson led the league in rushing three times. He could run through and past defenders like no other back that I’ve ever seen.
Two guards in the Top 10. That feels odd. It also feels right. Randall McDaniel and Steve Hutchinson are deserving of their place in this Top 10. In my book, McDaniel is right there with John Hannah and Larry Allen as the best guards of my lifetime. McDaniel is one of the best guards to ever play. His bust in the Pro Football Hall of Fame confirms it. At 6-3 and about 280 lbs, he was a little on the small side during his early years in the league. He was very much on the small side during the latter years of his career. He handled defensive players with a unique blend of athleticism and strength. I’ve never seen an offensive lineman that could run with him or like him. McDaniel was a special guard and football player. Twelve consecutive Pro Bowls. He only missed his first year and last year. Seven times, he was first-team All-Pro. He was second-team twice. The only thing that would knock him out of the top-five of this list is the position he played. If I could put McDaniel and his funky stance on today’s Vikings team, I’d sleep a whole lot easier during the season. I’d sleep a whole lot easier during the offseason as well.
Separating Randy Moss and Cris Carter isn’t easy or fun. Justin Jefferson is well on his way to making Vikings player and receiver rankings even more difficult. Maybe we should just enjoy and appreciate the Vikings great receiver tradition rather than ranking them. Nope! Gotta rank them! Moss or Carter? Moss was an athletic freak. Carter was a technician. I suppose it depends on what you value most.
Randy Moss ranks with Adrian Peterson as the most explosive offensive players in Vikings franchise history. Moss is arguably the most physically gifted receiver to ever play. Before his rookie season, he said that he’d “rip up the NFL.” He sure did. The two-touchdown debut against the Buccaneers. The Monday Night thrashing of the Packers. The three touchdowns against the Cowboys on Thanksgiving. Moss ripped up the NFL as a rookie and kept on ripping all the way to Canton. Moss was a fun, brilliant football player. My second visit to the Pro Football Hall of Fame was to see Moss’s induction.
Hands, body control, route-running. Cris Carter was the best I’ve ever seen at the receiver traits I value most. Maybe I’d sprinkle in a bit more speed. Hands. It all starts with Carter’s hands. Best I’ve ever seen. When I think of Carter I often think of the Vikings-49ers Monday Night game I attended in 1995. The defending champion 49ers jumped all over the Vikings. More specifically, Jerry Rice jumped all over the Vikings. It was 21-0 in a blink. Then, it felt like Carter put the team on his back and hauled them back into the game. It turned into a Cris Carter-Jerry Rice duel. If you’re a fan of receivers, it was pass-catching heaven. I simply loved watching Carter catch a football. My first visit to the Pro Football Hall of Fame was to see Carter’s induction.
When I fell for the Vikings in the early 1970s, I was taken by Alan Page. Maybe he was the reason that this little California kid fell for a team from Minnesota. I can’t remember. I do remember I couldn’t take my eyes off Page. I always hoped that the Vikings would open games on defense. I couldn’t wait to see Page. He was a brilliant defensive tackle. He was the Aaron Donald of his day. Page was so quick. He was often in the backfield before the offensive linemen were out of their stances. He was sometimes penalized for that quickness. Then things really got fun. If Page ever felt wronged by the officials, he took his game to an unimagined, unhinged level. During a time when Dick Butkus, Deacon Jones, and Bob Lilly got more attention, Page was the game’s best defensive player. He was league MVP in 1971. A defensive tackle taking the MVP award is unimaginable. He was third in the voting in 1970. He was Defensive Player of the Year in 1971. He was named to nine Pro Bowls. He was first-team All-Pro five times. He was second-team All-Pro three times. Thinking about #88 wrecking offenses always brings a lasting smile. Alan Page is my #1 player in Vikings franchise history.
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