Favorite Minnesota Vikings Mount Rushmore
Alan Page
Cris Carter
John Randle
Justin Jefferson
These are my favorite players in Vikings franchise history. Alan Page has been my favorite Vikings football player since my first day as a Vikings fan. He may even have been the reason this little kid from California became a Vikings fan. He was certainly a big reason for my falling for the team. Perhaps the worst day in all my days as a Vikings fan was the day that Page was waived. I didn’t understand it then. I don’t understand it now. The first NFL game and first Vikings game I ever attended was later in that 1978 season. I dreamed of seeing Alan Page in person. I dreamed of seeing all of those Vikings players and coaches in person but especially Page. Instead of playing the Raiders in Oakland, he had played the day before in Washington for the Chicago Bears. Sad. Very, very sad.
I’ve always been particularly fond of receivers. It was the position I played. It’s the position that routinely draws my attention. I’d been a huge fan of Cris Carter since his Ohio State days. It was his hands. I’ve never seen better hands. I hoped that the Vikings would select him in the Supplemental Draft. I was very disappointed when they didn’t. I was thrilled when they grabbed him off of waivers from the Philadelphia Eagles. I’ve never been more ecstatic over a Vikings waiver claim. I can’t imagine I ever will be. Carter was a fantastic receiver. I attended a Vikings-49ers Monday Night game in 1995. As a fan of receivers, the game was a dream pass-catching duel between Carter and Jerry Rice. The 49ers jumped all over the Vikings from the start. It was 21-0 after the first quarter. Sitting in the stands, it felt like Carter put the team on his back and hauled them back into the game. It was 27-20 at the half. Sadly, the 49ers held on for a 37-30 win. With Steve Young throwing to Rice and Warren Moon throwing to Carter, it really was a pass-catching dream. The crazy thing was the final receiving numbers. This truly felt like a duel between two of the best to ever catch a football. Carter vs Rice. It was 1995. It was long before everybody had a computer in their hand. It was even before fantasy football took over as a passion parallel to the real game. Statistics weren’t blasted to everyone in the stands. I had no idea what sort of numbers Carter and Rice were posting. It truly felt like Carter and Rice were doing a bit of “anything you can do I can do better.” So, I was stunned to see the game statistics in the Tuesday morning newspaper.
Cris Carter:
12 catches
88 yards
2 TDs
Jerry Rice:
14 catches
289 yards
3 TDs
I learned a lot about statistics that night. Watching the game from the stands, I never would’ve guessed that Rice had gained 200 more yards than Carter. It did not feel like the one-sided receiving duel found in the statistics. That’s because every one of Carter’s catches meant so much to the team. Every catch moved the chains. The Vikings had to really grind for every yard they gained. Every Carter catch was crucial. For the 49ers, defending Super Bowl champs, everything came so much easier. Anyway, other than the score, it was a beautiful night for a fan of receivers. That night, Cris Carter joined Alan Page as my favorite players in franchise history.
John Randle also became a franchise favorite of mine while watching a prime time game from the stands. I was in the Oakland Coliseum stands in 1996 for a Sunday Night game against the Raiders. In a game the Vikings would win in overtime, John Randle took over the game in the fourth quarter. It felt like he was in the Raiders backfield as often as Jeff Hostetler. Randle had two sacks in the game. He harassed Hostetler with such frequency that it felt like he had 10 sacks. Randle was so easy to like. He’s probably a favorite of every Vikings fan that lived through the 1990s. His social media presence today only enhances his appeal. I looked forward to his “Purple Friday” posts.
I never thought a Vikings receiver could ever approach Cris Carter and Randy Moss. Then along came Justin Jefferson. Everything about his first four years in Minnesota has been ridiculous. So ridiculous that I still can’t believe that he’s already one of my four favorite Vikings in franchise history. Instead of rationalizing it, I’m just going to sit back and enjoy his ridiculous Vikings career.
More Minnesota Vikings Mount Rushmore Fun:
Greatest Minnesota Vikings Mount Rushmore
Alan Page
Randall McDaniel
Randy Moss
Adrian Peterson
Other than the first one, all of these Mount Rushmores are going to be very subjective. Alan Page, Randall McDaniel, Randy Moss, and Adrian Peterson are in the conversation for the best to ever play their respective positions. That helps me in selecting each as the greatest players in Vikings franchise history. Fran Tarkenton, Carl Eller, Paul Krause, Ron Yary, Mick Tingelhoff, Joey Browner, Chris Doleman, Cris Carter, John Randle, Steve Hutchinson, and Justin Jefferson are in the conversation but I’m sticking with the above four.
Most Important Minnesota Vikings Rushmore
Jim Marshall
Bud Grant
Jim Finks
Fran Tarkenton
I often include this “Most Important Minnesota Vikings Mount Rushmore” so I can have Jim Marshall on it. He wasn’t the best player on the Super Bowl teams. He wasn’t the best player on the defense. He wasn’t the best player on the defensive line. He wasn’t even the best defensive end on the team. However, he was the most important player. He was the heart and soul of those great teams. He was their leader. That’s why his Hall of Fame omission is such a sensitive issue for Vikings fans.
Bud Grant. That’s all that really needs to be said about the best coach in Vikings history. It would take a coach actually winning a Super Bowl to challenge Grant for that title.
Jim Finks was the architect of the great Vikings teams of the late 1960s and 1970s. The only negative to his great career as a general manager is that he left the Vikings for the Bears and built a Super Bowl champion in Chicago. Finks was the second general manager to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He made it before the introduction of the Contributor category. So, he made it while being in voting competition with players.
Fran Tarkenton had a weird Vikings career. It’s weird because he had two distinct and significant stints as the Vikings quarterback. He was an exciting and fun young quarterback for an expansion team from 1961-66. He was also an exciting and fun old quarterback for an annual Super Bowl contender from 1972-78. During the first stint, he had a rocky relationship with head coach Norm Van Brocklin. It was so rocky that he demanded a trade after the 1966 season. The Vikings obliged and traded him to the New York Giants. Strangely, Tarkenton still wanted out of Minnesota even though Van Brocklin resigned about a month before the trade. Grant was named the new head coach three days after Tarkenton was traded. While he was with the Giants, Finks and Grant built and molded the Vikings into one of the best teams in the league. They just needed a quarterback and in 1972 they brought Tarkenton back to Minnesota. Two of the picks the Vikings received from the Giants were used to select tackle Ron Yary and guard Ed White. Those two would form an impenetrable right side to protect a now older Tarkenton. I only got to see the older, post-Giants sabbatical Tarkenton. He was great. As a naive little kid I thought that he’d always be the Vikings quarterback. I didn’t think that he’d ever retire. I didn’t think any of those Vikings greats would retire. Fortunately, I did get to see Tarkenton play from the Oakland Coliseum stands in his last regular season game. He was a great quarterback.
Some positional Mount Rushmores:
Minnesota Vikings Quarterback Mount Rushmore
Fran Tarkenton
Tommy Kramer
Daunte Culpepper
Kirk Cousins
This feels pretty straightforward.
Since their first season in 1961, the Vikings have selected five quarterbacks in the first round of the NFL Draft.
Tommy Kramer (1977)
Daunte Culpepper (1999)
Christian Ponder (2011)
Teddy Bridgewater (2014)
J.J. McCarthy (2024)
It’s an understatement to say that the Vikings have had a frustrating quarterback history since Fran Tarkenton retired after the 1978 season. Tommy Kramer was selected in the first round to be the team’s next quarterback. He was a fun gunslinger. Over his first four years as the Vikings starting quarterback he only missed three starts. Injuries peppered his next seven years in Minnesota. His is a quarterback story of what might’ve been. Daunte Culpepper was on an upward trajectory until a knee injury ended his time in Minnesota. Christian Ponder was drafted to be a quarterback that he never had the talent to be. As with Culpepper, a horrible knee injury ended whatever future Teddy Bridgewater might’ve had with the Vikings. Each of the four quarterbacks was drafted to be the next great Vikings quarterback. Two showed great potential, one had potential, and the fourth was Ponder.
Since the Dennis Green years, the Vikings have often relied on bringing in old-timers to quarterback the team. When it’s worked, the results have been exciting. Three of the best, most fun seasons of the past 26 years have been guided by old Randall Cunningham (1998), old Brett Favre (2009), and journeyman Case Keenum (2017). Unfortunately, all three seasons ended painfully, one game short of the goal. Even the old Warren Moon years of the mid 1990s were fun. Moon threw such a beautiful ball.
Hopefully, J.J. McCarthy cracks this Mt. Rushmore.
Minnesota Vikings Receiver Mt. Rushmore
Cris Carter
Randy Moss
Justin Jefferson
Anthony Carter
The Vikings have a tremendously rich receiver tradition. It’s probably the league’s best. Cris Carter and Randy Moss are easy picks. Justin Jefferson’s four years are already enough to join them. He has a Gold Jacket in his future. There’s certainly debate for the fourth. I’m going with Anthony Carter. For a few of his nine years in Minnesota, he was arguably the second best receiver in the league to Jerry Rice. There was one particular day in which he was the best receiver on the field and Rice was on that field. Carter should be in the team’s Ring of Honor. There are many contenders for that fourth spot. Gene Washington, John Gilliam, Sammy White, Ahmad Rashad, Jake Reed, Percy Harvin, Adam Thielen, and Stefon Diggs.
If receiver isn’t the Vikings greatest position tradition, it’s the defensive line. It’s so strong that I’ve separated it into ends and tackles.
Minnesota Vikings Defensive End Mount Rushmore
Carl Eller
Jim Marshall
Chris Doleman
Jared Allen
The first three are fairly easy. Carl Eller and Chris Doleman have busts in Canton. There’s an easy argument that Jim Marshall should join them. I expect Jared Allen to join them next summer. I want Danielle Hunter on this Mount Rushmore but, right now, I’m leaning Allen.
Minnesota Vikings Defensive Tackle Mount Rushmore
Alan Page
John Randle
Kevin Williams
Keith Millard
For me, this one’s easy. Alan Page and John Randle are Hall of Famers. Kevin Williams should be. He has the All-Decade, All-Pro, Pro Bowl, performances, and numbers to get there. I fear that he might have a ridiculous, Carl Eller-like wait. After Richard Seymour made it a few years back, I thought that Williams would be next. I’ve always thought that Seymour and Williams had similar careers. The only difference being that Seymour has Super Bowl rings. That’s why he probably deserved to go first. I believe that Williams will eventually get the bust that he deserves. Keith Millard would have a bust if injuries hadn’t cut his career short. His best years were as good as any defensive tackle I’ve ever seen. He was unstoppable in 1988. He was even better in 1989. That year, he was named Defensive Player of the Year and was third in the MVP voting. Millard was incredible. Like Anthony Carter, he should be in the Vikings Ring of Honor.
That’s enough Mount Rushmore fun. For now.
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