Favorite Vikings Offensive Tackle Duos

Earlier this week, I listed my favorite running back and receiver duos in Minnesota Vikings franchise history. Now, it's time for my favorite Vikings offensive tackle duos. The big guys deserve some love. They help make it possible for the quarterbacks, running backs, and pass catchers to do what they do.

Favorite Vikings Offensive Tackle Duos

1. Grady Alderman-Ron Yary
Ron Yary was one of the best offensive tackles of his era. His bust in Canton is proof of that. Grady Alderman is one of the most underrated players in franchise history. He should be in the team's Ring of Honor. Together they are my favorite Vikings offensive tackle combo. The funny thing about Yary is that a lot of people, Vikings fans included, assume that he played left tackle. Isn't a team's best offensive tackle always placed on the left side? Yary was the Vikings right tackle from 1969-81.

2. Gary Zimmerman-Tim Irwin
Perhaps I'm mistaken but I think that the Gary Zimmerman-Tim Irwin offensive tackle combo is overlooked in team history. Maybe I skipped class on the days that Vikings team history discussed the Zimmerman-Irwin years. Not only was this combo one of the best in team history, they are tied for most years played together (7 years). Zimmerman is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He's the one Vikings' Hall of Famer that can arguably be claimed by another team. That could be due to the bitter contract dispute that led to his departure from Minnesota. That could also be due to his having won two Super Bowls in Denver. I lean toward the latter but it's probably a bit of both. Zimmerman played better and longer for the Vikings than he did for the Broncos. Irwin, like Alderman, was very underrated. He's in the argument for the third best offensive tackle in franchise history. Irwin even made an impact on the current Vikings team as he was one of Harrison Smith's youth football coaches in Tennessee.

3. Steve Riley-Ron Yary
I was a little young to fully embrace the Grady Alderman-Ron Yary offensive tackle combo. So, I feel like my formative years formed with the Steve Riley-Ron Yary offensive tackle combo. The only thing I didn't like about these two was that both were from USC. Even then I knew that Cal was in my future. Riley was solid. Yary was great. Like Zimmerman-Irwin, Riley and Yary were the Vikings offensive tackle combo for seven years.

4. Todd Steussie-Korey Stringer
It's impossible to not get choked up when thinking about this offensive tackle combo.
Todd Steussie is one of the few Cal players to do good things for the Vikings. Korey Stringer was just starting to reach his immense potential when he was taken away far too soon.

RIP Big K.

5. Bryant McKinnie-Phil Loadholt
Bryant McKinnie and Phil Loadholt only played together for two seasons. No other player in Vikings team history bothered me more than McKinnie. He had the size and ridiculous natural ability to be an all-time great. He never seemed to care. Perhaps the best example of his wasted football career was his lone Pro Bowl appearance. He finally gets the honor in 2009. Instead of showing that he long deserved to be among the best of the best he's sent home before the game is even played for being an ass. What a waste. Loadholt had the size of McKinnie but nowhere near the natural ability but he made the most of what he had. He was a very good football player. The football talent of this behemoth combo puts them on this list despite my disdain for McKinnie. 

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The importance of the offensive line can be seen in this list of five offensive line combos. The Vikings best years are the years in which one of these combos was on the field.

late 1960s-early 1970s Grady Alderman-Ron Yary
1970s                             Steve Riley-Ron Yary
late 1980s                      Gary Zimmerman-Tim Irwin
late 1990s                      Todd Steussie-Korey Stringer
late 2000s                      Bryant McKinnie-Phil Loadholt

It's no surprise. The offensive line makes the offense go. The current Vikings have struggled to field a competent offensive line since players like Steve Hutchinson, Matt Birk/John Sullivan, McKinnie, and Loadholt departed. I'm not going to get into what the Vikings should've done in the draft over the last decade but significant resources were used to obtain the players in this list of Favorite Vikings Offensive Tackle Combos. Yary, Riley, Steussie, Stringer, and McKinnie were first-round picks. Yary was the #1 pick in the 1968 NFL Draft. The Vikings acquired the rights to Zimmerman after the Giants had selected him in the 1984 Supplemental Draft of USFL players. Irwin was a third-round pick. Loadholt was a second-round pick. Alderman is the outlier as the Vikings collected him off of the scrap heap of the expansion draft. More recently, the Vikings have used strong draft capital on the offensive line. They might soon sport an offensive tackle combo of second-round picks in Ezra Cleveland and Brian O'Neill. The next time I list my Favorite Vikings Offensive Tackle Combos maybe Cleveland and O'Neill will be on it. Hopefully, their play and the play of the entire offensive line will spark another run of Super Bowls. This time, a successful run.