Throwback Thursday: All-Time Minnesota Vikings Coaching Staff

 The Flicker was originally posted on January 25, 2020. 

The recent additions to and subtractions from the Minnesota Vikings coaching staff got me thinking about the best coaches that have done some time with the team. From those thoughts, I couldn't stop myself from piecing together an All-Time Minnesota Vikings Coaching Staff.

Head Coach
Bud Grant

Offense

Offensive Coordinator
Jerry Burns

Quarterbacks

Norm Van Brocklin

Running Backs
Eric Bienemy

Receivers
Chip Myers

Tight Ends
Brian Billick

Offensive Line
John Michels

Assistant Offensive Line
Mike Tice

Defense

Defensive Coordinator
Mike Zimmer

Defensive Line
Buddy Ryan

Assistant Defensive Line
Andre Patterson

Linebackers
Monte Kiffin

Defensive Backs
Tony Dungy

Assistant Defensive Backs
Pete Carroll

Special Teams

Special Teams Coordinator
Bud Grant

Assistant Special Teams
Gary Zauner

I tried to place each of the coaches in positions that they held with the Vikings. Mike Zimmer doesn't hold the title of defensive coordinator but there's no doubt that he coordinates the defense as the head coach. I also demoted the Vikings first head coach to quarterback coach. Norm Van Brocklin never spent a day as an assistant coach. He went straight from NFL MVP to head coach of an expansion team. Fran Tarkenton said that Van Brocklin had a brilliant mind for offensive football. That's good enough for me. Perhaps he'd be better suited as the team's offensive coordinator but I really want Jerry Burns in that position. The emotional range of Van Brocklin and Burns together would be a riot to see. Tony Dungy coordinated the defense for Dennis Green. He was never the Vikings defensive back coach but he gets that job for this team. Picking a special teams coordinator was an issue. The Vikings' special teams during their Super Bowl years were factors in so many games. I've never seen a team block as many kicks and punts as those teams did. I wanted the special teams coach of those teams to be the All-Time coordinator. The problem is that no Vikings coach had that specific title. Entire NFL coaching staffs of that era could fit into the office of one of today’s head coaches. Assistant coaches often had to work with more than a single position group. Bud Grant stressed the importance of special teams. Because the special teams of his teams were so damn special he gets to be the head coach and coordinate the special teams.

From a Vikings perspective, I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing that former assistants Pete Carroll, Tony Dungy, Brian Billick, and Mike Tomlin went on to be Super Bowl-winning head coaches for other teams. Buddy Ryan wasn't the head coach of a Super Bowl-winning but he played a significant role in winning one as a defensive coordinator.

The Vikings offensive explosion in 1998 propelled Brian Billick into a head coaching opportunity with the Baltimore Ravens. Chip Myers coached the receivers from 1994-97 and quarterbacks in 1998. His work with the receivers and juggling of Brad Johnson and Randall Cunningham during the explosive 1998 season made him an easy choice to replace Billick as the Vikings offensive coordinator. About a month after being promoted, Myers died suddenly at the age of 53 of a heart attack. In a sad case of what might have been, I've often wondered what a Chip Myers-led Vikings offense might have looked like. Playmakers like Randy Moss, Cris Carter, Jake Reed, and Robert Smith can make coaching look easy. I thought that the Vikings offense could build on what they did in 1998. Instead, that was their peak. The sad, sudden loss of Myers left a hole on the coaching staff that Dennis Green never could fill.

There weren't enough positions on this coaching staff for all of the terrific coaches that have impacted the Vikings franchise. Here are a few of the former Vikings coaches that deserve mention:

Jack Patera
Neil Armstrong
Bus Mertes
Floyd Peters
John Teerlinck
Paul Wiggin
Mike Tomlin