RIP Jeff Siemon

As a young fan of the Minnesota Vikings in the 1970s, I naively believed that all of my heroes would play forever. My earliest football memories were the Vikings annually competing for and in the Super Bowl. From 1973-76, they played in three of the four Super Bowls. If not for a dreadful push-off, it would’ve been four of four. It felt like the Vikings were always going to be playing for NFL titles. Unfortunately, this little kid had it all wrong. Players don’t play forever and the Vikings haven’t been back to a Super Bowl since their loss to the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XI. Players also don’t live forever. As had become a recurring theme in Super Bowls, not a lot went right for the Vikings in that game against the Raiders. One of the few bright spots that day was the play of linebacker Jeff Siemon. It felt like he made every tackle. For a great player with a lot of great games, it might’ve been his best game. Yesterday, Jeff Siemon passed at the age of 75.

Other than his going to Stanford, I liked everything about Jeff Siemon. In a strange Cal-Stanford connection for the Vikings, Siemon was selected with the first round pick acquired from the New England Patriots for quarterback Joe Kapp. Siemon is the best Stanford player to ever play for the Vikings. If not the best, Joe Kapp is the most significant Cal player to ever play for the Vikings. Anyway, Siemon’s play on the field easily erased any stupid Stanford issues that I might’ve had. The Vikings annually fielded outstanding defenses in the late 1960s and into the 1970s. Those defenses were known for and fronted by one of the greatest defensive lines in NFL history. Alan Page, Carl Eller, Jim Marshall, and Gary Larsen/Doug Sutherland cast a long shadow over the defenders that played behind them. In Roy Winston, Lonnie Warwick, and Wally Hilgenberg, the Vikings had good, solid linebackers. They cleaned up nicely what that menacing front line left behind. Jeff Siemon is arguably the first great Vikings linebacker. He was the first that was able to emerge from the shadow cast by Page, Eller, and Marshall as an outstanding football player like them rather than because of them. Bud Grant never really trusted rookies to start right away. Alan Page was the first that truly challenged that lack of trust. Siemon was the second. He replaced Warwick in the lineup six games into his rookie season. My first Vikings linebacker trio was Roy Winston-Jeff Siemon-Wally Hilgenberg and I loved them. Despite being the youngest by several years, Siemon was easily the standout. That trio was together from 1972 until Matt Blair fully bumped Winston in 1976. It’s strange to look back and see that Siemon played at 235 lbs. He always looked bigger than that. Maybe it’s because Page, Eller, and Marshall weren’t much bigger. Maybe it’s simply because I was smaller. All of those Vikings were giants to me. Who knows? I do know that these young eyes could see that Siemon excelled at everything demanded of a linebacker in those days. He could defend the run. He could drop back in coverage. He was always where he needed to be. He was a great football player. 

Jeff Siemon was a great football player at every level of the game. His play at Bakersfield High School earned him induction into the California High School Hall of Fame. He was an All-American at Stanford and helped lead that pompous school to back-to-back Rose Bowl wins. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He was a first round pick in the 1972 NFL Draft and earned Pro Bowl honors in four of his first six years with the Vikings. His excellent 11-year career in Minnesota earned him a spot in 2010 among the 50 Greatest Vikings. If the Vikings had managed to win even one of the three Super Bowls he played, Siemon would have an argument for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was one of the best middle linebackers of his era. Oh, that era. The 1970s were my introduction to football, the Minnesota Vikings, and the National Football League. I will always look back at those days with fondness. Honestly, it doesn’t really feel that long ago. On good days, Super Bowl XI doesn’t feel 50 damn years ago. On other days, I feel the time. I probably feel it most by those no longer here. That linebacker trio of my youth are all gone now. It takes the wind out of me. 

RIP Jeff Siemon