Franchise Snapshot: Minnesota Vikings

Football Digest, Oct, 2001 by Chuck O'Donnell

* The Vikings traded six players and 12 draft picks to the Dallas Cowboys for running back Herschel Walker on October 12, 1989. Minnesota released him on May 29, 1992.

* In 1975, running back Chuck Foreman led the league in receiving (73 catches), setting a record for most receptions by a running back in a single season. He also scored 22 touchdowns that year and became the first player in club history to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season.

* Punter Mitch Berger threw an interception in his only pass attempt in 2000, leaving him with a quarterback rating of minus-414.5.

* Defensive end Jim Marshall never missed a game in his 20-season career, playing in 282 games, the most by anyone other than kicker/quarterback George Blanda.

* Of the Vikings' three wins in their first year in 1961, two came against teams that finished above .500 (the Chicago Bears and Baltimore Colts, both 8-6).

* Hall of Fame coach Bud Grant came to the Vikings after a 10-year tenure as coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League. Although he lost four Super Bowls with the Vikings, he won the CFL championship four times. Grant also played for two years with the Minneapolis Lakers of the NBA.

* Linebacker Ed McDaniel lists "The Young and the Restless" as his favorite television show.

* Wide receiver Cris Carter's older brother, Butch, played seven years in the NBA and was head coach of the Toronto Raptors.

* Of the 11 players to go to the Pro Bowl when the Vikings went 15-1 in 1998, six are no longer with the team, including Randall McDaniel, John Randle, Todd Steussie, Robert Smith, Jeff Christy, and Randall Cunningham.

* In the past 25 seasons, four different Vikings quarterbacks have led the league in passing: Fran Tarkenton, Tommy Kramer, Wade Wilson, and Randall Cunningham. In that same span, four different Vikings have led the league in receptions: Chuck Foreman, Ahmad Rashad (twice), Rickey Young, and Cris Carter.

* Vikings owner Red McCombs started out as a used car salesman in Corpus Christi, Texas.

* Despite retiring this year at just 28, Robert Smith holds the Vikings records for career rushing yards (6,818), most 100-yard rushing games in a season (eight in 2000), most consecutive 1,000-yard seasons (four), most 100-yard games in a career (29), most rushing yards in a season (1,521 in 2000), and most yards from scrimmage in a season (1,869 in 2000).