2019 Team Records (Coach, Quarterback, Rushers, Receivers)

2019 Team Records (Coach, Quarterback, Rushers, Receivers) – Vikings

by Chase Stuart on July 24, 2019

In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).

Previous Teams:

AFC East: Dolphins, Bills, Jets, and Patriots
NFC East: Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, and Redskins
AFC North: Steelers, Browns
NFC North: Packers

The Vikings have been a really good franchise, winning a division title in 34% of their seasons. Hall of Famer Bud Grant was the star, of course: he guided the team to four Super Bowl appearances. But the late Dennis Green and current head coach Mike Zimmer won about 60% of their regular season games (through 2018) as head coach of the Vikings, even though they each won just 33% of their postseason games. And while Minnesota may not match the Steelers in terms of stability, the Vikings have had just 9 coaches since the team was founded in 1960.

Ovr Rk	Coach	G	W	L	T	HC Win %	FrG	FrW	FL	FrT	Fr W%	Win% w/o HC	Diff
15	Bud Grant	259	158	96	5	0.62	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.515	3.1%
49	Dennis Green	159	97	62	0	0.61	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.532	1.4%
96	Mike Zimmer	80	47	32	1	0.594	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.541	0.5%
181	Jerry Burns	95	52	43	0	0.547	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.546	0%
268	Brad Childress	74	39	35	0	0.527	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.547	-0.2%
362	Mike Tice	65	32	33	0	0.492	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.55	-0.4%
417	Les Steckel	16	3	13	0	0.188	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.552	-0.7%
471	Leslie Frazier	54	21	32	1	0.398	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.555	-1%
504	Norm Van Brocklin	84	29	51	4	0.369	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.564	-1.9%

You might expect Fran Tarkenton to top the QB list, but you are underestimating how dominant the Purple People Eaters were. From 1969 to 1971, Gary Cuozzo went 16-5 as the starting quarterback of the Vikings. In those 16 wins, Minnesota allowed an averaged of 8.25 points per game. Cuozzo went 14-2 when Minnesota allowed under 14 points, and 2-3 when the Vikings allowed 14+ points. And Joe Kapp is second on the career list, by virtue entirely of his 1969 season. Kapp was .500 outside of that year, but he went 12-1 in 1969 — and the Viking allowed 8.4 points per game in those starts.

Minnesota has a weird history of a high winning percentage (0.546) despite most of its most successful quarterbacks having short stints. Only three quarterbacks have more than 50 starts for Minnesota: two of them had losing records with Minnesota, and the third was barely above average! The Vikings truly are a weird franchise.

Ovr Rk	QB	G	W	L	T	QB Win %	FrG	FrW	FL	FrT	Fr W%	Win% w/o QB	Diff
104	Gary Cuozzo	21	16	5	0	0.762	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.540	0.5%
113	Joe Kapp	38	23	12	3	0.645	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.541	0.4%
118	Randall Cunningham	23	16	7	0	0.696	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.542	0.4%
123	Case Keenum	14	11	3	0	0.786	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.542	0.4%
137	Brad Johnson	46	28	18	0	0.609	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.542	0.3%
138	Bob Lee	11	9	2	0	0.818	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.542	0.3%
142	Gus Frerotte	13	10	3	0	0.769	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.542	0.3%
150	Jeff George	10	8	2	0	0.800	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.543	0.3%
192	Teddy Bridgewater	28	17	11	0	0.607	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.544	0.2%
211	Fran Tarkenton	170	91	73	6	0.553	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.544	0.2%
213	Jim McMahon	12	8	4	0	0.667	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.544	0.2%
234	Brett Favre	29	17	12	0	0.586	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.544	0.1%
257	Norm Snead	2	2	0	0	1.000	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.545	0.1%
268	Wade Wilson	48	27	21	0	0.563	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.545	0.1%
335	Shaun Hill	1	1	0	0	1.000	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.545	0.1%
412	Sean Salisbury	9	5	4	0	0.556	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.546	0%
454	Joe Webb	2	1	1	0	0.500	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.546	0%
453	Bob Berry	2	1	1	0	0.500	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.546	0%
459	Rich Gannon	35	19	16	0	0.543	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.546	0%
480	Kirk Cousins	16	8	7	1	0.531	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.546	0%
492	Sam Bradford	17	9	8	0	0.529	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.546	0%
494	Warren Moon	39	21	18	0	0.538	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.546	0%
651	Josh Freeman	1	0	1	0	0.000	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.546	-0.1%
650	Brooks Bollinger	1	0	1	0	0.000	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.546	-0.1%
678	Todd Bouman	3	1	2	0	0.333	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.546	-0.1%
747	Matt Cassel	9	4	5	0	0.444	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.547	-0.1%
756	Tarvaris Jackson	20	10	10	0	0.500	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.547	-0.1%
795	Spergon Wynn	2	0	2	0	0.000	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.547	-0.1%
794	Archie Manning	2	0	2	0	0.000	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.547	-0.1%
818	George Shaw	4	1	3	0	0.250	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.547	-0.1%
913	Kelly Holcomb	3	0	3	0	0.000	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.548	-0.2%
912	Tony Adams	3	0	3	0	0.000	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.548	-0.2%
926	Ron Vander Kelen	5	1	4	0	0.200	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.548	-0.2%
990	Steve Dils	15	6	9	0	0.400	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.548	-0.3%
1000	Donovan McNabb	6	1	5	0	0.167	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.548	-0.3%
1146	Christian Ponder	36	14	21	1	0.403	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.552	-0.6%
1166	Daunte Culpepper	80	38	42	0	0.475	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.553	-0.7%
1178	Tommy Kramer	110	54	56	0	0.491	886	478	397	11	0.546	0.553	-0.8%

Things are more predictable at running back. While Minnesota has had a number of talented athletes at this position, Adrian Peterson easily stands out at the top. He ranks 1st in both games as the Vikings leading rusher and percentage of games as the team’s leading rusher. Herschel Walker led the team in rushing in just 60% of his starts, which speaks to how he was misused by the team.

Rusher	First Yr	Last Yr	Leading Rusher	Total Games	%
Adrian Peterson	2007	2016	113	128	88%
Chuck Foreman	1973	1979	84	106	79%
Robert Smith	1993	2000	78	107	73%
Ted Brown	1979	1986	61	107	57%
Darrin Nelson	1982	1992	50	137	36%
Bill Brown	1962	1974	42	192	22%
Michael Bennett	2001	2005	37	66	56%
Dave Osborn	1965	1975	37	150	25%
Terry Allen	1991	1994	36	49	73%
Tommy Mason	1961	1966	30	70	43%
Herschel Walker	1989	1991	26	43	60%
Jerick McKinnon	2014	2017	20	61	33%
Chester Taylor	2006	2009	18	64	28%
Clint Jones	1967	1972	18	81	22%
Oscar Reed	1968	1974	17	88	19%
Daunte Culpepper	1999	2005	16	85	19%
Latavius Murray	2017	2018	15	34	44%
Leroy Hoard	1996	1999	15	56	27%
Scottie Graham	1993	1996	14	53	26%
Alfred Anderson	1984	1991	14	114	12%
Matt Asiata	2012	2016	14	76	18%
Dalvin Cook	2017	2018	12	15	80%
Fran Tarkenton	1961	1978	11	188	6%
Rick Fenney	1987	1991	11	69	16%
Mewelde Moore	2004	2007	10	56	18%
Moe Williams	1996	2005	10	124	8%

At wide receiver, the Vikings have a pair of Hall of Famers in Cris Carter and Randy Moss; the results here are probably what you would expect. A special shout out to Adam Harstad’s favorite Percy Harvin, who notably led the team in receiving yards in over half of his games. That’s the most of any player in team history.

Receiver	First Yr	Last Yr	Leading Receiver	Total Games	%
Cris Carter	1990	2001	77	200	39%
Randy Moss	1998	2010	59	121	49%
Anthony Carter	1985	1993	54	141	38%
Sammy White	1976	1985	45	137	33%
Ahmad Rashad	1976	1982	38	105	36%
Jake Reed	1991	2001	36	143	25%
Percy Harvin	2009	2012	30	56	54%
Gene Washington	1967	1972	29	87	33%
Steve Jordan	1982	1994	28	187	15%
John Gilliam	1972	1975	25	63	40%
Adam Thielen	2014	2018	23	83	28%
Stefon Diggs	2015	2018	22	58	38%
Hassan Jones	1986	1992	20	107	19%
Chuck Foreman	1973	1979	18	106	17%
Paul Flatley	1963	1967	17	64	27%
Jerry Reichow	1961	1964	16	54	30%
Kyle Rudolph	2011	2018	16	116	14%
Bill Brown	1962	1974	16	192	8%
Greg Jennings	2013	2014	14	31	45%
Bernard Berrian	2008	2011	13	54	24%
Bob Grim	1967	1977	12	90	13%
Marcus Robinson	2004	2006	11	43	26%
Sidney Rice	2007	2010	11	51	22%
Ted Brown	1979	1986	11	107	10%
Leo Lewis	1981	1991	11	148	7%
John Henderson	1968	1972	10	60	17%

That’s it for the Minnesota version of this series. Please leave your thoughts in the comments.

Tagged as: 2019 Profiles

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