The answers to the trivia questions are:
1. Sports Headliners couldn’t resist this one. On Monday night quarterback Tarvaris Jackson and running back Adrian Peterson banged knees so hard on a handoff both had to leave the game.
2. At the beginning of the 50th season the Golden Gophers (honest) had sent the Vikings the most players, 28. Southern California was next at 26.
3. Vikings guard Randall McDaniel was selected 11 times for the Pro Bowl.
4. Joe Kapp left the Canadian Football League to become coach Bud Grant’s quarterback and he led the Vikings to the 1970 Super Bowl.
5. Randy Moss uttered those infamous words, “I play when I want to play,” during his first tour of duty with the Vikings. Guess he doesn’t want to play this year because he’s been with three teams, the Patriots, Vikings and Titans.
6. Tommy Kramer was the highest-rated quarterback in the NFL for the 1986 season and was named Comeback Player of the Year. He threw for 490 yards in a game against Washington.
7. Joe Senser’s local sports bars have kept the former Vikings tight end’s name in front of the public for years.
8. In 1962 the Vikings played an exhibition game at Parade Stadium and in 1969 played a regular season game at Memorial Stadium.
9. Leslie Frazier started the football program at Trinity College (Illinois) in 1988 and was head coach there through the 1996 season.
10. Adrian Peterson led the NFL in rushing in 2008, his second season in the league.
11. Last year’s regular season record was 12-4, the franchise’s best record of the decade. Sounds pretty sweet compared with this year’s 5-8 record with three games to play.
12. Fran Tarkenton played college football at the University of Georgia and was a third round draft choice of the Vikings in 1961.
13. Robert Smith, who rates with the best Vikings running backs ever, is an in-studio college football analyst for ESPN.
14. Sid Hartman, the local newspaper columnist and radio personality, met Bud Grant back in the 1940s and was Grant’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in Canton, Ohio in 1994.
15. Fred Cox, with 1,365 points, is the all-time leading scorer for the Vikings and Cris Carter, with 670, ranks second.
16. Brett Favre was a 1991 second round draft choice of Atlanta and was with the Falcons for one season.
17. The Vikings defeated Tampa Bay, 17-10, in their first regular season game ever played at the Metrodome.
18. Bill Brown, a bow-legged, violent runner, was known as “Boom Boom” and played for the Vikings from 1962-1974.
19. The Vikings lost in Super Bowl IX to Pittsburgh by a score of 16-6, their closest loss in four Super Bowl defeats.
20. Jerry Burns, Vikings head coach from 1986-1991, was a look-a-like for the late Burgess Meredith who had a long career film including the “Rocky” movies.
21. Defensive tackle Pat Williams has a passion for automobiles including customizing cars.
22. The Vikings lost to Tampa Bay, 27-24, for their only loss during their 15-1 regular season in 1998.
23. Vikings executive Mike Lynn was the franchise’s boss for years including in 1989 when the Vikings sent five players and future draft picks to Dallas for Herschel Walker and also received draft choices as part of the deal, the biggest in NFL history.
24. Minneapolis-born Marc Trestman, who played college football with Tony Dungy at Minnesota and now coaches in Canada, tried twice to make the Vikings roster as a defensive back before deciding to attend law school at the University of Miami.
25. Pete Bercich, who played for the Vikings from 1995-2000, provides game analysis on the radio with play-by-play man Paul Allen.