Author: David Shama

Here it is! The 50^th anniversary Vikings trivia quiz as prepared by Sports Headliners.

Review these 25 questions during your Labor Day weekend as you await the start of the Vikings’ 50^th season on Thursday night against the Saints in New Orleans.  The questions are in the first two sections of today’s Sports Headliners, the answers in the third.  (No peeking ahead or other form of cheating allowed).

Let me know if you answer all the questions correctly.  That earns you a place on the trivia advisory board.  Notify me, too, if you miss on all the questions.  You need help!

1. What year did the Vikings franchise begin play in the NFL?  (Please get this correct!)

2. Who is the current Vikings wide receiver that recently had hip surgery?

3. What NFL team employed Vikings offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell as its quarterbacks coach prior to Bevell coming here?

4. Who was the Vikings No. 1 draft choice in 1961?

5. Who were the two players from Michigan State the Vikings chose on the first round in the 1967 draft?

6. Who started at quarterback for the Vikings in their first regular season game ever?

7. What Viking player was credited with originating the phrase “Forty for Sixty”?

8. Name the Vikings defensive back, paralyzed in a motorcycle accident, who never played pro football again.

9. Who was the Vikings lineman from the 1970s who turned his benchwarming status into a well-known local endorsement deal?

10. Who was the Vikings linebacker chosen NFL Rookie of the Month for December 1997?

11. The Vikings have had three wide receivers recognized as NFL Rookie of the Year.  Who are they?

12. Who was the Vikings head coach who once worked as an assistant to Green Bay’s Vince Lombardi?

13. Who is the Vikings all-time scoring leader?

14. Who was the Vikings running back who had a starring role in TV’s Hill Street Blues?

15. What Vikings team has the best regular season record ever?

16. How many Super Bowls have the Vikings played in?

17. What year did Minneapolis host the Super Bowl?

18. What Viking holds the team record for most yards rushing in a playoff game?

19. What Viking set the franchise record for most rushing touchdowns in a playoff game?

20. Vikings coach Brad Childress and Saints coach Sean Payton are graduates of what college?

21. Who was the Viking quarterback that threw for the most yards in a regular season opening game?

22. Who was the last Viking inducted into the Ring of Honor?

23. The Vikings have retired the jersey numbers of two offensive linemen including center Mick Tingelhoff.  Who is the other player?

24. What Viking had the most Pro Bowl starts in his career?

25. How many times have the Vikings played the Saints in a regular season opening game in Minnesota?

The answers to the trivia questions are:

1. The Vikings franchise began its first season in the NFL in 1961, the same year the Twins started up.

2.  Sidney Rice’s unexpected hip surgery in August has Vikings fans gulping Maalox.

3.  Darrell Bevell worked for the Vikings’ hated rivals, that team in Wisconsin, as quarterbacks coach from 2003-2005.

4. Tulane running back Tommy Mason was the Vikings No. 1 pick in 1961.  On the third round the franchise chose quarterback Francis Tarkenton from Georgia.

5. Running back Clinton Jones was chosen with the second pick in the first round of the NFL draft in 1967 and then the Vikings used their eighth pick of that round to take wide receiver Gene Washington.  After choosing the two Michigan State players, the Vikings also used a first round pick (No. 15) on Notre Dame defensive tackle Alan Page.  It was a decent draft.

6. NFL veteran George Shaw was the quarterback for the Vikings in their first regular season game ever, a stunning 37-13 win over the Bears at Met Stadium in 1961.

7. Quarterback Joe Kapp, who led the Vikings to the 1970 Super Bowl, originated the phrase “Forty-for-Sixty.”  It referred to the 40-man roster playing all-out for 60 minutes.

8.  Karl Kassulke had a motorcycle accident on his way to training camp in 1973 that left him paralyzed below the waist.

9. “Benchwamer” Bob Lurtsema became a familiar face around town as a spokesman for Twin City Federal Savings and Loan.
10. Tough question.  The Vikings linebacker chosen NFL Rookie of the Month for December 1997 was Dwayne Rudd.

11. Sammy White in 1975, Randy Moss in 1998 and Percy Harvin in 2009 are the Vikings wide receivers who were honored as NFL Rookie of the Year.

12. Jerry Burns, the Vikings head coach from 1986-91, worked for the legendary Vince Lombardi in Green Bay.
13. Placekicker Fred Cox, with the Vikings from 1963-1977, is the franchise’s all-time leading scorer with 1,365 points.

14. Former Vikings running back Ed Marinaro, once a Heisman Trophy runner-up while playing for Cornell, starred in TV’s Hill Street Blues.

15. Vikings fans will long remember the 1998 team that had the franchise’s best regular season record of 15-1 and later lost the NFC title game.  Ouch!

16. The Vikings have played in the Super Bowl four times, 1970, 1974, 1975 and 1977.  Ouch again!

17.  In one of the few times the Super Bowl has ever been played in a northern city, the Metrodome in Minneapolis hosted the 1992 game.

18.  Robert Smith rushed for a franchise record 140 yards in a Vikings playoff game in 2000.

19. Adrian Peterson rushed for three touchdowns in last January’s NFC title game loss to New Orleans.

20.  Vikings head coach Brad Childress and Saints head coach Sean Payton, whose teams meet on Thursday night in New Orleans, are graduates of Eastern Illinois.

21. Tommy Kramer threw for 395 yards in the franchise’s opening regular season game in 1985.

22.  Scott Studwell, who was a Vikings linebacker from 1977-1990 and has worked in the front office since then, was inducted into the Ring of Honor in 2009.

23. The late Korey Stringer and Mick Tingelhoff are the only two offensive linemen to have their Vikings jerseys retired.

24. Guard Randall McDaniel had 11 Pro Bowl starts during his Hall of Fame career from 1989-1999.

25.  Zero. The Vikings opened the regular seasons of 1976 and 1978 in New Orleans but never in Minnesota.