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.