| There are a number of great franchises in the | | | | 37-13 in their first game ever. The team would go |
| National Football League. One of the more | | | | on to win just two more games the rest of that |
| interesting franchises in the NFL is the Minnesota | | | | inaugural season, defeating the Baltimore Colts in |
| Vikings. The Vikings came into the league in 1961 | | | | week nine and then the Los Angeles Rams in |
| as an expansion team and quickly developed into | | | | week twelve. |
| one of the more formidable teams in the league. | | | | 4. One of the original owners of the Minnesota |
| The Vikings teams of the 1970s are famous for | | | | Vikings was Ole Haugsrud. Haugsrud had been the |
| their on field accomplishments. A great deal is | | | | owner of the Duluth Eskimos, an NFL team in the |
| known about the Minnesota Vikings, but here are | | | | 1920s. When Haugsrud sold the Eskimos team |
| five things you may don't know about the team. | | | | back to the league in the late 1920s, part of the |
| 1. Bud Grant was the head coach of the | | | | agreement gave him first rights to any future |
| Minnesota Vikings from 1967 to 1983, and then | | | | NFL team in the state of Minnesota. When the |
| one more year in 1985. Grant was almost the | | | | ownership group was put together to start the |
| first head coach in the history of the Vikings, as | | | | Vikings in 1960, Haugsrud exercised his right from |
| he was a candidate for the job in 1961 though it | | | | that transaction 30 years earlier and purchased a |
| was eventually given to former Philadelphia Eagles | | | | 10% stake in the team. |
| quarterback Norm Van Brocklin. | | | | 5. The Minnesota Vikings hold their summer |
| 2. No Minnesota Vikings player has gone to more | | | | training camp at Minnesota State University in |
| Pro Bowls than Hall of Fame guard Randall | | | | Mankato, Minnesota. They have been doing this |
| McDaniel who made the Pro Bowl every year | | | | since 1966. During the first five years of the |
| from 1989 to 1999, an 11 year streak. | | | | team's existence, 1961 through 1965, the team |
| 3. 1961 was the team's first year in the NFL and | | | | held their training camp at tiny Bemidji State |
| they defeated the Chicago Bears by the score of | | | | University on the shores of Lake Bemidji. |