1962 Minnesota Vikings season

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1962 Minnesota Vikings season
General manager
NFL Western
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Uniform

The 1962 season was the Minnesota Vikings' second in the National Football League. Under head coach Norm Van Brocklin, the team finished with a 2–11–1 record that still stands as the franchise's worst season record in terms of winning percentage, both by today's method of calculation (.179) and the method used at the time (.154), in which ties were not counted as games played. The Vikings have won at least three games in every season since.

Offseason

1962 Draft

Main article: 1962 NFL draft
1962 Minnesota Vikings Draft
Draft order Player name Position College
Round Overall
1 2 Traded to the New York Giants[a]
2 17 Traded to the Cleveland Browns[b]
3 30 Bill Miller Wide receiver Miami (Florida)
4 45 Roy Winston
Guard
 LSU
5 58 Traded to the New York Giants[c]
6 73 Larry Bowie
Offensive tackle
 Purdue
7 86 Traded to the Philadelphia Eagles[d]
8 101 Paul White Running back Florida
9 114 Marshall Shirk
Offensive tackle
 UCLA
10 129 Traded to the Cleveland Browns[e]
11 142 Traded to the Cleveland Browns[b]
12 157 Gary Fallon Running back Syracuse
13 170 Roger Van Cleef
Offensive tackle
 Southwestern Oklahoma
14 185 Patrick Russ
Offensive tackle
 Purdue
15 198 Larry Guilford End Pacific
16 213 John Contoulis
Offensive tackle
 Connecticut
17 226 Ron Staley End Wisconsin
18 241 Junior Hawthorne
Offensive tackle
 Kentucky
19 254 Tommy Minter Running back Baylor
20 269 Terry Cagaanan Running back Utah State
^[a] The Vikings traded their 1st-round selection (2nd overall) to the New York Giants in exchange for QB George Shaw.
^[b] The Vikings traded their 2nd-round selection (17th overall) and 11th-round selection (142nd overall) to Cleveland for DT Jim Prestel, DE Jim Marshall, LB Dick Grecni, RB Jamie Caleb, RB Billy Gault and DT Paul Dickson.
^[c] The Vikings traded their 5th-round selection (58th overall) to the New York Giants for RB Mel Triplett, TE Bob Schnelker and OT Bob Schmidt.
^[d] The Vikings traded their 7th-round selection (86th overall) to Philadelphia for TE Jerry Reichow.
^[e] The Vikings traded their 10th-round selection (129th overall) to Cleveland for DE Bob Denton.

Roster

1962 Minnesota Vikings final roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Rookies in italics

Preseason

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance[1]
1 August 11 at San Francisco 49ers L 24–30 0–1 Husky Stadium (Seattle, WA) 22,500
2 August 18 at Los Angeles Rams L 24–33 0–2 Multnomah Stadium (Portland, OR) 23,544
3 August 25 St. Louis Cardinals L 21–24 0–3 Parade Stadium (Minneapolis) 15,500
4 September 2 Baltimore Colts W 24–13 1–3 Metropolitan Stadium 27,227
5 September 8 Dallas Cowboys W 45–26 2–3
Grady Stadium (Atlanta, GA)[2]
 12,500

Regular season

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance
1 September 16 at Green Bay Packers L 7–34 0–1 City Stadium 38,669
2 September 23 Baltimore Colts L 7–34 0–2 Metropolitan Stadium 30,787
3 September 30 at San Francisco 49ers L 7–21 0–3 Kezar Stadium 38,407
4 October 7 Chicago Bears L 0–13 0–4 Metropolitan Stadium 33,141
5 October 14 Green Bay Packers L 21–48 0–5 Metropolitan Stadium 41,475
6 October 21 at Los Angeles Rams W 38–14 1–5 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 33,071
7 October 28 Philadelphia Eagles W 31–21 2–5 Metropolitan Stadium 30,071
8 November 4 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 31–39 2–6 Forbes Field 14,462
9 November 11 at Chicago Bears L 30–31 2–7 Wrigley Field 46,984
10 November 18 Detroit Lions L 6–17 2–8 Metropolitan Stadium 31,257
11 November 25 Los Angeles Rams T 24–24 2–8–1 Metropolitan Stadium 26,728
12 December 2 San Francisco 49ers L 12–35 2–9–1 Metropolitan Stadium 33,076
13 December 9 at Detroit Lions L 23–37 2–10–1 Tiger Stadium 42,256
14 December 16 at Baltimore Colts L 17–42 2–11–1
Memorial Stadium
 53,645

Note: Intra-conference opponents are in bold text.

Standings

NFL Western Conference
 W L T PCT CONF PF PA STK
Green Bay Packers 13 1 0 .929 11–1 415 148 W3
Detroit Lions 11 3 0 .786 10–2 315 177 L1
Chicago Bears 9 5 0 .643 8–4 321 287 W2
Baltimore Colts 7 7 0 .500 5–7 293 288 W2
San Francisco 49ers 6 8 0 .429 5–7 282 331 L2
Minnesota Vikings 2 11 1 .154 1–10–1 254 410 L3
Los Angeles Rams 1 12 1 .077 1–10–1 220 334 L3
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Pro Bowl

Second-year halfback Tommy Mason was the only Viking voted to the East–West Pro Bowl game, played January 13, 1963, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and won by the East 30–20.

Statistics

Team leaders

Category Player(s) Value
Passing yards Fran Tarkenton 2,595
Passing touchdowns Fran Tarkenton 22
Rushing yards Tommy Mason 740
Rushing touchdowns Tommy Mason
Fran Tarkenton
Mel Triplett		 2
Receiving yards Tommy Mason 603
Receiving touchdowns Charley Ferguson
Tommy Mason		 6
Points Jim Christopherson 61
Kickoff return yards Bill Butler 588
Punt return yards Bill Butler 169
Interceptions Ed Sharockman 6
Sacks Jim Marshall 9

Note that sack totals from 1960 to 1981 are considered unofficial by the NFL[3]

League rankings

Category Total yards Yards per game NFL rank
(out of 14)
Passing offense 2,216 158.3 11th
Rushing offense 1,864 133.1 6th
Total offense 4,080 291.4 12th
Passing defense 3,123 223.1 11th
Rushing defense 1,978 141.3 10th
Total defense 5,101 364.4 12th

References

  • "1962 Draft". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved April 10, 2007.
  • "1962 Minnesota Vikings". DatabaseFootball. Archived from the original on April 10, 2007. Retrieved April 10, 2007.
  1. ^ "1962 Minnesota Vikings (NFL) - Pro Football Archives".
  2. ^ "Part II: Brutal Vikings camp, wild nightlife and the Dallas Cowboys come to Bemidji in 1962". August 23, 2011.
  3. ^ "Pre-1982 Sacks Added To Pro Football Reference". Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
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