1962 Minnesota Vikings season
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.
1962 Minnesota Vikings season | |
---|---|
General manager | Bert Rose |
Head coach | Norm Van Brocklin |
Home field | Metropolitan Stadium |
Results | |
Record | 2–11–1 |
Division place | 6th NFL Western |
Playoff finish | Did not qualify |
Offseason
1962 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
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 |
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.