1972 Minnesota Vikings: 7-7-0
Previous Season Next SeasonHome record: 3-4-0 (135 points scored, 112 allowed) Road record: 4-3-0 (166 points scored, 140 allowed) Head Coach: Bud Grant 301 points scored (12th of 26 teams), 252 points allowed (12th) NFL Averages: 20.3 points/game (283.5 points/team) Team stats and rankings: ---------------- PASSING ---------------- ----------- RUSHING ---------- --- TOTAL --- Cmp Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Int Att Yards (Rank) Yd/Att TD Yards (Rank) Turnovers Offense: 218 385 2,523 ( 4) 6.14 19 13 472 1,740 (20) 3.7 11 4,263 (12) 32 Defense: 169 331 1,699 ( 1) 4.83 13 26 454 2,002 (16) 4.4 13 3,701 ( 5) 40
Team roster (starters in bold): # Player Pos GP Hgt Wgt Age Exp College 10 Fran Tarkenton QB 14 6'1 190 32 12 Georgia 11 Mike Eischeid P 14 6'0 190 32 7 Upper Iowa 14 Fred Cox K 14 5'10 200 33 10 Pittsburgh 19 Bob Lee QB 2 6'2 195 27 4 Pacific 20 Bobby Bryant DB 14 6'0 170 28 5 South Carolina 21 Jim Lindsey RB 13 6'2 210 27 7 Arkansas 22 Paul Krause DB 14 6'3 200 30 9 Iowa 23 Jeff Wright DB 13 5'11 190 23 2 Minnesota 24 Terry Brown DB 8 6'1 205 25 3 Oklahoma State 26 Clint Jones RB 7 6'0 205 27 6 Michigan State 27 Calvin Demery WR 5 6'0 190 22 R Arizona State 29 Karl Kassulke DB 8 6'0 195 31 10 Drake 30 Bill Brown RB 14 5'11 228 34 12 Illinois 32 Oscar Reed RB 14 5'11 222 28 5 Colorado State 40 Charlie West DB 14 6'1 197 26 5 Texas-El Paso 41 Dave Osborn RB 14 6'0 208 29 8 North Dakota 42 John Gilliam WR 14 6'0 195 27 6 South Carolina State 43 Nate Wright DB 14 5'11 180 25 4 San Diego State 45 Ed Sharockman DB 7 6'0 200 32 12 Pittsburgh 49 Ed Marinaro RB 10 6'2 212 22 R Cornell 50 Jeff Siemon LB 13 6'2 230 22 R Stanford 51 Godfrey Zaunbrecher C 7 6'2 240 25 2 Louisiana State 53 Mick Tingelhoff C 14 6'1 237 32 11 Nebraska 55 Amos Martin LB 5 6'3 228 23 R Louisville 56 Carl Gersbach LB 14 6'1 230 25 3 West Chester 58 Wally Hilgenberg LB 14 6'3 230 30 8 Iowa 59 Lonnie Warwick LB 6 6'3 238 30 8 Tennessee Tech 60 Roy Winston LB 13 6'1 222 32 11 Louisiana State 62 Ed White OG 14 6'2 262 25 4 California 64 Milt Sunde OG 14 6'2 250 30 9 Minnesota 67 Grady Alderman OT 14 6'2 247 33 13 Detroit Mercy 69 Doug Sutherland DT 14 6'3 250 24 3 Wisconsin-Superior 70 Jim Marshall DE 14 6'3 248 34 13 Ohio State 71 Doug Davis OT 5 6'4 250 28 7 Kentucky 72 John Ward OG 14 6'4 250 24 3 Oklahoma State 73 Ron Yary OT 14 6'6 255 26 5 Southern California 75 Bob Lurtsema DE 14 6'6 250 30 6 Western Michigan 77 Gary Larsen DT 14 6'5 260 32 9 Concordia (IL) 80 John Henderson WR 12 6'3 195 29 8 Michigan 81 Carl Eller DE 14 6'6 247 30 9 Minnesota 83 Stu Voigt TE 14 6'1 220 24 3 Wisconsin 84 Gene Washington WR 12 6'3 208 28 6 Michigan State 87 John Beasley TE 14 6'3 228 27 5 California 88 Alan Page DT 14 6'5 245 27 6 Notre Dame
Per Per Passing Att Cmp Pct Yards Att Cmp TD TD% Int Int% Sack Loss Rating Fran Tarkenton 378 215 56.9 2,651 7.01 12.3 18 4.8 13 3.4 26 203 80.2 Bob Lee 6 3 50.0 75 12.50 25.0 1 16.7 0 0.0 0 0 135.4 Paul Krause 1 0 0.0 0 0.00 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 39.6
Receiving Rec Yards Avg TD John Gilliam 47 1,035 22.0 7 Oscar Reed 30 205 6.8 0 John Beasley 28 232 8.3 1 Ed Marinaro 28 218 7.8 1 Bill Brown 22 298 13.5 4 Dave Osborn 20 166 8.3 1 Gene Washington 18 259 14.4 2 John Henderson 10 190 19.0 2 Stu Voigt 6 50 8.3 1 Clint Jones 6 42 7.0 0 Jim Lindsey 3 28 9.3 0 Ed White 0 3 ? 0 | Rushing Att Yards Avg TD Oscar Reed 151 639 4.2 2 Bill Brown 82 263 3.2 4 Dave Osborn 82 261 3.2 2 Ed Marinaro 66 223 3.4 0 Fran Tarkenton 27 180 6.7 0 Clint Jones 52 164 3.2 2 John Gilliam 8 14 1.8 0 Jim Lindsey 1 8 8.0 0 Stu Voigt 1 1 1.0 1 Paul Krause 1 0 0.0 0 Mike Eischeid 1 -13 -13.0 0 |
Kickoff Returns Att Yards Avg TD John Gilliam 14 369 26.4 0 Clint Jones 12 327 27.2 0 Charlie West 9 196 21.8 0 Bill Brown 3 37 12.3 0 Bobby Bryant 2 41 20.5 0 Jim Lindsey 1 17 17.0 0 Stu Voigt 1 2 2.0 0 | Punt Returns Att Yards Avg FC TD Charlie West 16 111 6.9 6 0 Bobby Bryant 10 48 4.8 15 0 |
1972 Draft: NFL Rnd Ovr Pos Player Games College 1 10 LB Jeff Siemon 156 Stanford [pick acquired from NE] 2 50 RB Ed Marinaro 58 Cornell 3 59 OT Bart Buetow 9 Minnesota [pick acquired from GB] 6 154 LB Amos Martin 54 Louisville 7 181 DE Bill Slater Western Michigan 8 206 WR Calvin Demery 5 Arizona State 9 232 OG Charles Goodrum 95 Florida A&M 10 258 RB Willie Aldridge South Carolina State 11 284 DB Willie McKelton Southern 12 310 DB Bob Banaugh Montana State 13 336 RB Franklin Roberts Alcorn A&M 14 361 RB Marv Owens 10 San Diego State 15 388 OG Mike Sivert East Tennessee State 16 414 QB Neil Graff 29 Wisconsin 17 440 WR Dick Schmalz Auburn
Traded draft picks: #1 to NYG (Larry Jacobson), #3 to PHI (Bobby Majors), #4 to DEN (Tom Graham), #5 to CLE via LA (Greg Kucera)
Transactions:
| 01-27-1972 | traded Norm Snead, Bob Grim, Vin Clements, Minnesota's #1 pick in the 1972 draft and #2 pick in the 1973 draft to Giants for Fran Tarkenton |
| 03-04-1972 | traded Bill Cody to Eagles for Philadelphia's #10 pick in the 1973 draft |
| 04-26-1972 | traded Gary Cuozzo to Cardinals for John Gilliam, St. Louis' #2 pick and Minnesota's #4 pick in the 1973 draft |
| 05-25-1972 | traded Minnesota's #4 pick in the 1973 draft to Chiefs for Mike Eischeid |
| 07-26-1972 | traded a 1973 draft pick to Oilers for Sam Walton |
| 09-06-1972 | Giants claimed Bart Buetow on waivers |
| 09-08-1972 | traded Bob Brown to Saints for Baltimore's #6 pick in the 1973 draft and New Orleans' #4 pick in the 1974 draft |
1972 Regular Season Game Log: Click on the date to view the game summary. Date Opponent Result Record 09/18/72 vs Washington Redskins L 21-24 0-1-0 09/24/72 at Detroit Lions W 34-10 1-1-0 10/01/72 vs Miami Dolphins L 14-16 1-2-0 10/08/72 vs St. Louis Cardinals L 17-19 1-3-0 10/15/72 at Denver Broncos W 23-20 2-3-0 10/23/72 at Chicago Bears L 10-13 2-4-0 10/29/72 at Green Bay Packers W 27-13 3-4-0 11/05/72 vs New Orleans Saints W 37-6 4-4-0 11/12/72 vs Detroit Lions W 16-14 5-4-0 11/19/72 at Los Angeles Rams W 45-41 6-4-0 11/26/72 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 10-23 6-5-0 12/03/72 vs Chicago Bears W 23-10 7-5-0 12/10/72 vs Green Bay Packers L 7-23 7-6-0 12/16/72 at San Francisco 49ers L 17-20 7-7-0