1962 Minnesota Vikings season

1962 Minnesota Vikings season
Head Coach	Norm Van Brocklin
General Manager	Bert Rose
Home Field	Metropolitan Stadium
Results
Record	2–11–1
Place	6th NFL Western
Playoff Finish	did not qualify
Timeline
Previous season	Next season
1961	1963

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 standards (.179) and at the time (.154), when 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
2	17	Traded to the Cleveland Browns
3	30	Bill Miller	Wide receiver	Miami (Florida)
4	45	Roy Winston	Guard	LSU
5	58	Traded to the New York Giants
6	73	Larry Bowie	Offensive tackle	Purdue
7	86	Traded to the Philadelphia Eagles
8	101	Paul White	Running back	Florida
9	114	Marshall Shirk	Offensive tackle	UCLA
10	129	Traded to the Cleveland Browns
11	142	Traded to the Cleveland Browns
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 roster
	Quarterbacks 10 Fran Tarkenton Running backs 30 Bill Brown FB 20 Tommy Mason 39 Hugh McElhenny Wide receivers 85 Tom Adams 88 Charley Ferguson 89 Jerry Reichow Tight ends 87 Gordon Smith		Offensive linemen 67 Grady Alderman T 61 Larry Bowie G 53 Mick Tingelhoff C 72 Frank Youso T Defensive linemen 59 Jim Leo DE 70 Jim Marshall DE 79 Jim Prestel DT		Linebackers 58 Rip Hawkins 60 Roy Winston Defensive backs 25 Dean Derby CB 45 Ed Sharockman CB Special teams 36 Jim Christopherson K 15 John McCormick P		Reserve lists Practice squad Rookies in italics 53 Active, 5 Inactive, 5 Practice squad

Preseason

Game	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
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)	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

Standings

Template:1962 NFL Western standings

Postseason

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. http://www.profootballhof.com/history/release.jsp?release_id=1452. Retrieved April 10, 2007.
• "1962 Minnesota Vikings". DatabaseFootball. Archived from the original on 10 April 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20070410120847/http://www.databasefootball.com/teams/teamyear.htm?tm=MIN&lg=nfl&yr=1962. Retrieved April 10, 2007.