The New Sheriff’s First Win
Roger Dier
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It was the new Sheriff’s first showdown.
Dennis Green was 43 years old on Sept. 6, 1992. He was also on the eastern sideline of Lambeau Field, prepared to make his National Football League coaching debut against the Packers’ Mike Holmgren, who, like Green, was another acorn of the Bill Walsh one-Super-Bowl-win-after-another coaching tree.
For Minnesota management searching for a successor to Jerry Burns, the choice teetered between Green and Pete Carroll, then serving as the defensive coordinator with the New York Jets. Green was the head coach of the Stanford Cardinals, and Green had turned that program around. The school wanted him to stay, offering Green a five-year extension, but the Vikings offered Green what Stanford could not: a chance to be a head coach in the National Football League.
With his hiring in January 1992, Green became the 5th head coach in Vikings history and just the second African-American head coach in the league. At his first press conference, Green told Minnesota fans that “a new sheriff was in town.” He meant it. Green got rid of underperforming pillars of the dreary past—Keith Millard and Joey Browner. During training camp, the team planned to bus to La Crosse, Wis. to spend two days practicing against the Kansas City Chiefs. When the team buses pulled into Mankato, Chris Doleman walked over to Green and complained about the quality of transportation. “Tell you what, Chris,” Green said. “You’ll get on the damn bus and you’ll like it or we’ll get someone else to ride it.”
Green played his starters a lot in the preseason—the Vikings went 4-0 and outscored opponents 140-6—and that built confidence in a team that had gone 14-18 in the previous two regular seasons. The Packers were also making a fresh start with Holmgren: Green Bay had gone 10-22 in Lindy Infante’s last two years and had two playoff appearances in the previous twenty-four years.
This writer witnessed the game as a member of the working media. The day was steamy—the same kind of hot, wet air the rises into your face when you open the dishwasher in mid-cycle. The high that day at Lambeau Field was 87 degrees, and the humidity was higher—rain and mist took turns making the ball slippery and the sultry air left players gasping.
The Packers took the opening kickoff and went on a lengthy, inchworm-like drive, burning 10:07 of clock while traveling 87 yards in 14 plays. There was suspense along the way: On fourth-and-1 at the Vikings 39, quarterback Don Majkowski gained two yards on a sneak. He finished the drive with a 12-yard toss to Sterling Sharpe.
Vikings defense coordinator Tony Dungy made adjustments after that drive. He told his linebackers to take shallower drops to negate swing passes caught by Green Bay running backs. “They had a nice drive to start the game,” linebacker Jack Del Rio later said. “After that we stuffed them.” It was true. The Packers only gained 184 yards during the rest of the game.
The Vikings scored early in the second by way of Fuad Reveiz’s 50-yard field goal. The Packers matched that with a Chris Jacke 25-yard field goal, the score set up when Packers’ defensive lineman Lester Archambeau walloped Minnesota running back Roger Craig, who fumbled.
Trailing 10-3, Vikings quarterback Rich Gannon led the Vikings on a 12-play, 75-yard drive, throwing to Hassan Jones from 11 yards away to make it 10 each at the half.
Rushing production flipped after halftime. The Packers ran for 82 yards in the first half but only 34 yards in the second half. The Vikings rushed for 39 in the first half and 138 after the break.
THE SECOND HALF
Doleman, who decided to take that bus to La Crosse, got stronger in the heat. Midway through the third quarter, Doleman whacked Packers running back Vince Workman hard enough to cause a fumble. Doleman recovered the ball. The led to Reveiz’s 38-yard field goal with 1:37 left in the third. The Vikings led for the first time, 13-10.
Vinny Clark picked off Gannon on the Vikings’ next possession, and Clark ran it down the sideline to the Minnesota 11. Two players later, Majkowski hit Sanjay Beach from four yards out and it was 17-13 Packers with 11:49 left in regulation.
Confidently, Gannon and the Vikings went on an energized five-play, 80-yard drive, with 51 of those yards delivered by Terry Allen, whose weaving run ended at the Green Bay 4. Gannon hit Jones from three yards out to make it 20-17 Vikings.
From the Green Bay 47-yard line, The Packers went on their last march of the day, traveling all the way to the Minnesota 1-yard line. Two minutes and change remained. A touchdown and conversion meant Green Bay would be up by four points with fewer than two minutes left. That didn’t happen. On third-and-1, tackle Henry Thomas and linebacker Skip McClenden ran over Packers center James Campen and the duo threw Workman for a three-yard loss. Jacke’s short field goal tied the game at 20.
OVERTIME
The Vikings won the toss but were forced to punt. Majkowski threw an interception, Allen fumbled possession back to Green Bay. The teams then traded punts—a field position chess match. The Vikings eventually took over near mid-field. Allen’s thrilling 45-yard run down the soggy, western sideline set up the Vikings at the Packers’ 4-yard line. At that moment, each team had turned the ball over three times. Green took no chances and Reveiz ended the game with a 25-yard field goal with 4:40 left in overtime. “It was a great run,” Holmgren said of Allen’s shifty sprint, which led to the winning points. “One team was going to pop something and they popped something before we did.”
I headed to the visitor’s locker room. Green was happy—and he tried to arrest the adrenal joy he was feeling, but in the few times I had been around the man in training camp, I could tell he was amped with pride. Green’s defense was on the field for 40:19 and that unit made the big stop in the last two minutes of regulation. “It was a great National Football League game,” I have Green saying in my faded game notes. He said “National Football League” about five times in four minutes. The day had to be one of the best of Denny Green’s life.
The Vikings made the playoffs eight times under Denny Green
Sauntering into the Vikings locker room, I spotted Doleman, who stood naked and powerful. Eavesdropping, a Vikings stat guy quietly told Doleman how he had done against Packers left tackle Ken Ruettgers: “Eight total tackles, two and a half sacks, three forced fumbles, one recovery.” By this point in his career, Doleman had stopped talking to the media. I took a shot anyway. “You had a great game, Chris. It doesn’t seem like you were fazed by the heat and humidity.” He turned to me, smiled and politely said, “I don’t have anything to say. Thank you.”
EXTRA POINTS: The Vikings went 11-5 in Green’s first season and won what was then the NFC Central Division. His Vikings made the playoffs in eight of ten seasons in Minnesota but two conference championship games (1998) and (2000) did not go Minnesota’s way. With the Vikings at 5-10 in 2001, Green’s only losing campaign in Minnesota, the team fired him with one game remaining in the season, a decision that looked ungracious at the time and now seems churlish in 2018. As Vikings head coach, Green went 97-62 in the regular season and 4-8 in the playoffs. He died of heart disease on July 22, 2016. The Vikings will induct Green into their ring of honor at halftime of their Sept. 23 game against the Buffalo Bills.
Roger Dier contributes to PurplePTSD and he is the managing editor of National Hockey League content at Fullpresscoverage.com. Dier also covers the Vikings for Fullpresscoverage.com.