Vikings Shock Bears, NFL – Van Brocklin Gets First Win
Roger Dier
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Part I of a nine-part series on the first wins of the head coaches of the Minnesota Vikings.
By Roger Dier, Wisconsin correspondent for Purpleptsd.com and Vikingsterritory.com.
Only Norm Van Brocklin saw this coming.
On September 17, 1961, the Minnesota Vikings, the newest NFL franchise, prepared to play its first game against the league’s oldest franchise, the Bears of Chicago, which was owned, managed and coached by George Stanley Halas, also known as “Papa Bear.”
The spanking new Vikings were not thought to be a serious challenge for the Bears. The Vikings had gone 0-5 in the preseason, and the Bears dismantled the Vikings 30-7 two weeks before in an exhibition game played in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Vikings were full of castoffs from established teams—Minnesota selected three players from the most expendable players on rosters of the other 12 teams. Because the Dallas franchise was only a year old, they did not have to make any of their players available to the Vikings. Adding weight to the probability that the Vikings were going to lose to Chicago (and a lot of other teams in 1961) was the knowledge that the year-old Dallas franchise did not win a single game during the 1960 season, going 0-11-1. The Bears, meanwhile, were loaded with perennial All-Pros like Bill George, and defensive end Doug Atkins and all-purpose back Johnny Morris joined George in the Pro Bowl at the end of the 1960 season. Hibernating on the 1961 Bears were players that would win the NFL title two years later, guys like Joe Fortunato, JC Caroline, Richie Petibon and an interesting rookie tight end name Mike Ditka.
The Vikings had two fading-star running backs in Hugh McElhenny, who the 49ers put on the expansion list, and Mel Triplett, who came from the Giants in a trade. The Vikings had two rookies who looked promising: Tommy Mason, a running back from Tulane who became the NFL’s first overall pick in the 1961 NFL draft, and Georgia quarterback Fran Tarkenton, who the Vikings selected 29th overall.
Another player from the Giants’ 1960 roster came to the Vikings, right offensive tackle Frank Youso. Once Minnesota received its franchise, the International Falls native and former Minnesota Gopher wanted to leave New York to return to Minnesota. Youso, speaking from his International Falls home last week, told Giants owner Wellington Mara at the end of the 1960 season that he wanted to be traded or released so he could play in his home state. Mara told Youso that wasn’t going to happen.
“Mara said, ‘No you’re not going to leave here. You’re too valuable to us.’ I told him that I’m going to go anyway.”
Mara caved and put Youso on the list of eight Giants players from which the Vikings could choose. With all the running backs on the roster, the Vikings needed people to block for them and the 6-feet, 4-inch, 260 pound Youso had three years of NFL experience.
Youso was the first native Minnesotan to play for the Vikings.
Glancing over the names of the players other teams had made available to the Vikings, Vikings head coach Norm Van Brocklin—also known as the Dutchman and the NFL’s 1960 Player of the Year—shared his opinions with a reporter of players he wouldn’t take: “He’s the perfect football player until the kickoff starts the game. … Plays like a trout going upstream. …The guy is the ‘mother’ type; he doesn’t want to hurt anyone. …this guy is the fruitcake type. He talks about everything else when everyone is talking football.”
The team’s first training camp was at Bemidji State. Youso loved it because Van Brocklin let him leave camp for home on off days; it was a two-hour drive to International Falls. Because of a misunderstanding, one time Youso went home when he wasn’t supposed to, and the Dutchman was waiting for him when came back to camp. He blistered Youso and fined him $150. “I got paid $50 a game,” Youso said. “I was livid but I kept my mouth shut.”
That incident ended the era of good feelings between Youso and Van Brocklin.
There was an interesting battle in camp at quarterback between George Shaw, a six-year veteran who was the leagues No. 1 overall draft choice in 1955 and Tarkenton, the 21-year-old rookie from Georgia. Shaw was one of those quarterbacks who wasn’t good enough to start but was too good to throw away and after four years, the Colts shipped him to the Giants, where he started six games in two years and went 2-3-1.
Three days before the regular season opener, the last player of trade between the Vikings and the Cleveland Browns arrived in Minnesota. Defensive end Jim Marshall became an immediate starter on Minnesota’s defensive line.
Despite going 0-5 in preseason, Minneapolis Morning Tribune writer Jim Klobuchar told his readers the Vikings were ready for the big time. “Their squad morale is first-rate,” Klobuchar wrote.
“If we’re not hungry for this one we’ll never be,” Van Brocklin told Klobuchar. “We’re expecting a slugging match. You can’t let the Bears start taking liberties, or get the jump on you. If we’re going to win, we have to come out swinging.”
Training camp and practice games stretched from late July to mid-September. Finally, Sunday, Sept. 17 arrived. Game day, at last.
It was a beautiful mid-September day. Blue sky, lots of sun, 61 degrees with a little breeze out of the west. Shaw, starting at quarterback thought so, too, and led the Vikings on a long, nibbling march where Mike Mercer scored the first points in Vikings history with a 12-yard field goal.
The Vikings held Chicago, but Bears long snapper Ken Kirk sailed the snap over punter John Adams head and the Vikings recovered. “I think that gave the Vikings the lift they needed,” Adams said.
“You got feelings about the other team during a game,” Youso said. “At the beginning of the game, we made a little progress each play and (the Bears) began to know they were going to have a hard time.”
Van Brocklin, playing a hunch, sat down Shaw and Tarkenton took over. The Bears had never seen anything like Tarkenton. “Fran was a lot younger and peppier,” Youso said. “He could run the beat heck. After a couple of series with Fran, everyone thought that we had a pretty good guy. We picked it up and played a little harder.”
Early in the second quarter, Tarkenton hit Bob Schnelker with a 14-yard touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone. Dave Whitsel, covering Schnelker, said he lost the football in the sun. Mercer converted his kick. Up in the press box, the Huron SD Daily Plainsman sports editor got busy on his typewriter. “Tarkenton is a cool operator who runs the team well,” wrote Dick Wood. “It looks like Shaw is due for a generous amount of bench time this season.”
Rick Casares plunged in from the 2 before the half, but the Bears, who turned the ball over six times on four interceptions and two fumbles, botched the extra point and it was 10-6 Vikings at the half.
Bolstered by their halftime lead, the Vikings went after it in the third. Rookie linebacker Rip Hawkins lit up Bears back Willie Galimore at the Chicago 29 and Minnesota’s Rich Mostardi recovered. Three plays later Jerry Reichow turned a Tarkenton pass into a 29-yard touchdown and McElhenny scored the first rushing touchdown in Vikings history from the 2 late in the third quarter.
It’s likely that in the six other cities where NFL games were played that day, scoreboards displaying the emerging upset in Minneapolis generated a lot of chatter.
Leading 24-6 after three quarters, the Vikings poured it on.
Tarkenton who went 17-for-23 for 250 yards and four touchdown passes, also added a rushing touchdown. Playing with enterprise, the young athlete brought dash to the stodgy old league. “The Bears didn’t know what the hell to do with him,” Youso remembered. “He never stayed in the pocket long.”
The newspaper fellow from S.D. thought so, too. “Several of his passes were thrown after it seemed he was hopelessly hemmed in by such Chicago defensive aces as Bill George, Joe Fortunato and Doug Atkins,” wrote Wood.
Tarkenton’s 2-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter and Dave Middleton’s 2-yard touchdown reception from Tarkenton later in the fourth made it 37-6.
The beaten Bears managed a Billy Wade-to-Galimore garbage time touchdown pass to make the final Vikings 37, Bears 13. When the final gun sounded, Halas, who started the league in 1920, ran across the field to find Van Brocklin. “This is a big day for you,” Halas told the Dutchman as he shook his hand. “A big, big day. You’ll never forget it.”
Three hundred and forty miles to the southeast, Detroit All Pro linebacker Joe Schmidt, fresh off the Lions 17-13 win over Green Bay, heard the final score of the Minnesota versus Chicago game standing in front of a locker at County Stadium in Milwaukee. “No! It can’t be! It just can’t be,” Schmidt said. Told that it was true, Schmidt said, “Well, I don’t believe it. But if it’s true, I have to take my hat off to Norm Van Brocklin.”
Van Brocklin made the rounds after the game congratulating his players and patting backs. He was clearly pleased. “The Bears play bruising football,” Van Brocklin said. “You’ve got to stand up to them and bruise them a little more. The Vikings did.” The next day, Minneapolis Star columnist Charles Johnson wrote that Van Brocklin saw this coming: “Van Brocklin weeks ago expressed the private opinion that the Bears might be had in the opener.”
The Bears’ Casares told Minneapolis Morning Tribune reporter Dwayne Netland that he had an inkling of an upset. “I was scared to death before the game that something like this could happen. The Vikings threw a bold challenge at us in the first quarter and we failed to answer it.”
Like the Bears, newspaper reporters had discovered Tarkenton. “We played tough today,” Tarkenton said. “The pass protection was excellent and the receivers were doing a great job to get open. That’s what veteran receivers can do for a guy like me—get open and make me look good.”
Youso remembers the satisfaction of that first Vikings win: “Everybody we talked to, everywhere we went, everybody said, ‘The Bears are gonna kicked the shit out of you guys.’ Well, we went out and kicked the shit out of the Bears.’”
Youso’s father and brother joined Frank in the locker room after the game. Frank said Dad and brother were as happy as the players, who were hugging each other and laughing. Youso said blocking for Tarkenton that day was challenging. “Fran was a good quarterback but he was not good for the offensive line. You’d be on your block and then Fran would start running all over, but he was very smart, and everybody on the team liked Francis for the way he was and what he could do.”
The day after headlines around the country told the story: The banner headline on the Minneapolis Morning Tribune read: “Vikings Blast Bears 37-13 in Debut.” The New York Daily News simply proclaimed “Vikings Upset Bears, 37-13.” The Daily Plainsman out in Huron announced “Minnesota’s ‘Grab Bag’ Vikings Shock National Football League” and United Press International writer Norman Miller penned his story under this headline: “Tarkenton is Sensational in Upset of Bears.” The Galveston (Texas) Daily Avalanche used extra bold type to announce “Vikings Stun Bears in Debut” and the Philadelphia Daily News printed an oddly worded headline that must have slipped past the copy editor: “Viks’ Voyage Launches A Wow!”
During the next two seasons, the relationship between Youso and Van Brocklin decayed. Van Brocklin was abrasive to a lot of his players, but with Youso, the Dutchman let his mean out.
Coach Norm Van Brocklin and right tackle Frank Youso.
Here’s an example.
Later in the 1961 season, the Vikings played Green Bay in back-to-back games in the last 10 days of October. The pieces of the Packers dynasty were finally intact—they would win the NFL championship in 1961 and a total of five championships in seven years. In an Oct. 22 game at Met Stadium, the Packers were rolling the Vikes 26-7 when linebacker Dan Currie intercepted a pass at the Minnesota 21. Youso caught him at the goal line and the pair tumbled into the end zone, all of Currie’s weight crushing the facemask of Youso’s helmet.
From left, St. Joseph’s Hospital nurses Janet Miers, Pat Ross and Pat Hughes comfort Youso following surgery on his cheekbone.
Youso went to the sidelines and tried to straighten the bars of his helmet, which were mashed together. After the game, Youso and his wife attend a house party of one of the players. In the restroom, Youso saw his right eye filling up with blood. “We gotta go,” he told his wife. Arriving at a hospital, X-rays revealed five breaks in Youso’s right temple. The next morning, a plastic surgeon put Youso’s face back together. The attending doctor told him he was done playing football for the season.
By Wednesday, Youso was back with the team. Checking in Frank Zamberletti, the Vikings trainer told Youso he couldn’t play with five freshly broken bones in his temple. On Thursday, Youso changed into sweats and went out to stretch with the team. Standing on the sideline watching practice, Van Brocklin sidled over. “Van Brocklin walks up to me and says, ‘I called your doctor and he said you can play,’” Youso said. The big right tackle believed Van Brocklin: “I didn’t know the difference. If my doctor said I can play, I’ll play.”
In the return game in Green Bay on Oct. 29, Youso kept his right arm up to protect his mending face during plays. Halfway through the game, Van Brocklin, cursing, benched Youso. Frank remembers watching movies after the second Packers game: “In the movies the next day, Van Brocklin says, ‘Youso, you’re chicken shit, look at you with your arm up by your head. Chicken shit.”
“Of course I answered him back, Youso said. “When Van Brocklin was playing quarterback against the Giants, he’d get some heat and he’d lay down with football and squeal like a rabbit. He was chicken shit. I told everybody that.”
Van Brocklin relished releasing Youso early in the 1963 training camp. After an off day, the Dutchman waited for Youso when the players reported back to camp. “Go get your stuff out of your room, Youso. I just fired you,” Van Brocklin said. Getting cut and signed by another team was and is typical in the NFL, Youso knew that and was glad to get away from Van Brocklin. Within two weeks he was playing for the Oakland Raiders, and spent three years playing for Al Davis before retiring. Van Brocklin’s disregard to Youso’s health lingers. “For Van Brocklin to tell me that he called my doctor and say I’m cleared to play, that wasn’t right,” Youso said. “He never called my doctor. I had five fractures in my temple. One doctor told me years later I could have gotten killed.”
The Vikings finished 3-11 in their first season and in seventh place in the NFL’s Western Conference.
Extra Points: Van Brocklin credited Jim Marshall’s pass rushing pressure for causing two of the four interceptions the Vikings made in their upset over the Bears. Marshall started 270 consecutive games during 19 seasons for the Vikings. He played in several pro bowls and earned All-Pro honors seven times. The Vikings gave up second-round and eleventh-round picks in the 1962 draft for Marshall and five other Browns. It may have been the best trade the Vikings ever made.
The Vikings went 3-4 at home in 1961. Besides beatings the Bears, who finished 8-6, Minnesota also beat the Rams, who ended up 4-10 and the Baltimore Colts, who finished 8-6. More than 32,000 fans attended the Vikings first game. Hugh McElhenny scored three rushing touchdowns, three reception touchdowns and a punt return touchdown in 1961. McElhenny, along with receiver Jerry Reichow (50 catches, 859 yards and 11 touchdowns) made the pro bowl.
Van Brocklin went 25-42-3 in five seasons as Vikings head coach. In 1964, the Vikings went 8-5-1 and tied Green Bay for second in the Western Conference. It was Minnesota’s first winning season.
Some offensive members of the Vikings—including Fran Tarkenton—appeared on the cover of the Nov. 17, 1961 issue of Life Magazine.
George Shaw started four games for the Vikings in 1961 and went 1-3. Shaw ended his career after the 1962 season with Denver, going 12-17-2 as a starter and finishing with a career passer rating of 64.8.
Ditka caught one pass against the Vikings in his first NFL game, but caught 55 more during the ’61 season good for 1,076 yards and 12 touchdowns, remarkable numbers in a run-heavy era. Ditka, 22 years old that season, earned Rookie of the Year honors.
Bears Rookie fullback Bill Brown, a second-round 1961 selection by Chicago (20th overall) was sent to Minnesota in 1962 for a fourth-round draft choice in 1964. Once in Minnesota, Brown bloomed, earning All Pro honors three times, appearing in four Pro Bowls and eventually landing in the Vikings ring of honor. In his last season with the Vikings, Brown volunteered to be on the kick coverage units.
Sources:
Minneapolis Morning Tribune
The Daily Plainsman
The Minneapolis Star
Duluth News Tribune
Associated Press
United Press International
The New York Sleeping Giant by Frank Youso as told to Shawn Youso.
Photo Credits
New York Sleeping Giant Van Brocklin and Youso (page 138) and Youso publicity photo (page 144).
Tarkenton Under Center – Minneapolis Star-Tribune file photo
Youso in Hospital – Minneapolis Morning Tribune photo by Charles Brill