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Number Crunching: #10
by Chris Brophy
9/6/2009
We hit double digits for the first time in our long journey and it’s time to talk about a man who has been in the news recently for his views on FD’s all-time #4. Over his career, he crunched all the numbers but couldn’t quite win a championship. Read on to discover more about the best #10 in NFL history.
FD’s All Time #10: Fran Tarkenton, Quarterback (Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants)
 Fran Tarkenton is the most prolific passer of his era. He began his career in the 1960’s when the NFL was undergoing plenty of change and then enjoyed great success in the dead ball era of the 1970’s. He helped a brand new franchise establish itself before returning after a hiatus to lead it to three conference championships. By the time it was all said and done Tarkenton was the NFL’s all time leading passer and regarded as one of the best to ever play the position.
After a successful college career at the University of Georgia which included winning the SEC Championship in 1959, Tarkenton was drafted in the 3rd round of the 1961 draft by the newly formed Minnesota Vikings. His professional debut could not have been more impressive. A rookie in his first ever game for a new team against one of the NFL’s great franchises the Chicago Bears and all he did was lead his team to a 37-13 victory (he didn’t start the game, he came in early in the first quarter). Tarkenton went 17 of 23 for 250 yards, 4TD passes and he added another TD rushing. Can you remember a more impressive debut by a rookie playing their first ever game?
Things didn’t quite stay that good the rest of his rookie year. The Vikings lost their next seven games but despite sharing some starts with former Colts first round pick George Shaw, Tarkenton was showing enough to be seen as the long term future at the position. His passing was solid, his decision making good but he could drive defenses mad with his scrambling ability. Not only did it mean he could make gains on broken plays but he could keep plays alive for longer and get passes off after several seconds moving around avoiding the rush. It would see him make mistakes as well and over the next few seasons Tarkenton and the team would take some hard knocks along the way. His unorthodox style had won fans over early on but as the Vikings struggled in his second year it would lead to fans booing him when it all went wrong. After being booed and then benched in one game veteran running back Hugh McElhenny came over to the young QB, put an arm around him and told him They’re booing you, you made it, and you’re an NFL Quarterback now.
His scrambling would see him clash with Head Coach Norm Van Brocklin at times as the coach believed Tarkenton needed to be more disciplined in the pocket but his style was allowed to flourish and it’s hard to knock a guy who is adding over 400 yards rushing per year to your running attack and Van Brocklin in the end decided he could live with it for the good of the team.
By his fourth season, the Vikings were starting to compete and enjoyed their first winning season. Tarkenton posted some impressive numbers along the way with 2500 plus yards passing and 22TD passes compared to only 11 interceptions. His scrambling would again be a key and in a victory over the Packers Tarkenton came into the huddle with his team trailing by two points with time running out and told his team mates: We’ve got to do something drastic, everyone run 20 yards downfield and I’ll run around until one of you gets open.
It worked and the Vikings won the game on a late Fred Cox 27 yard field goal.
That year proven to be a bit of a false dawn though and patience was wearing thin with Van Brocklin as coach. After a 4-9-1 season in 1966 he was fired and the rift with Tarkenton had reopened to the point where a trade was requested by the QB. The trade request was accepted by the Vikings board and he was dealt to the NY Giants (for three 1st round picks) whilst the Vikings replaced Van Brocklin with Bud Grant who would bring in Joe Kapp from the CFL (he was actually acquired in a trade between the NFL and CFL, a very rare occurrence) to be the Vikings Quarterback with Tarkenton gone.
How would the son of a preacher man deal with the bright lights of the big city? Pretty well it would turn out. The Giants had been struggling badly the last few seasons and with Tarkenton at the controls things turned around. It wasn’t quite the level of success an established franchise like the Giants were used and ultimately, they would never make the play-offs with Tarkenton as the Quarterback. He got very close in 1970, a last week defeat to the Rams denying them a post season berth but add in the fact the Cowboys were starting their long dominance of the East and the balance of power was shifting in the NFC East.
 1971 seen the Giants struggle though and Tarkenton was arguing with his coach. His time in the Big Apple was coming to an end and he was traded back to the Vikings. By now though, the Vikings were a completely different team than the one he had left after the 1966 season. The team had been winning and had even made it to a Super Bowl. Bud Grant wanted a veteran QB to get his team over the hump and finally, after years of frustration at never being in a long term winning situation, Tarkenton was happy. His style was still unorthodox but by now other scrambling QB’s were starting to appear in the league. However, his movement was still a nightmare for teams to deal with and Frantic Fran or Scramblin’ Fran as he was affectionately nicknamed finally, in the second year of his Vikings return tasted some success. Going 12-2 the Vikings dealt with both the Redskins and Vikings in the play-offs and made it to Super Bowl VIII. The Miami Dolphins were the opposition and proved to be a bridge too far for Tarkenton and Co but it was a sustained period of competitiveness by the franchise.
The following year would see them go back to the big game but the Steel Curtain defense proved to be too strong and the Vikings fell to their third defeat in the big game. 1975 would see Tarkenton named the NFL’s MVP with just less than 3000 yards passing and 25TD’s but the Cowboys denied the Vikings in the play-offs. In 1976, a now 36 year old Tarkenton led his team back to the Super Bowl to face the Oakland Raiders. It appeared to be his last real chance of success in the big game but again, the Vikings couldn’t put a complete game together despite a chance to take the lead early after a blocked Ray Guy punt. At the 3 yard line and a chance to take the lead in a Super Bowl for a first time, the Vikings and Tarkenton’s best ever chance fell to the ground with Brett McClanahan’s fumble.
The Vikings would return to the post season the next couple of years with Tarkenton but were eliminated early from the play-offs. Tommy Kramer was now being groomed as Tarkenton’s replacement and after the 1978 season in which he threw for a career high 3468 yards but also a career high 32 interceptions he announced his retirement.
Ever significant passing record was his when he retired attempts, completions, yardage, TD passes. They would all stand until broken by the prolific Dan Marino. He also managed over 3600 career rushing yards to go with over 47000 yards worth of passing. He also made nine pro bowls in his career and in 1986 was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A year later he would be added to the College Football Hall of Fame.
The Vikings of the 70’s are remembered for falling short of winning the big one, but without Tarkenton they may never have gotten close to even being there that many times. He was prolific, effective and different in an era where defense was king and he is rightly one of the all tiem greats at the position.
Honourable mentions:
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Jim Zorn, Quarterback (Seahawks, Packers, Buccaneers)
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Jay Schroeder, Quarterback (Redskins, Raiders, Bengals, Cardinals)
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Trent Green, Quarterback (Chargers, Redskins, Rams, Chiefs, Dolphins)
 Jim Zorn has a few parallels with Fran Tarkenton. Taking over a rookie franchise and making it competitive early on with his scrambling style, Zorn is now the Head Coach of the Washington Redskins. His hook-ups with Hall of Famer Steve Largent helped the Seahawks get their franchise off to a positive start.
Jay Schroeder is known to UK viewers nowadays for his appearances on Sky’s TV coverage of the NFL but he was the first ever Redskins QB to pass for 4000 yards and led both the ‘Skins and Raiders to conference championship game sin his time. He possessed one of the strongest arms the NFL has ever seen.
Trent Green got his break with the Redskins in 1998 after several seasons as the 3rd string QB. He would then move on to the Rams as a free agent but his season ending injury in 1999 gave Kurt Warner his chance as for his fairytale season. Green would move on to the Chiefs where he had several successful seasons including three consecutive 4000 yard passing seasons between 2003-05.
And finally:
The past couple of Super Bowls have also featured a couple of #10’s enjoying the ultimate success as Eli Manning and Santanio Holmes have both won the Super Bowl MVP award the past two seasons.
Learn More about past NFL greats in our History Archive
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