30 Day Challenge, Day 1: Which Number Should The Minnesota Vikings Retire Next?

Welcome to June, ladies and gentlemen. . .the slowest month of the NFL offseason. The draft is well over and done with, Training Camp is still six weeks away, and there really isn't a whole lot going on. This is an effort to do something about that.

We're taking an idea from our friends at Windy City Gridiron (who took it from our friends at Cageside Seats. . .we have more friends than Sid Hartman, seriously). Every day in the month of June, we're going to put up a new Vikings-related topic for discussion. Hopefully it will help things to move along throughout the month. So, here's our first topic for the 30 Day Challenge.

Over the course of their history, only six members of the Minnesota Vikings have had their numbers retired by the team. In case you don't know them all by heart, here they are:

10 - Fran Tarkenton
53 - Mick Tingelhoff
70 - Jim Marshall
77 - Korey Stringer
80 - Cris Carter
88 - Alan Page

That's not to say that the Minnesota Vikings haven't had a lot of great players throughout their history, because they most certainly have. But they've only chosen to retire six numbers. If they should decide to retire another one, which one should come next?

In my mind, there are three logical choices.

#93 - The number 93 is a bit of an oddity in Vikings' history. I'm sure there are similar situations with other teams, but I'm not concerned about them. The number 93 in purple and gold has been worn by one player that's already in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (John Randle) and one player that might be able to make a case for it in the future (Kevin Williams). I know that Kevin Williams might not jump off the page immediately as a potential Hall of Fame choice, but he was one of the best at his position for a decade solid. Maybe the Vikings think that #93 is lucky and that's why they keep giving it to people (it currently belongs to Shamar Stephen), but maybe it's time to hang it up for good.

#84 - I don't think I have to explain this one too much. With all due respect to Cordarrelle Patterson, no matter if he bounces back or not, Vikings fans are only going to think of one player when they see the number 84. It will forever be associated with Randy Moss, and for good reason. Every member of the Vikings that gets the number going forward, Patterson included, is going to be compared to Moss, which really isn't fair. It might be a good time to put this one to rest as well.

#64 - Another number belonging to a recent Hall of Fame inductee, 64 belonged to the great Randall McDaniel. As far as offensive linemen in the history of the Minnesota Vikings, McDaniel may stand above all of them as the greatest. The man made the Pro Bowl in twelve consecutive seasons (eleven of those with the Vikings and the last one with Tampa Bay), and was a first-team All-Pro seven times during the decade of the 1990s. There aren't very many offensive linemen anywhere that have those sort of credentials.

So, which of those three numbers should the Minnesota Vikings retire next? Or is there a number that I've missed that you think should be there instead? Should the Vikings not retire any more numbers at all?