Minnesota Vikings By The Numbers: #66

The number 66 has not been a very prominent one in the history of the Minnesota Vikings. Of the ten players that have donned the number for the purple and gold, eight of them were on the team for two seasons or less. In looking at the Pro Football Reference statistic for Approximate Value for all the player in team history that have worn #66, one player has a higher Approximate Value than the other nine players combined.

That player is offensive lineman Terry Tausch. A second-round pick of the Vikings in the 1982 NFL Draft, Tausch played in just two games in the strike-shortened 1982 season, and after serving as a backup in 1983, he cracked the starting lineup in 1984. He started 47 of 48 games from 1984 to 1986, and started all sixteen games again in 1988. (I’m not sure what happened in 1987, but he only played in six games that season.) He played for the San Francisco 49ers in 1989, and then was out of the National Football League.

I know that this might be a strange one to not have a poll for, but once you look at the list of players that have worn the number 66 in Vikings history. . .well, it’s kind of easy to see why.

Vikings that have worn the number 66:

• Ken Petersen (1961)
• Ken Byers (1964 - 1965)
• John Pentecost (1967)
• Bookie Bolin (1968 - 1969)
• Wayne Meylan (1970)
• Frank Gallagher (1973)
• Andy Maurer (1974 - 1975)
• Terry Tausch (1982 - 1988)
• John Gerak (1993 - 1996)
• Thomas Welch (2010)

Yeah. . .that’s the number 66 in Minnesota Vikings’ history. Exciting? Nope.

Tomorrow, we move on to the number 65, and there could be a relatively interesting debate to be had there.