Rich Gannon sits down and talks about his playing days with the Vikings and the players and coaches around him.  Still living in the Twin Cities, he talks about finding himself at the epicenter of a remarkable group of Vikings.

Gannon remembers the Vikings' good old days of the early 1990s

Published Sunday, January 13, 2008

MINNEAPOLIS Before he won an MVP award with Oakland and became an analyst on CBS' NFL broadcasts, Rich Gannon played quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings. In 1992, Gannon, who still lives in the Twin Cities, found himself at the epicenter of a remarkable group of Vikings, including a handful of key figures in this weekend's playoff games.

The defensive coordinator was Tony Dungy. The receivers coach was Tom Moore, now Dungy's renowned offensive coordinator in Indianapolis.

The defensive line coach was John Teerlinck, who holds the same position now under Dungy. The middle linebacker was Jack Del Rio, now the head coach of Jacksonville, and the blocking tight end was Mike Tice, who would later become the Vikings head coach and is now Jacksonville's assistant head coach-tight ends.

In '92, Gannon was benched at midseason in favor of Sean Salisbury, who will "analyze" the action this weekend for ESPN. The head coach in '92 was Denny Green, who will be seen this weekend on beer commercials.

Other notables on that team included Anthony and Cris Carter, John Randle, Steve Jordan, Chris Doleman, tight ends coach Brian Billick (who went on to win a Super Bowl as head coach of the Ravens), running backs coach Tyrone Willingham (who became head coach at Notre Dame and Washington) and linebackers coach Monte Kiffin (who popularized the Tampa-2 defense and became known as the best defensive coordinator in football).

That '92 team looked promising before the sound of Salisbury's voice in the locker room created enough aural dissonance that the Vikings, bleeding from the ears, were upset in the first round by Washington.

I covered Gannon that season as a beat writer for the Star Tribune and chatted with him this week. Here are excerpts of his memories on those people and that season:

Tom Moore: "He loves offensive football and the interaction with the quarterbacks, and the game-planning. . . . When he was on Denny's staff, he was just wasting his time. He knew more than anyone else in that offensive room, and I don't know if anyone even listened to him that year."

The '92 season: "It was probably one of my least favorite years in football. Denny had come in and wanted to put his own stamp on things, and I just think he was inexperienced and a somewhat immature head coach. . . . We had Jack Burns as our offensive coordinator, and he had his own agenda. Our talent really was kind of wasted."

Green: "When Brad (Johnson) and I went to the Super Bowl and played against each other, we were looking at each other and saying, 'We were good enough to go to the Super Bowl and Pro Bowls and win a league MVP award, but we weren't good enough to play for Denny."

Del Rio and Tice: "Jack, as a player, was very analytical and methodical. . . . Of all my former teammates, I thought Jack and Mike were the guys I could see getting into coaching. Mike Tice was very, very smart. I can remember him in the huddle, calling things out. . . . Watching Jacksonville, Mike has done an unbelievable job in certain aspects of that offense, protections, the running game and the tight ends."

Salisbury: "For a guy who wasn't much of a player, he's a heck of a talker. And for a guy who didn't take many snaps in the league, he has a pretty good idea of how to play the position."

Dungy: "I think Tony does as good a job as anybody in the league, not only in terms of explaining to his players what they need to accomplish every week but how they will accomplish it. He commands such respect from his players; they love him. I love the guy, too."

Souhan writes for the Star Tribune (Minneapolis).