The Best Minnesota Vikings Coaches of All Time

Ranker NFL
Updated March 3, 2022 2.5K votes 598 voters
Over 500 Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The Best Minnesota Vikings Coaches of All Time

Who is the best Minnesota Vikings coach of all time? There's no question that the Minnesota Vikings have had some fantastic coaches over the years, many of whom are among the greatest NFL coaches of all time. Keeping stats like Super Bowl wins and regular season win percentage in mind, who is the best Vikings coach ever? Which Minnesota Vikings head coaches do you love?

It's hard to argue that Bud Grant isn't the greatest Vikings coach of all time. Boasting a .635 regular season win percentage, Grant led Minnesota to the Superbowl 3 out of 4 years between 1973-1976. Unfortunately they lost all three times, leaving them stinging almost as bad as Buffalo. Although Minnesota hasn't played in a Super Bowl since, they've still had some great coaches who have almost gotten there. Coach Dennis Green took the Vikings to the playoffs many times during his 9 season run with the team, with an impressive 97-62 regular season record.

If the Minnesota Vikings had a best of all time team, who would coach it? Vote for your favorites below, even  if the coach never won a championship with the Minnesota Vikings.

Ranked by
  • Bud Grant
    1

    Bud Grant

    Superior, Wisconsin
    319 votes
    Harry Peter "Bud" Grant Jr. (born May 20, 1927) is a former head coach and player of American football, Canadian football, and a former basketball player in the NBA. Grant served as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL) for eighteen seasons; he was the team's second (1967–83) and fourth (1985) head coach. Before coaching the Vikings, he was the head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL) for ten seasons, winning the Grey Cup four times. Grant is the most successful coach in Vikings history, and the third most successful professional football coach overall (behind Don Shula and George Halas), with a combined 290 wins in the NFL and CFL. Grant was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1994. He was the first coach in the history of professional football to guide teams to the Grey Cup and the Super Bowl. Grant attended the University of Minnesota and was a three-sport athlete, in football, basketball, and baseball. After college, he played for the Minneapolis Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL, and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL. A statue of Grant stands in front of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers' current stadium, Investors Group Field.
  • Dennis Green
    2

    Dennis Green

    Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
    228 votes
    Dennis Earl Green (February 17, 1949 – July 21, 2016) was an American football coach. During his National Football League (NFL) career, Green coached the Minnesota Vikings for 10 seasons. He coached the Vikings to eight playoff appearances in nine years, despite having seven different starting quarterbacks in those postseasons. He was posthumously inducted into the Minnesota Vikings Ring of Honor in 2018. Green was the Vikings head coach from 1992 to 2001. His best season in Minnesota was in 1998, when the Vikings finished 15–1 and set the NFL record for most points in a season at the time. However, the Vikings would be upset by the Atlanta Falcons in that year's NFC Championship Game. Following his first losing record in 2001, he was fired just before the final game of the season. Green was hired by the Cardinals to serve as the head coach for the 2004 season, a franchise then-noted for its futility, which had posted only one winning season in a quarter-century. In Arizona, Green was unable to match his success in Minnesota, and his poor win-loss record (16-32) with the Cardinals was similar to that of his predecessors in Arizona. However, some commentators describe Green's tenure with Arizona as an inflection point in the history of the Cardinals, arguing that the culture of the team changed under Green, and noting that the core of the personnel in the Cardinals' 2008 Super Bowl run was acquired by Green.
  • Mike Zimmer
    3

    Mike Zimmer

    Peoria, Illinois
    259 votes
    Michael Zimmer (born June 5, 1956) is an American football head coach. He is formerly the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He previously was a defensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals, Atlanta Falcons, and Dallas Cowboys.
  • Jerry Burns
    4

    Jerry Burns

    Detroit, Michigan
    179 votes
    Jerome Monahan Burns (born January 24, 1927) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Iowa, from 1961 to 1965, compiling record of 16–27–2, and for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL) from 1986 to 1991, tallying a mark of 52–43 in the regular season, and 3–3 in the postseason.
  • Kevin O'Connell
    5

    Kevin O'Connell

    Knoxville, Tennessee
    33 votes
    Kevin William O'Connell (born May 25, 1985) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He played quarterback at San Diego State and was drafted by the New England Patriots in the third round of the 2008 NFL Draft, later playing for the Detroit Lions, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets, and San Diego Chargers before retiring in 2012. O'Connell became a coach in 2015, serving as an assistant coach for the Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers, and Washington Redskins, and Los Angeles Rams before being named head coach of the Vikings in 2022.
  • Norm Van Brocklin
    6

    Norm Van Brocklin

    Parade, South Dakota
    145 votes
    Norman Mack Van Brocklin (March 15, 1926 – May 2, 1983), nicknamed "The Dutchman" was an American football quarterback, punter, and coach in the National Football League. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971.