The Minnesota Vikings assembled for a first practice on July 7, 1961, in the leafy summer days of Bemidji. The season opener was 72 days in the distance, on Sept. 17, 1961, against the Chicago Bears at Met Stadium.
There would be five exhibition games from Aug. 5 to Sept. 10, all losses, including 30-7 to the Bears in early September in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This was a time when rosters were small. The players you were going to see in the regular season were also playing long minutes in the exhibitions.
Readers of the Twin Cities newspapers were told often as the exhibition losses mounted that this was the reality of the being the newest of 14 NFL teams, and to be patient.