2001: Tragedy and Hope
Tragedy struck the Minnesota Vikings in the summer of 2001, when Offensive Lineman Korey Stringer died of heat stroke in training camp in Mankato, Minnesota.
The 2001 season started off with a 24–13 loss to the Carolina Panthers. This would be the only win for Carolina in 2001, who ended up 1–15. Over the next sixteen weeks, wins for Minnesota were few and far between. Some season highlights included a 35–13 win over the rival Green Bay Packers in week six, and a week ten victory over the Giants in which Randy Moss pulled in ten receptions for 171 yards and three touchdowns leading to a 28–16 victory. But despite having a 12th ranked offense, their defense was in the bottom five, and the Vikings finished 5–11.
After the disappointing season, the Vikings bought out the contract of Dennis Green, who had become a polarizing force in the Viking fan base despite his successful coaching tenure with the team. Mike Tice coached the final game of 2001, losing to the Ravens.
Read more about this topic: History Of The Minnesota Vikings
Famous quotes containing the words tragedy and/or hope:
“One swiftly forgets his intolerable writing, his mirthless, sedulous, repellent manner, in the face of the Athenian tragedy he instills into his seduced and soul-sick servant girls, his barbaric pirates of finances, his conquered and hamstrung supermen, his wives who sit and wait. He has, like Conrad, a sure talent for depicting the spirit in disintegration.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come soon, and come to stay; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future time. It will then have been proved that, among free men, there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet; and that they who take such appeal are sure to lose their case, and pay the cost.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)