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00:22Hi everybody, I'm Brian Kenney and welcome to ESPN Classics' Top 5 Reasons You Can't
00:26Blame, a series that takes a fresh look at sports personalities who are responsible for
00:31their mistakes, controversial moments, or questionable decisions. Over the next half
00:35hour, we'll count down the top five reasons you can't blame the Minnesota Vikings for trading
00:40for Herschel Walker in October of 1989. The reasons range from an immortal hockey player
00:45to another lopsided deal you may not remember. Before we begin our countdown, let's examine
00:50the details of the Dallas-Minnesota trade.
01:00Everywhere you look, we had a stall, and we were the most talented team I've ever been on.
01:05Over three seasons, beginning in 1986, the Vikings scored the third most points in the NFL.
01:13Three receivers are all down there, including Jones, who's made a season out of matches like that.
01:20The offense was up-tempo, throwing a deep ball to myself, Leo Lewis, and Steve Jordan, who had outstanding speed
01:26for a tight end.
01:27Everett under pressure by Millard, and he's going to take this back.
01:30Oh, we're going to keep Millard.
01:33While the Vikings' aerial attack stayed strong, so did the team's defense. In 1988, it gave up the second-fewest
01:41points in the league.
01:42We had some of the greatest defensive linemen during that time. The linebackers were great, and then myself in the
01:50secondary, we were just totally, totally outstanding.
01:53But for all their talent, the Vikings kept falling short in the playoffs.
01:59Day 7 was a strike year. That was a pretty good team.
02:02We played Washington for the NFC Championship, and they beat us 17-10 in Washington.
02:08The following year, we were 11-5, and we again went to the playoffs and got beat by the 49ers.
02:15We thought we had the nucleus to make it to the Super Bowl.
02:19Everything suggested that this team was a great running back away from getting to a Super Bowl or even winning
02:26a Super Bowl.
02:28As the 1989 season began, Minnesota and Dallas were a study in contrasts.
02:33While the Vikings were expected to have continued success, the Cowboys were going nowhere.
02:41Walsh Ford dropped the ball.
02:42The Cowboys got worse and worse from 87 to 89 until they finally, finally hit rock bottom in 89 at
02:521-15.
02:56Despite its impoverished roster, Dallas had one very good horse that a team with other assets might ride all the
03:03way to the promised land.
03:05Here comes Herschel!
03:09Herschel Walker, every time he touched the ball, he had the chance or the opportunity to take it the distance.
03:15I was jogging with some of my assistant coaches, and I made the comment,
03:19we're not going to get better fast. It's going to take a long while.
03:24And what do we have on this team that's of value?
03:28And we had one Pro Bowl player, and that was Herschel Walker.
03:31In October of 1989, the 3-2 Vikings made the 0-5 Cowboys an offer they couldn't refuse.
03:40The initial trade, five players, and a solid number one.
03:46Conditional picks of two numbers, three number twos, one number three.
03:51Herschel, I want to welcome you to the Minnesota Vikings.
03:56I'd like to see that thing going across that end zone about ten times a game.
04:01I mean, everybody knew who Herschel Walker was, and everybody thought that this was going to push us where we
04:07wanted to go.
04:09Here comes Black Jesus to save us from the rest of the National Football League.
04:14With the grand arrival of Herschel Walker, there are simply no more excuses.
04:20In his first game with the Vikings, Walker paid immediate dividends.
04:24And Herschel's going to come out of there after he gets to the 10, to the 15, to the 20.
04:29On the run, to the sideline, Herschel Walker came up the sideline and made it pay off.
04:34We won that game, and Herschel gained it, 148.
04:37There wasn't a doubter in the state at that stage.
04:41What they do is they give it to you and say, Herschel, run for an empty hole.
04:47But doubt began to seep into the Vikings' fan base as the team finished at 10-6.
04:53Walker, and he gets stripped up by reason.
04:56Then Minnesota was trounced in its opening postseason game, 41-13 by San Francisco,
05:03as Walker carried only nine times for 29 yards.
05:07He was overrated for our football team.
05:10I think we had some backs that weren't too far from as good as he was.
05:15Plus, he's passed his prime.
05:17Walker, and he fumbles again!
05:20I just don't think our offense was built with Herschel Walker in mind.
05:24We like to use a tight end a lot.
05:26We like the short passing game.
05:29This was a deep-eyed tailback.
05:30He could run with a pitch.
05:32They didn't run that kind of offense.
05:33They didn't have that kind of scheme.
05:34Walker's going to the outside and going nowhere.
05:39As Walker fizzled in Minnesota, averaging only 54 yards a game rushing
05:43before he was released in May of 1992,
05:46the Cowboys feasted on fresh talent provided by the trade.
05:51Down he goes, and Russell Merrillan will get the sack.
05:54Job by Karen Wurtson, a dynamic interception.
05:57Emmett Smith, swings to the outside!
06:02As the game ends, the Dallas Cowboys and their fans can celebrate being the team of the 90s now.
06:10The picks that the Cowboys gathered from that Herschel Walker trade were unbelievable.
06:15I'm the happiest man in the world that the trade happened.
06:18Three Super Bowl rings.
06:19To gift wrap a dynasty for a team with one trade that has to gall Minnesota fans.
06:27In the unsparing light of three Dallas championships in four years and no Super Bowl appearances for the Vikings,
06:34the deal for Walker is regarded as one of the worst sporting disasters ever to occur in the land of
06:4010,000 lakes.
06:41When we brought him here, there went our Super Bowl hopes, our future hopes.
06:47Ultimately, the decision was mine.
06:49It was a decision that I made, and I'm not going to share in the blame with anyone.
06:54It was my decision.
06:56Mike Lynn just completely ruined the franchise for years to come.
07:01I don't know what that man was thinking.
07:03I really don't.
07:05That had to be the worst trade in the history of sports.
07:11Before we begin our countdown of the top five reasons you can't blame Minnesota for the Walker trade,
07:15here are a few that didn't make the short list.
07:17We call them the best of the rest.
07:21Eric Dickerson and Wayne Gretzky.
07:30Eric Dickerson, he was a special player.
07:33I mean, nobody I think will ever be as fast as he was doing the tackles.
07:37That guy was incredible.
07:40Dickerson went from the Rams to the Colts in a three-way trade in 1987, two years before the Walker
07:46trade.
07:47All of a sudden now the Colts have gone from this average, low average offensive team to a playoff team.
07:54Dickerson trying to get outside, cuts up to the 30.
07:56He's at the 25, 20, 15, 10, 5, touchdown! He did it!
08:01The Colts win it 24 to 6 and head to the playoffs for the first time in 10 years.
08:06Wayne Gretzky is going to leave the Edmonton Oilers to go and play hockey for the Los Angeles Kings.
08:14Promise mess I wouldn't do this.
08:18Gretzky, Canada's national treasure, was dealt to Los Angeles by Edmonton in 1988, a year before the Walker trade.
08:26When Gretzky was traded, even the athletes themselves around the league in all the sports, they're saying,
08:31well, you know, if the team can trade Gretzky, they certainly can trade me.
08:35Shane's passing deep to Taylor, to Gretzky, he scores! He's got it!
08:40Wayne Gretzky completely, you know, changed Los Angeles.
08:43You take Eric Dickerson, goes to the Indianapolis Colts. We're a playoff team.
08:49And so the Vikings look at this and think, you know, hey, we get Herschel Walker, maybe we go to
08:55the Super Bowl.
08:58Our other best of the rest, Anvari's curse.
09:02The Vikings' fate was just the latest visitation of a Lord of the Rings-type Nordic hex, involving a god
09:08named Loki,
09:09who demanded that a dwarf named Anvari surrender gold to him.
09:14Anvari has one ring that he's very fond of, and he keeps that back and tries to hide.
09:19Get inland, that's for sure. He turned around and went home.
09:23Only the disorientation of Anvari's curse could explain what happened to the Vikings 25 years before the ill-fated Walker
09:32trade.
09:33Gilmer driving for the first down, loses the football.
09:36It's picked up by Jim Marshall, who's running the wrong way.
09:39And he's running it into the end zone. The Vikings scored a touchdown and scored a safety.
09:46You never saw a happier man when he turned around in that end zone.
09:49I guess if there's a curse, he's example A.
09:54Well, the Vikings are cursed. Heck, even the Burger King guy ate a chicken sandwich and ran through their defense.
10:15Franco Harris, John Riggins, and Marcus Allen.
10:18All three running backs were key players in their team's championship seasons.
10:23If you look at the teams that win the Super Bowl, they're a quality running team.
10:35It's going to come down to being able to run the football and make it to the Super Bowl.
10:39Every one of the first 35 Super Bowl champions had a legit running back.
10:44Gives the ball to Allen, starts inside, comes back in the other direction, then blows up the middle, blows it
10:50open, and he may score!
10:52The facts back up the conventional wisdom. Prior to the Walker trade and after the NFL and AFL merged,
10:59the Super Bowl winning team had finished in the top 10 in rushing 15 of 18 times.
11:05Franshaw giving it to Harris, getting a key block for Mullins, running to the left, turning to Carter, he's in
11:09there for a touchdown for Pittsburgh!
11:12All you got to do is look at the Pittsburgh Steelers. You really need the big back. You need that
11:17back that can control the line of scrimmage.
11:23The Vikings needed a big-time runner. They had finished 1988, ranked 20th in rushing.
11:30The Vikings running game cried out for help. Darren Nelson didn't get 400 yards and he was a leading ground
11:37gainer.
11:37They had also drafted D.J. Dozier in 1987 at Penn State.
11:43Hand-off to D.J. Dozier and Dozier is out of bounds.
11:47There was a bust there. So now you've tried the traditional route to first-round pick to build that model.
11:53When we were drafting, we were not going to get a blue chip of running back. We knew that.
11:58So the only way to really find a running back was through a trade.
12:02It was what we needed. People blaming Minnesota Vikings or Mike Lindford, I think they're foolish.
12:11That brings us to reason number four. Walker was good.
12:15Herschel trying to run up the middle. He ran by a man. He ran by another one.
12:18He's stumbling to the 10, to the 5. He's twisting. Touchdown, Herschel!
12:22I've never seen anybody that destructive in college as he was as a Georgia Bulldog.
12:27Gotta be Walker! Touchdown!
12:30Herschel Walker, in my opinion, was the greatest college running back of all times.
12:36First of all, he had world-class speed.
12:39He combined that with tremendous strength at 220 pounds.
12:44Malou gives it to Walker. Herschel running inside.
12:46Pulled his way!
12:48You've got the perfect back. You've got the guy that can control the game with his power.
12:52And yet, at any moment, he's gone.
12:57Walker's 2,411 yards with the USFL's New Jersey Generals in 1985
13:03remains pro football's all-time single-season rushing record.
13:07When the league collapsed the next year, Walker signed with the Cowboys.
13:11In 1988, he rushed for more than 1,500 yards.
13:16Inside handoff, Walker! First down and touchdown!
13:20He wasn't a 1,000-yard guy. He was a 1,500-yard guy.
13:25Over the middle to Walker. 45-50!
13:31He was running hard on film, breaking tackles, and I said, you know, this guy's a stud.
13:38In his first game with Minnesota, Walker shone like an aurora borealis across the northern sky.
13:44Here's Herschel. He's got a whole look-in. Look-in. He's gone. He'll never catch it.
13:48Now he wants to shoot!
13:50I don't think you could blame the Minnesota Vikings for trading for Herschel Walker.
13:55Great players of that magnitude come along every so often.
14:02Throws back over the middle of Walker.
14:04Trying to get to the first goal. He got it all by himself.
14:09When there's an opportunity to get a player of that magnitude, you do so.
14:17Kevin Mack. In his four NFL seasons, the Browns' running back helped the team reach the playoffs each year.
14:24There he goes! Touchdown Cleveland and Kevin Mack!
14:28But his arrest for cocaine possession in the summer of 1989 put Cleveland behind the eight ball.
14:35Mack was suspended by the NFL for the first four games.
14:38And then on October 3rd, was sentenced to six months in prison.
14:42Nine days later, Walker was traded.
14:46This was a team who had nothing but playoffs on their mind.
14:49They weren't there without a running back.
14:52The Browns came to sort of the same conclusion that the Vikings did.
14:56We have one more chance. One more chance with this group.
15:00The Browns and the Vikings were in a similar situation.
15:02They needed a running back to get them where they wanted to go.
15:09With two teams lusting after Walker, his value went up. And up.
15:14There were really, at that time, no other running backs on the market that had the marquee value over Herschel
15:20Walker.
15:21The Vikings knew that the Browns were in it.
15:24And so they said, we have to come up with something that's going to blow Cleveland out of the box.
15:29If there wasn't a competing team, you could have said, no, this is what I'm willing to do,
15:34and I'm not willing to do anything more.
15:36Then let's take it or leave at time.
15:38But when you have a competing situation, it creates a different air of negotiation.
15:44It was a bidding war.
15:46You can't blame the Vikings at all for selling the farm, so to speak, to get Herschel Walker.
15:52The Browns were willing to do the same thing.
15:57That brings us to reason number two.
16:00Jimmy Johnson.
16:02Jimmy Johnson is today the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.
16:07At first, it's a
16:10The initial reaction, I think, was
16:12You're giving away Herschel Walker for a bag of beans and three guys who can't play.
16:18Jerry and Jim with the brush of the guys don't know what they're doing.
16:23Charged with the responsibility of returning the Cowboys to their former glory ASAP, Johnson took an unconventional effort.
16:30And by doing that, we picked up a lot of extra picks and a lot of good players.
16:35Under the trade that I just described, Dallas selects Emmitt Smith running back from Florida.
16:43Jimmy was smart enough to go back in the collegiate ranks, remember the players that he recruited and he saw
16:47and he drafted us.
16:48Since Johnson, Jones and company have taken over with the Cowboys, they have made 26 trades.
16:54The talent we had at the University of Miami was better than what the Cowboys had.
16:58And so we continually revolved the door until we found the talent that we wanted.
17:03That's what built the Cowboys dynasty.
17:05I mean, you got to make the picks.
17:07You got to get the right people with those picks, which they did.
17:11Dallas, your Cowboys are still champions.
17:14Jimmy was brilliant when it comes to evaluating talent.
17:18He's as good as anybody.
17:20How about this Cowboys?
17:21Yeah!
17:27Walker was misused.
17:29The Vikings failed to maximize his talents.
17:33He was a perimeter guy.
17:35He was going to be a guy who was going to hit the edge and take off and simply outrun
17:39everybody.
17:40The Vikings thought that he was going to be a banger, you know, inside the tackles.
17:44He got to the point with us, you know, Herschel started tiptoeing through the line.
17:49Instead of exploding, maybe they should have started refining the offense to some extent and try to make it a
17:56power running offense.
17:58He was a speed guy and they misused him by having him go up the middle.
18:03As soon as he was no longer a Viking, he ran for a thousand yards again.
18:11Instead, in the offseason following the trade, the three days at a New Mexico retreat exploring the spiritual side of
18:19such concepts as Team Unity.
18:24Pecos River Training Center was a place that major corporations go and bring their executive teams and learn a lot
18:32of things and how to work together as a team.
18:41That wasn't football.
18:44And to me, football is figuring out what new concepts offensively that we can put together to utilize Herschel in
18:56our system.
18:57There was no limit, in my opinion, to what Herschel Walker could do.
19:02It was a matter of channeling and focusing and having him fit with the rest of your offense.
19:06Whether we line him up in the eye and swing him out or however it could matter, just give him
19:11the ball.
19:12We go with a quick screen out to Walker.
19:14Blocker in front of him.
19:15Walker still on his feet.
19:17What a move.
19:17Got away from ground.
19:18I think it would have been impressive for Minnesota if they had used me.
19:22You know, it's like, use me baby, use me.
19:24It got to the point, they wouldn't even let me run the ball.
19:29You just heard from the gift horse's mouth.
19:33The price horse's mouth.
19:36Walker averaged 23 carries a game in his 1988 Pro Bowl season with the Cowboys.
19:41In his three years with the Vikings, his per game average dropped to just 13.
19:47The general manager brought me to Minnesota and the coaches knew nothing about it.
19:52So it was like a management coaches fight with my job of acquiring players or getting them signed.
20:00Their job was to coach the players.
20:02Well, I probably should have done more.
20:03I was a firm believer in a passing game and we had the players that made it go.
20:07But you can still use Herschel enough times that it would have still worked together.
20:11You can't blame the Vikings for acquiring Herschel Walker,
20:15but you can blame them for how they misused him.
20:22Herschel Walker never was the answer for the Vikings.
20:24Despite his talent and productivity,
20:26neither the Vikings nor any of the other three teams he played for in the NFL
20:30made it to the Super Bowl with him on the club.
20:32I'm Brian Kenney. Thanks for watching.
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