{"id":841820,"date":"2026-03-29T23:03:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T23:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/841820\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T23:03:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T23:03:20","slug":"two-of-50-greatest-vikings-in-franchise-history-died-on-saturday-twin-cities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/841820\/","title":{"rendered":"Two of 50 greatest Vikings in franchise history died on Saturday \u2013 Twin Cities"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Vikings lost two franchise icons this weekend, with defensive stalwarts Jeff Siemon and Joey Browner passing away on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\"AA 1977 photo of Minnesota Vikins Jeff Siemon. (AP Photo)<\/p>\n

Siemon, a four-time Pro Bowl middle linebacker who remains third all-time in career tackles for the Vikings, was 75. Browner, thrice selected a first-team all-pro safety and a Vikings\u2019 Ring of Honor member, was 65.<\/p>\n

Both players were named among the franchise\u2019s 50 greatest players back in 2010.<\/p>\n

The No. 10 overall pick out of Stanford in the 1972 NFL draft, Siemon patrolled the middle for the Purple People Eaters defense for 11 seasons.<\/p>\n

Siemon had one of four Vikings interceptions in the 1973 NFC championship game against Dallas. The Vikings beat the Roger Staubach-led Cowboys 27-10 for the team\u2019s first postseason road win and advanced to Super Bowl VIII.<\/p>\n

Bobby Bryant, another member of the 50 Greatest Vikings who picked off Staubach in that game, played with Siemon for nine seasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cJeff was a great teammate \u2014 a leader for us on the field and a really good linebacker. He was key to our teams,\u201d Bryant told Vikings.com. \u201cAs good of a player that Jeff was, he was a better person \u2014 truly one of the best guys we had. You never heard anyone speak cross of Jeff. His faith was his guide, and he was not afraid to share it with people. He touched so many.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forty-three years after retiring, Siemon still ranks third all-time in team history in career tackles with 1,375, behind only Scott Studwell (1,928) and Matt Blair (1,404)..<\/p>\n

Siemon was selected to the Pro Bowl for the first time following the 1973 season and earned three consecutive nods from 1975-77. He also started in three Super Bowls for the Vikings following the 1973, 1974 and 1976 seasons.<\/p>\n

Born in Rochester, Minn., Siemon was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007.<\/p>\n

Former Vikings receiver and teammate Ahmad Rashad played with Siemon for seven seasons. \u201cHis work ethic was absolutely tremendous,\u201d Rashad told Vikings.com. \u201cAnd above it all, he is one of the nicest guys you would ever want to meet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Vikings selected Browner with the 19th overall selection in 1983 draft, making him the first defensive back the team ever chose in the first round.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve lost a great friend and one of the best Vikings teammates,\u201d fellow Vikings great Steve Jordan told the team\u2019s website. \u201cGod blessed Joey with phenomenal talent and a big heart to love people and be a beacon of positivity. Truly, he will be missed.\u201d<\/p>\n

His 37 interceptions rank fifth all time in franchise history, while Browner also forced 17 fumbles \u2014 the same number he recovered. He also tallied 9.5 career sacks.<\/p>\n

Browner \u2014 who had three brothers also play in the NFL \u2014 led the team in tackles in 1986 and 1987 and was a key reason Minnesota sported the league\u2019s top defense in 1988 and 1989 by yards allowed.<\/p>\n

He was named to the NFL\u2019s team of the decade for the 1980s.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoey was one of those players that could transcend any generation of player,\u201d Studwell told the team\u2019s website in 2013, when Browner was inducted into the franchise\u2019s Ring of Honor. \u201cHe could\u2019ve played today. When he played, he was one of the best at his position.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Vikings lost two franchise icons this weekend, with defensive stalwarts Jeff Siemon and Joey Browner passing away…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":841821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2073],"tags":[7,233,259,2529,6,9,234],"class_list":{"0":"post-841820","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-vikings","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-minnesota","10":"tag-minnesota-vikings","11":"tag-minnesotavikings","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-vikings"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=841820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/841821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=841820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=841820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=841820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}