Will Dennis Green ever be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame?

With the announcement on Monday of the Minnesota Vikings adding him to their Ring of Honor, will the former head coach ever be enshrined in Canton?

It took former Minnesota Vikings head coach Bud Grant 10 seasons to lead the team to the playoffs eight times. Dennis Green led the Vikings to eight postseason berths after just nine years with the team.

Grant is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, while Green is not. However, Grant was also able to actually lead Minnesota to four Super Bowl appearances, while Green could never get the Vikings past the NFC Championship.

Still, what Green did in Minnesota was pretty impressive considering what he had to work with. With him as their head coach, the Vikings were able to make the playoffs eight times despite them not really ever having any stability at quarterback.

During Green’s tenure from 1992 to 2001, 14 different signal callers started at least one game for Minnesota. In just two of the head coach’s 10 seasons with the team, the Vikings started the same quarterback under center for every matchup.

Only 11 different signal callers started in at least one game for Minnesota when Grant was the team’s head coach and his career in the Twin Cities lasted for 18 years.

Minnesota Vikings

Green also had the ability to get the most out of players that no other teams really wanted. The head coach took chances on players like John Randle, Orlando Thomas, Randy Moss, Robert Griffith, and Robert Smith during his time with the Vikings and those decisions paid off tremendously.

It’s a shame that Minnesota fired Green in 2002 after his very first losing season with the team. He definitely could have been the head coach to lead the Vikings to their very first Super Bowl win.

There are many theories as to why Green was let go, but the real reason has never really been established. It was a franchise-altering decision and one that did not sit well with most of Minnesota’s players on their roster that year.

Green tried to achieve success as a head coach again with the Arizona Cardinals after his departure from the Vikings. But the Cardinals never won more than six games in a season during the three years he was there.

Next: 7 best moves of the Vikings' 2018 offseason

Green’s firing in 2002 is what will likely keep him from ever getting inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Which is really unfortunate because it seemed as though he was possibly on the path to Canton when he was leading Minnesota to the playoffs year after year after year.