Which Minnesota Vikings players never reached a Pro Bowl?
During their history, the Minnesota Vikings have had several players that were worthy of Pro Bowl selection but never formally received the honors.
It’s not an occurrence exclusive to the Vikings. All NFL teams have head-scratching scenarios where notable players never received the coveted Pro Bowl nod.
During the last decade, the Vikings lavishly outpaced their division rivals via Pro Bowl selections. Since 2010, Minnesota players have been selected to the Pro Bowl on 28 occasions or about three per season.
Detroit Lions players were awarded such honors 14 times and then the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers have both had 13 apiece. Therefore, the Vikings had more Pro Bowl selectees in the last 10 years than the Packers and Bears combined. That’s not widely known.
The Pro Bowl is not gospel in determining greatness, though. Instead, it’s a bestowment that looks fancy on a player’s resume and is often adjudicated when a generational player flirts with Hall of Fame ambitions.
For example, on the fallibility of the Pro Bowl, former Minnesota cornerback Xavier Rhodes earned the Pro Bowl call last season, and he flat-out wasn’t very good. In this case, his reputation strangely masked his suspect 2019 performance.
Among various positions on the field, the Vikings have an assortment of players that one might think should have been Pro Bowlers but never were. Let’s look at some notorious examples.