Vikes Views: Favorite Vikings Center

Welcome to the All-Time Favorite Viking Team series. We’re going through and voting by position for your favorite Viking players. There are no set criteria other than they played for the Minnesota Vikings. It’s your favorite player at that position.

We are going to get started with the man who starts all offensive plays, the center. The Vikings have had some great ones over the years.

Mick Tingelhoff (1962-1978)

It’s going to be hard for anyone to ever top Mick. He’s 5x First Team All-Pro, 1x Second Team All-Pro, 6x Pro Bowl, 50 Greatest Vikings, Ring of Honor, #53 is retired, he had 240 consecutive starts on the offensive line and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2015. That start streak has only been surpassed by Favre. He did all that as an undrafted free agent. He played in all four of the Viking Super Bowl appearances and won 10 division titles in his career with the Vikings.

Jeff Christy (1993-1999)

Christy was a 3x Pro Bowler, 1x First Team All-Pro, 1x Second Team All-Pro and the center of my first few Viking years. He later won Super Bowl XXXVII with the Buccaneers.

Matt Birk (1998-2008)

Birk was the center of my youth and who I generally think of when I think of a Viking center. I am not old enough to have had the pleasure of watching Tinglehoff. Birk was 2x First Team All-Pro, 6x Pro Bowl and named to the 50 Greatest Vikings team. Birk took over for Christy and had a few years of injuries before he came back and found his groove. He had several good years in Minnesota before heading to the other team that wears purple. He won Super Bowl XLVII with the Ravens in the Harbaugh Bowl.

John Sullivan (2008-2015)

Sullivan was named to the First Team All-Pro for his efforts in Adrian Peterson’s 2,097 yard season. Somehow that wasn’t good enough for the Pro Bowl though. The Golden Domer was the center of the Vikings line when watching Adrian run was about all we had to root for.