Minnesota's first NFL team, a 1922 team photo

 


Did you know that the Minnesota Vikings aren't the first NFL team from Minnesota? Heck, the Vikings aren't even the second NFL team from Minnesota (the Duluth Eskimos were Minnesota's second-ever NFL team). No, the very first team from Minnesota in the National Football League was the Minneapolis Marines, and this may be one of the few team photos we have of them, here from the November 30, 1922, Minneapolis Tribune. For this photo, only three players bothered to wear their football jerseys, which at the time were more like long-sleeved crew-necked sweaters. The Marines wore red with white stripes on the sleeves. The men you see here played against the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Cardinals (now the Arizona Cardinals). This was a tough season for the Marines due to internal turmoil, but they would play two more seasons (four total) in the NFL, and later two more seasons as the Minneapolis Red Jackets. 

Read more in Mill City Scrum, the history of Minnesota's first team in the National Football League.

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