Dennis Green passes at 67

Faith, family, and football.
Dennis Green preached those three ‘F’s, and in that specific order, to his players over 13 seasons as an NFL head coach, ten of which were with the Minnesota Vikings (1992-2001).
Green passed away late Thursday night at the age of 67 following complications of cardiac arrest.
Green can be thought of as underrated coach. In a sport where legendary coach Vince Lombardi said “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing,” winning football games was not the most important thing he pledged to his players as is evident with faith and family being more important than football.
“Denny made his mark in ways far beyond being an outstanding football coach,” the Vikings said in a statement. “He mentored countless players and served as a father figure for the men he coached.
“He took great pride in helping assistant coaches advance their careers. His tenure as one of the first African-American head coaches in both college and the NFL was also transformative.”
Two of Green’s former coordinators went on to be Super Bowl-champion head coaches: Tony Dungy, who will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame August 6, was defensive coordinator under Green from 1992-95 and won Super Bowl XLI with the Indianapolis Colts, and Brian Billick, Green’s offensive coordinator from 1993-98, won Super Bowl XXXV with the Baltimore Ravens.
After serving as head coach at Northwestern (1981-85) and Stanford (1989-91), Green became the second African-American head coach in the modern era following Art Shell who coached the Raiders from 1989-94.
Green trails only Bud Grant in Vikings franchise history in wins with 97. In eight of his ten seasons, his Viking teams reached the playoffs. The main reason he is considered an underrated coach is his 4-8 record in the postseason. His 1998 team went 15-1 and scored a then-NFL record 556 points, but fell to the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship. Two years later, the Vikings were again, a game away from the Super Bowl, but were destroyed by the New York Giants in the championship game.
Former Washington Redskins head coach, Joe Gibbs, is well known for winning three Super Bowls with three different starting quarterbacks over a 10-year span. It might not have been planned, but Green’s teams followed that same route. Green’s eight Vikings playoff teams were led by seven different starting quarterbacks.
Sean Salisbury started the playoff-quarterback roulette in 1992. He was followed by Jim McMahon, Warren Moon, Brad Johnson, Randall Cunningham, Jeff George, and Daunte Culpepper; the latter three were the only ones to win a playoff game under Green and Cunningham was the only two-year starter (1997-98). Only Johnson and Culpepper were quarterbacks drafted by Green amongst the group.
Green later coached the Arizona Cardinals from 2004-06 and finished with a career coaching record of 113-94.