MINNEAPOLIS _ In 1961, when quarterback Fran Tarkenton took the field for the Minnesota Vikings' first season, his helmet emblazoned with fierce horns, he passed for four touchdowns in an upset victory over the Chicago Bears.
And the myth began.
Not Tark _ although he has his fame.
This is about the horned helmet since worn by every Viking, an image of ancient Norsemen in their battle gear.
Except that the horns are a myth. Never happened.
The Vikings actually want you to know this. In fact, they're putting such myth-busting facts into each home game's Playbook program.
The feature, called "The Truth Behind," is the result of a partnership between Brett Taber, a would-be archaeologist turned Vikings marketer, and Henrik Williams, a Swedish professor and international expert on runic symbols.
Together, they separate fact from fiction for fans.
"I'd be the first person to say that we propagate a lot of mythology," said Taber, the team's director of youth marketing and social responsibility. "We're a football team, and at the end of the day, this is an entertainment experience. But that also puts us in a unique position to educate fans."
Scandinavian Minnesotans may be far removed from their past, "but so are we," said Williams, a professor at Uppsala University. Mythically incorrect horned helmets also show up in Nordic countries, notably at Swedish soccer matches. "I like to say, 'The past is a foreign country.' "
Taber and Williams would never have met had our team not been named the Vikings.
"The Vikings are unique in the NFL in that we have an actual culture to build around," Taber said.
Indeed, the league is a regular menagerie of Cardinals and Bears, Panthers and Broncos. The few human mascots _ Buccaneers, Patriots, Packers _ are more generic, less evocative. You're going to create a mythology around a packing plant for canned meat?
