An all-time great has left us
One of the true all-time greats in the history of the Minnesota Vikings has left us.
The #Vikings family mourns the loss of Legend Jim Marshall.
Marshall set the standard for what it meant to be a Minnesota Viking, starting 270 consecutive games, appearing in 4 Super Bowls and serving as team captain for 14 consecutive seasons. https://t.co/o2avKghyWG pic.twitter.com/XOU4etfuWI
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) June 3, 2025
The team has just announced the passing of defensive lineman Jim Marshall. He was 87 years old.
Marshall’s name is synonymous with Vikings’ football, as he joined the team in their very first season in 1961. He started his football career in the CFL with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 1959 and then moved to the NFL with the Cleveland Browns in 1960 after the Browns selected him in the fourth round of the 1960 NFL Draft. Cleveland then traded Marshall to the Vikings ahead of the 1961 season.
Marshall is one of 11 players to have appeared in all of the Vikings’ Super Bowl appearances and wound up playing 19 seasons with the Vikings, retiring after the 1979 season. He was the last player from the Vikings’ first team to leave the NFL, and in his final home game he got the first game ball ever given out by Bud Grant following a two-sack performance in a 10-3 win over the Buffalo Bills at Metropolitan Stadium in December of 1979.
Sacks were not an official stat while Marshall was playing, but the review of pre-sack era games that was finished a few years ago credited him with 130.5 sacks for his career, 128 of which came with the Vikings. That figure ranks him second in franchise history in that category behind only the 130.5 put up by his long-time teammate, Carl Eller.
Marshall was a three-time Second-Team All-Pro in his career and set the record for the most consecutive starts in NFL history with 282.
Sadly, one of the things that Marshall became the most well-known for outside of Minnesota was his wrong-way run against the San Francisco 49ers in October of 1964. Marshall recovered a fumble and motored 66 yards into the end zone for what he thought was a touchdown, throwing the ball out of the end zone in celebration. He had actually run the wrong way, resulting in a safety for the 49ers. The film has been played endlessly on highlight reels over the years and you’ve almost certainly seen it before. The Vikings, however, wound up winning that game by a score of 27-22, in part because of a fumble that Marshall forced on a sack that was recovered by Eller and returned for a touchdown.
Jim Marshall is one of just six players to have their number retired by the Vikings and is the only player in the history of the franchise to have ever worn the #70. He should have been in the Hall of Fame a very, very long time ago and, unfortunately, any induction that will take place now will be a posthumous one.
We send our deepest condolences to the family, friends, and loved one of Jim Marshall on his passing.
