'A Very Good Run': Jerry Burns Reflects On His Time In Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- In Vikings land there is only one Burnsie.
Jerry Burns came here 50 years ago to join Bud Grant's staff, and he never left the home he still lives in with his wife Marlyn.
"She's big in flowers and things like that," Burns said. "You walk around here, there's flowers all over. I can't tell you one flower from the other. But she loves the flowers."
And oh, he has Viking memories, of training camps and curfews for his players.
"They knew they had to be back at 11 o'clock, and they were there every night," Burns said. "They all hit town and about 20 to 11 they jump in the car. They wanted to be back because after 11 o'clock they got penalized."
And he had a chance to work with some of the best in the business, serving as an assistant on some legendary teams.
"I've been very fortunate. I coached for 40 years. Started off at Miami across the water over there and finished up here," he said. "A very good run. Forty years."
"And we raised most of our family right here."
Sit with him these days and compare the good old days to the modern age and there is a difference in the offensive philosophies. That's what jumps out at Jerry Burns.
"Nowadays if you don't throw 12, 15 or 20 passes per quarter, you know," he said. "I always look in the morning paper and I see that the passing game, these guys were 36 out of 42, the quarterback. Some of them are throwing the ball 55 times, 58, 60 times in a game. Before, it ended up, if you threw the ball over 12, 15 times you had some problems."
