Shaun Hill, Minnesota Vikings… yeah, that name definitely takes me back a bit. He wasn’t one of those guys who lit up the scoreboard every week, but he had his time with the team, and I remember trying to get a handle on his whole situation there when he was playing.
My Little Dig into the Shaun Hill Stint
It wasn’t like I was doing some super deep investigation, you know? But I did spend a bit of my own time, back when he was active and even sometimes now when these old names pop up, just trying to piece together his story with the Vikings. Here’s kinda how I went about it, mostly just me trying to refresh my own memory and figure out what his deal was.
First off, I had to place him in time. When exactly was he wearing that purple and gold? I’d rack my brain, try to pull up some old team rosters in my head, and then usually, I’d have to double-check somewhere because, let’s be honest, my memory for specific years ain’t always perfect. I remember figuring out he was with them mainly for that 2015 season. Teddy Bridgewater was the main guy then, the one everyone was pinning their hopes on.
Then, my next step in this sort of personal “research” was always to look at the actual playing time. It’s one thing to be on the roster, a whole other thing to actually get on the field when it matters. So, I’d try to recall or look up:
- How many games did he actually get into?
- Did he get any starts? Or was it all just coming in late in a decided game, or when Teddy got a knock?
- What did his numbers look like in those moments? Not expecting him to be a world-beater, but, you know, did he keep things from falling apart?
I definitely recall him getting some snaps. He even started a game, I think, when Teddy was out. My memory’s a bit hazy on the exact details of which games without pulling up the old stats sheets again, but the overall impression I solidified back then was ‘decent, experienced backup.’ He wasn’t the guy who was going to win you a championship on his own, but he probably wasn’t going to be the sole reason you lost a game either, most of the time he was out there.
Then there’s what I call the ‘fan feel’ part of my process. This is less about hard stats and more about what I, and other folks I talked to, generally thought about him at the time. I remember thinking, okay, this guy’s a veteran. He’s been around the NFL for a while. He wasn’t some fresh-faced rookie being thrown to the wolves. So there was a certain level of… maybe not overwhelming confidence, but an expectation that he wouldn’t just completely melt under pressure. He had that classic journeyman quarterback vibe, you know? Seen a lot, done a lot, just plug him in and he’ll try to manage the game.
I even have this vague memory, I think it was during a regular season game where he had to come in unexpectedly. My buddies and I were watching, and you know that collective groan that goes up when your starting QB goes down? We did that. But with Hill, it wasn’t total panic. It was more like, ‘Alright, let’s see what the old pro can do.’ He wasn’t flashy, not at all. He’d hand the ball off, make a few safe, short throws. The kind of performance that doesn’t make the highlight reels but stops the offense from completely grinding to a halt.
So, yeah, that was pretty much my method for getting a read on Shaun Hill’s time with the Vikings. It was about placing him in the timeline, looking at what he actually did on the field, and then layering on that general fan perception and my own gut feel. He was a solid, if not super exciting, part of that Vikings team for a short period. Not a legendary player for the franchise, but a necessary piece of the puzzle for a season or so. And that’s often the story for backup QBs in this league. They do their job, they fill a role, and then they move on, and you just sort of remember them as part of that specific era.
