Help me understand football and the Minnesota Vikings

NINA MOINI: Time to turn to our Professional Help series. The Minnesota Vikings will kick off their home opener Sunday night at US Bank Stadium against the Atlanta Falcons. The Vikings are up 1 and 0 this year after a win Monday night against the Chicago Bears.

Minnesota Now producer Ellie Roth wanted to learn how to get a bit more into the football season this year. She spoke to Vikings legend and all-time great Chuck Foreman. The running back helped carry the Vikings to three Super Bowl games in the '70s. Take a listen.

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ELLIE ROTH: OK, so here's the thing. Football season to me means cozy fall afternoons on the couch. Sure, the game is playing on the TV, but the main event for me is the large boiling pot of soup or stew on the stove. That's a staple of autumn Sundays at my house.

But over the past few years, I have been coerced into joining fantasy football leagues with my friends and family. And I know very little about football. I don't really know what a tight end does besides being Taylor Swift's fiance.

But maybe it's time to learn a little bit more about the sport so I can cheer on the players on my fantasy team. So I decided to reach out for an expert for some professional help.

Thank you so much, Mr. Chuck Foreman, for taking some time to talk to me about Vikings and football. I have to confess something to you. I grew up in Green Bay, so I think if I'm any football fan, I might be a Packers fan.

CHUCK FOREMAN: Oh, nothing wrong with that.

NINA MOINI: OK. We can work with this. This is great. So, yeah. So just wanted to start off, I think in recent years, there's been so many new groups of people getting interested in football. I'm just curious, if you're a first-time fan this year, what advice do you have for just trying to learn more about the sport or get more involved in the fandom of your team?

CHUCK FOREMAN: Well, I think if you're going to be a football fan, you got to understand the way it works and all the positions. And in our game, it's the ultimate team sport. For anything to work, the most important positions are the defense and offensive lines.

If you can understand that and understand the players, and when you watch players, you watch the line. You see who's the guy that's winning the battle up there. And on the outside with the receivers already coming off the ball, they have that ability to get open just to get that one-- they only need to be open by one step.

So when you see those guys that you like as running backs and wide receivers making big plays, that's because the offensive line has given the quarterback the opportunity to make the call and execute the play.

ELLIE ROTH: Yeah. That's interesting. The five and five players on the offensive and defensive line. I think we are so used to watching these flashy plays. But that's really the core of where that teamwork is and how that works, right?

CHUCK FOREMAN: Yeah. Exactly. And so, those guys get all the PR. But the guys that make it work are the guys up front. So I always admired my offensive line. And when I watch football and I watch a team's success on the offense and defense, I'm always looking at both the offense and defensive line play, because those are key to make anything work.

ELLIE ROTH: Have you been watching Vikings games? I know they've only had one. But are you keeping up with the team?

CHUCK FOREMAN: Yeah, I keep up with the team. Yes, for sure.

ELLIE ROTH: Who do you have your eye on this year?

CHUCK FOREMAN: Well, it's not so much a favorite player as it is the team. I see a lot of good play on the offensive line and the defensive line. And I keep bringing that up to you, because the success of the football team depends on the physicalness of the offense and defensive lines.

They've got to be quick. They got to be fast. They got to be physical. They got to be-- all those guys are very consistent on their block. That alone gives the other, like I said, the skill positions, the opportunity to showcase their talent.

ELLIE ROTH: I mean, are there favorite things of the Vikings fan base that you really enjoyed when you were a player? What got you hyped up?

CHUCK FOREMAN: To come in into Minnesota to play here and be successful in the latter part of the season, you got to be able to play in all types of weather. Some guys can't. But then when you get in the huddle in those games and you look up in the stands-- now, I'm out there, and I'm moving around so I'm a little warmer.

But when you get up in the-- when I used to look up in the stands and I'm like-- and it's like-- especially in playoff time and you see all those people up there, it's like, 30, 35 below zero. And they're out there rooting for us. That's a committed fan.

We had-- I had a close relationship with the fan base here in Minnesota. And sometimes after the game, they'd be out there having cookouts and things like that. And hey, we could stop and have a burger or a steak or whatever. Whatever they were barbecuing after the game, that's what we'd go and stop and do.

ELLIE ROTH: Oh, my god. It's so funny.

CHUCK FOREMAN: Yeah, yeah. So it's not like it is now. But we really had a close relationship with the fan base here. And of course, that helped us win too because we always thought we had the 12th man on the field up here before anybody else.

So anytime you can look up there and see people sitting in the stands in 30 below and we're breathing, and you can see all that coming, you got to play your best. Because anybody that can do that you know is committed.

So when you look up there and you see that, that's a big motivation. So our fan base really motivated us, especially in playoff time.

ELLIE ROTH: Well, when it comes to success, I know you have some expertise in that. And I'm curious what advice you have for the Vikings team as they set out to get to the Super Bowl maybe this year. What advice do you have for the current team?

CHUCK FOREMAN: Well, I don't know about advice. But the only thing that I know is they know that they got to stay focused. They got to stay strong. And they got to stay together. Those are the things that our team is going to need to do.

And I think-- and I like our defensive-- I like all our coaches, our defensive coordinator. I really like him a lot. Got a lot of respect for him. And I think they got in the head coach-- I think Kevin's got a knack of developing players and understanding players and giving them-- putting them in position to win. So I think it's going to be a fun year.

ELLIE ROTH: Well, Chuck Foreman, this has been a really great conversation. I'm not sure if you convinced me to be a Vikings fan over a Packers fan, but you came pretty close. So I really appreciate that.

CHUCK FOREMAN: I'm not going-- I'm not even-- look, let me tell you one thing I know. When you're a Green Bay fan, you're a Green Bay fan. A real Green Bay fan is a Green Bay fan for life. That's no doubt about it. In all of football, they're the greatest fans, supposedly, because I don't know if they beat Minnesota fans. But Green Bay fans, they're special.

NINA MOINI: That was Minnesota Now producer Ellie Roth speaking to Vikings legend Chuck Foreman. The Minnesota Vikings play Sunday night again at US Bank Stadium. And for all those fans living here in enemy territory, your Green Bay Packers play tonight at 7:15.