The Minnesota Vikings are one of the few NFL teams to be named after a state rather than the city. The other teams to share this unique trait are the Arizona Cardinals, the Tennessee Titans, and the Carolina Panthers.
The term Vikings pays tribute to the state’s Scandinavian heritage. As a result of the Vikings’ entry into professional football, the state received a team after three decades. The earlier teams were the Minneapolis Marines and the Minneapolis Red Jacket.
Since joining the NFL, they have claimed three wins in a season in all but one campaign (1962). This streak is active from the 1963 NFL season.
Their last Super Bowl appearance came for the 1976 season. The team came close to glory for the 1998 season and cobbled a historic 15-1 season. However, luck was just not on their side as kicker Gary Anderson missed his first field goal for the season in the NFC finale.
As a result, they did not put the tie to rest and the Arizona Cardinals couldn’t have received a bigger morale booster.
The Minnesota Vikings finished the 2019 NFL season in second place with a 10-6 record. The team will seek to maintain the form that took them to the playoffs and helped them defeat fellow NFC North contenders, i.e. Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, and Detroit Lions.
The Minnesota Vikings quarterback is eight-season veteran Kirk Cousins, and their head coach is Mike Zimmer. The Vikes’ jersey colors are purple and gold and their fight song ‘Skol Vikings’ is popular and features at every single one of their home games.
The Wilf family, namely Zigi, Mark, and Leonard function as owners of the Minnesota Vikings. They purchased the team for $600 million ahead of the 2005 NFL season.
Under their new owners, the Vikings have switched home fields twice. They vacated the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome and moved to the TCF Bank Stadium in 2014 and the U.S. Bank Stadium in 2016.
The Vikings won the 1969 NFL Championship by beating the Cleveland Browns 27-7. However, they suffered heartbreak on the biggest stage of all as the Kansas City Chiefs claimed a dominant victory in Super Bowl IV.
‘The Purple and Gold’ made it to the Super Bowl three times in four seasons between 1973 to 1976. They achieved this on the back of their NFC championship wins. Unfortunately, they fell at the final hurdle each time.
Despite their lack of post-season success, the Vikings have won their division 20 times. Furthermore, they have made it past the regular season a whopping 30 times in 60 completed NFL seasons.
This is a testament to ‘The Vikes’ consistency which no doubt leads fans to keep the faith as they know that one day they will go all the way and claim the cherished Vincent Lombardi Trophy.
Three Minnesota Vikings players have been awarded the regular season NFL MVP. They are Alan Page (1971), Fran Tarkenton (1975), and Adrian Peterson (2012)
The Minnesota Vikings have had three logos in their tenure in professional football. In the original version, the team opted for a Viking looking to the right. The character had a yellow hat and yellow hair with a white face and mustache.
Five seasons later, the Vikings changed their logo design. Here, the Viking is looking to the left and white horns. The braid is prominent and his mustache has a yellow influx. An addition in elements here is a purple headband.
Ahead of the 2013 NFL season, the franchise changed its logo design once more. The character in the logo is looking straight rather than up. The black marks on the bottom of his horns have disappeared and the purple strip has become more prominent.
The Minnesota Vikings have a 53-player roster for the 2020 NFL season. This comprises two quarterbacks, five running backs, seven wide receivers, three tight ends, nine offensive linemen, ten defensive linemen, five linebackers, nine defensive backs, and three special teams players.
| Quarterbacks | 8 Kirk Cousins 4 Sean Mannion |
| Running Backs | 31 Ameer Abdullah 23 Mike Boone 33 Dalvin Cook 30 C. J. Ham FB 25 Alexander Mattison |
| Wide Receivers | 12 Chad Beebe 85 Dan Chisena 18 Justin Jefferson 81 Bisi Johnson 17 K. J. Osborn RS 11 Tajae Sharpe 19 Adam Thielen |
| Tight Ends | 83 Tyler Conklin 82 Kyle Rudolph 84 Irv Smith Jr. |
| Offensive linemen | 56 Garrett Bradbury C 72 Ezra Cleveland T 78 Dakota Dozier G 69 Rashod Hill T 61 Brett Jones C 75 Brian O’Neill T 71 Riley Reiff T 73 Dru Samia G 74 Oli Udoh T |
| Defensive linemen | 90 Jalyn Holmes DE 94 Jaleel Johnson DT 92 James Lynch DT 51 Hercules Mata’afa DT 91 Yannick Ngakoue DE 95 Ifeadi Odenigbo DE 93 Shamar Stephen DT 96 Armon Watts DT 98 D. J. Wonnum DE 52 Eddie Yarbrough DE |
| linebackers | 57 Ryan Connelly OLB 40 Todd Davis MLB 54 Eric Kendricks MLB 47 Hardy Nickerson Jr. OLB 50 Eric Wilson OLB |
| Defensive backs | 29 Kris Boyd CB 27 Cameron Dantzler CB 20 Jeff Gladney CB 38 Harrison Hand CB 41 Anthony Harris FS 24 Holton Hill CB 21 Mike Hughes CB 44 Josh Metellus S 22 Harrison Smith SS |
| Special teams | 5 Dan Bailey K 2 Britton Colquitt P 58 Austin Cutting LS |
| Founded | 1960 |
| President | Mark Wilf |
| Conference | NFC |
| Division | NFC North |
| Head Coach | Mike Zimmer |
| Location/Stadium | U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis |
| Championships | Conference (4) NFL Western: 1969 NFC: 1973, 1974, 1976 Division championships (20) NFL Central: 1968, 1969 NFC Central: 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2000 NFC North: 2008, 2009, 2015, 2017 |
| Super Bowl | N/A |
| Official website | Minnesota Vikings |
| Mascot | Viktor the Viking |