Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings have one of the highest winning percentages in the NFL since their first season in 1961.
The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion team, the team began play the following year. They are named after the Vikings of medieval Scandinavia, reflecting the prominent Scandinavian American culture of Minnesota. The team plays its home games at U.S. Bank Stadium in the Downtown East section of Minneapolis.
Quick Facts
- First meeting year
- 1961
Lore & Background
The Vikings have an all-time overall record of , the highest regular season and combined winning percentage among NFL franchises who have not won a Super Bowl, in addition the most playoff runs, division titles, and (tied with the Buffalo Bills) Super Bowl appearances. They also have the most conference championship appearances of non-winning Super Bowl teams, with them being one of four (along with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Rams) to appear in a conference championship every decade since the 1970s.
Reader's Guide
The Vikings have won one NFL Championship, in 1969, before the league's merger with the American Football League (AFL) in 1970. Since the merger, the team has qualified for the playoffs 28 times, third-most in the league (trailing only the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers). The team played in Super Bowls IV, VIII, IX and XI, but failed to win any of them. In addition, they have lost in their last six NFC Championship Game appearances, stretching back to 1978. The Vikings have 15 members in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Did You Know?
- The Vikings were officially named on September 27, 1960.
- The team's first regular-season game was a 37–13 victory over the Chicago Bears in 1961.
- The Vikings' famed defensive line of the late 1960s and 1970s was known as the Purple People Eaters.
- Quarterback Fran Tarkenton was originally drafted by the Vikings in the third round of the 1961 NFL draft.
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