Clutch the Badger
Skol, Vikings!
The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They 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
- Role
- Official Team Mascot
- Affiliation
- Minnesota Wild (NHL)
- First appears
- 2000–01 inaugural season
- Species
- Badger
- Home arena
- Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, Minnesota
- Status
- Active
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. The team was officially named the Minnesota Vikings on September 27, 1960. The Vikings have won one NFL Championship, in 1969, before the league's merger with the American Football League (AFL) in 1970. The team played in Super Bowls IV, VIII, IX and XI, but failed to win any of them.
Reader's Guide
From the team's first season in 1961 to 1981, the team called Metropolitan Stadium in suburban Bloomington home. The Vikings played their home games at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis from 1982 to 2013. The Vikings played their last game at the Metrodome on December 29, 2013, defeating the Detroit Lions 14–13 to end the season. The Vikings conducted summer training camp at Bemidji State University from 1961 to 1965. In 1966, the team moved their training camp to Minnesota State University in Mankato.
Did You Know?
- The Vikings are one of only seven NFL teams to win at least 15 games in a regular season.
- The Vikings have 15 members in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
- The Vikings' famed defensive line of the late 1960s and 1970s was known as the Purple People Eaters.
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