- Super Bowl Championships: 0
- Last Super Bowl Appearance: Super Bowl 11
- Claim to Fame: The Minneapolis Miracle (Stefon Diggs’ TD against the Saints in the 2017 Divisional Round) was the first ever “walk-off” touchdown in the NFL playoffs
- Claim to Shame: The Vikings haven’t won two games in the same playoffs since 1987
It hasn’t been an easy existence for the Minnesota Vikings.
The Vikings and the Purple People Eaters were all the rage early in the Super Bowl era. They went to four Super Bowls from 1969-76, but couldn’t lay claim to one title.
Since then, it’s been a whole lot of missed kicks from the likes of Gary Anderson and Blair Walsh, to name a couple culprits.
Those ill-fated kicks aside, things have turned around for Minnesota lately. They feature one of the most feared defenses in the NFL. In 2017, they allowed league-lows in yards per game (275.9), yards per play (4.6), and points per game (15.75) while finishing 13-3.
The unit wasn’t quite as dominant in 2018, but still finished third in the NFC in points allowed (341) and fourth in the league in Defensive DVOA.
The relatively average results from the defense were still much better than what they got out of the offense, though. In Kirk Cousins’ first year with the team, Minnesota finished 19th in the NFL in scoring and 18th in Offensive DVOA.
Regression on both sides of the ball saw the team’s record fall to 8-7-1, which was outside of the playoff picture in the NFC.
Cousins was actually reasonably good under center (30 TD, 11 INT, 99.7 passer rating) but the run game was anemic, finishing 28th in efficiency, partly due to Dalvin Cook missing five games because of injury.
Heading into 2019, Harrison Smith still anchors the defense at safety, while Anthony Barr is a star at linebacker. The team is just hoping Cook is healthy to complete the offense.
