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 Minnesota
Vikings, professional football team and one of five teams in the
Central Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) of
the National Football League (NFL). Under the league’s
realignment plan, which will take affect in 2002, the Vikings
will move into the North Division of the NFC. The Vikings play
at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota,
and wear uniforms of purple, gold, and white. The team’s name
refers to the Nordic peoples who were ancestors to Minnesota’s
large population of Scandinavian Americans. Since the late
1960s, the Vikings have been one of the most consistently
successful franchises in the NFL. During the 1970s head coach
Bud Grant steered the team to four Super Bowls.
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Quarterback Fran Tarkenton, who spent much
of his career with the Vikings, became the
most prolific passer in NFL history,
compiling the most career yards,
completions, and touchdown passes during his
15 years in the league. (Tarkenton’s records
were broken by Dan Marino of the Miami
Dolphins in 1995.) Grant also assembled one
of the fiercest defenses in NFL history.
Known collectively as the Purple People
Eaters, players such as linemen Carl Eller,
Jim Marshall, and Alan Page “devoured”
opposing offenses. The Vikings joined the
NFL as an expansion team in 1961 and
selected Fran Tarkenton in the NFL draft.
The franchise got off to a slow start,
producing only one winning record in its
first seven seasons. |
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In 1967 Minnesota traded Tarkenton to
the New York Giants for the rights to
four draft picks. These picks yielded
several talented rookies, including Alan
Page. In the 1968 season Bud Grant
guided the Vikings to the NFC Central
Division championship. A year later,
Minnesota’s defense, the league’s
toughest, powered the Vikings to Super
Bowl IV, where the team lost to the
Kansas City Chiefs. The Vikings’
offensive performance in 1969 was also
the league’s best. |
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Quarterback Joe Kapp directed a balanced
unit that relied on both running and
passing. In the 1970s safety Paul Krause and
linemen Page, Carl Eller, and Jim Marshall
anchored the era’s most feared defensive
unit, which ranked first in the NFC five
times from 1969 to 1976. Minnesota dominated
the NFC Central Division during this time,
and in 1971 Page became the first defensive
player to receive the most valuable player
(MVP) award. Tarkenton returned to the
Vikings in 1972 and subsequently piloted the
team to three Super Bowl appearances. |
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Running back Chuck Foreman and wide
receivers John Gilliam and Ahmad Rashad
were his favorite targets. An elusive
scrambler, Tarkenton also used his
agility to confound opponents. He was
named league MVP in 1975. Although they
were clearly the NFC’s dominant club,
the Vikings repeatedly fell to their
American Football Conference (AFC)
opponents in the Super Bowl. Minnesota
lost to the Miami Dolphins 24-7 in 1974,
to the Pittsburgh Steelers 16-6 in 1975,
and to the Oakland Raiders 32-14 in
1977. Many of the star Viking players
retired by 1979, and the team entered a
period of decline, but Minnesota soon
recovered its success with a collection
of new stars. |
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From
the mid-1980s through the late 1990s, the
Vikings consistently recorded winning
records, and the club reached the NFC
Championship Game after the 1987 and 1998
seasons. Stars for the Vikings during this
time included quarterbacks Tommy Kramer,
Warren Moon, and Wade Wilson, and wide
receiver Anthony Carter, who produced three
consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. Safety Joey
Browner and linemen Chris Doleman, Keith
Millard, and John Randle were among the
league’s premier defensive players.
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