NFL

The Minnesota Vikings came into the National Football League in 1961. The Vikings made an immediate impact in the NFL and there was barely a “growing process” for the 14^th NFL franchise. The Vikings had good support in among the fans selling out 85% of their home games. The Vikings has success very early on when then, future Hall of Fame player quarterback Fran Tarkenton, established himself as one of the all-time great QB’s being elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986.

Tarkenton was a nine time Pro Bowl selection, won the 1975 Most Valuable Player award, and has 342 career touchdown passes. During a thirteen year period the Vikings won eleven NCC Central titles and NFC Championships in 1973, 1974,a dn 1976. The Vikings would go on and win the NFL Championship in 1969 defeating the Cleveland Browns 27-7, only 8 years after its inception.The Vikings would play in three Super Bowls in the 1970′s, Super Bowl VII losing to the Miami Dolphins 24-7, Super Bowl IX losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers 16-6, and Super Bowl XI losing to the Oakland Raiders 32-14. The Vikings never won a championship in the Super Bowl era but that doesn’t take away from their very successful beginnings.

In 1982, the Vikings moved from the Metropolitan Stadium to the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome which held Super Bowl XXVI. The stadium was named after the former mayor of Minneapolis Hubert Humphrey.

In the 1990′s the Vikings continued to be a threat in the NFC Central, now the NFC North, year after year. Another Hall of fame player had his most successful season with the Vikings, wide receiver Cris Carter. Carter is one of the greatest statistical WR’s of all-time being elected to the Pro Bowl nine times, and a member of the 1990′s All-Decade Team.

In 1998, the Vikings had high hopes for their team going 15-1 in the regular season and was the clear favorites to win the Super Bowl. Th Vikings set the then all-time scoring record in a season with 556 points. The Vikings would lose to the Atlanta Falcons on a thirty-eight yard field goal miss by Gary Anderson, who didn’t miss a field goal the entire season. The Falcons would win the game in overtime 30-27 Another wide receiver, Randy Moss, was in his rookie year and made a huge impact on that Vikings team. Moss would set NFL rookie receiving records such as seventeen touchdowns in a rookie season.