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Team Name: Minnesota Vikings Hometown: Minneapolis, National Football Conference (NFC) » Team History     » Team Schedule

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2009 Minnesota Vikings Schedule

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Professional football history in the Twin Cities began with the Minneapolis Marines/Red Jackets, an NFL team that played intermittently in the 1920s-30s. However, a new professional team in the area did not surface again until August 1959, when three Minneapolis businessmen -- Bill Boyer, H. P. Skoglund and Max Winter -- were awarded a franchise in the new American Football League. Five months later, in January 1960, the ownership group, along with Bernie Ridder forfeited its AFL membership and was then awarded the National Football League's 14th franchise with play to begin in 1961. Ole Haugsrud was added to the NFL team ownership because of an agreement he had with the NFL since the 1920s when he sold his Duluth Eskimos team back to the league. The agreement allowed him 10% of any future Minnesota team.

The team was officially named the Minnesota Vikings on September 27, 1960; the name is partly meant to reflect Minnesota's place as a center of Scandinavian American culture. From the start, the Vikings embraced an energetic marketing program that produced a first-year season ticket sales of nearly 26,000 and an average home attendance of 34,586, about 85 percent of the capacity of 40,800 for Metropolitan Stadium. Eventually Met Stadium capacity was increased to 47,900.[2] Early in 1961, the Vikings named Norm Van Brocklin as head coach, though Bud Grant had been a candidate for job. Van Brocklin had just finished his career as a quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Vikings won their first regular season game, defeating the Chicago Bears 37-13 on Opening Day 1961. Rookie Fran Tarkenton came off the bench to throw four touchdown passes and run for another to lead the upset. Reality set in as the expansion team lost its next seven games on their way to a 3-11 record.

On March 7, 1967, quarterback Fran Tarkenton was traded to the New York Giants for a 1st and 2nd-round choice in 1967, a 1st-round choice in 1968 and a 2nd-round choice in 1969. With the picks Minnesota selected Clinton Jones and Bob Grim in 1967, Ron Yary in 1968 and Ed White in 1969. Three days later on March 10th, the Vikings hired new head coach Bud Grant to replace Van Brocklin, who resigned following the 1966 NFL season. Grant came to the Vikings from the Canadian Football League as head coach for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who he led to four Grey Cup Championships in 10 years. During the late 1960s, the Vikings were building a powerful defense known as the Purple People Eaters, led by Alan Page, Carl Eller, Gary Larsen, and Jim Marshall. In 1968, that stingy defense earned the Vikings their first Central Division Title and their first playoff berth.

In 1969 the Vikings went 12-2, the best record in the NFL. The team had 12 straight victories, the longest single-season winning streak in 35 years. The Vikings defeated the Cleveland Browns, 27-7, in the NFL Championship Game on Jan. 4, 1970, at Metropolitan Stadium. Minnesota became the first modern NFL expansion team to win an NFL Championship Game, and earned a berth in Super Bowl IV. The heavily favored Vikings lost that game to the Kansas City Chiefs 23-7.

Information excerpted from www.wikipedia.org. ©2007. All Rights Reserved.
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