..Continued

1970s

The team continued to shine in 1970 and 1971 as their "Purple People Eater" defense led them back to the playoffs. In 1971 the defense was impressive enough that Alan Page won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award given by the Associated Press. He was the first defensive player to win the award.

In 1972 the Vikings traded Norm Snead, Bob Grim, Vince Clements and a 1st-round draft choice in 1972 and 1973 to the New York Giants to reacquire the popular Tarkenton.While the acquisitions of Fran Tarkenton and wide receiver John Gilliam improved the passing attack, the running game was inconsistent and the Vikings finished with a disappointing 7-7 record. The Vikings addressed the problem by drafting running back Chuck Foreman with their first pick in the 1973 draft. Co-owner Bill Boyer died in 1972 and was replaced on the team's board of directors by his son-in-law Jack Steele.

The Vikings won their first 9 games of 1973 and finished the season with a 12-2 record.The Vikings then advanced to their second Super Bowl in franchise history, Super Bowl VIII, against the Miami Dolphins at Rice Stadium in Houston, Texas. However, the Dolphins prevailed, 24-7.

The Vikings won the Central Division again in 1974 with a 10-4 record, which was a tie for the best record in the conference.In the playoffs they built on their cold weather reputation, defeating both the St. Louis Cardinals 30-14 and the Los Angeles Rams 14-10 in frozen Metropolitan Stadium. The Vikings played in their second straight Super Bowl, Super Bowl IX (3rd overall), losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 16-6, at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans on January 12, 1975.

In 1975, the Vikings, led by Tarkenton and running back Chuck Foreman, got off to a 10-0 start and easily won another division title.However, the Vikings lost to the Dallas Cowboys in the playoffs, 17-14, on a controversial touchdown pass from the Cowboys' quarterback Roger Staubach to wide receiver Drew Pearson that became known as the Hail Mary.The touchdown was controversial because many felt that Pearson pushed off on Vikings defensive back Nate Wright, which is pass interference, a violation of the rules. As the Metropolitan Stadium crowd was stunned to learn that no penalty was called, debris was thrown on the field for several minutes. One bottle struck a game official, rendering him unconscious.

The Vikings played in Super Bowl XI, their third Super Bowl (4th overall) in 4 years, against the Oakland Raiders at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California,on January 9, 1977. The Vikings, however, couldn't break their bad luck in the Super Bowl. Minnesota lost, 32-14.

In 1977, the Vikings again won the Central Division with a 9-5 record and advanced to their 4th NFC Championship Game in 5 years,but were defeated by the eventual Super Bowl Champion Cowboys, 23-6, at Texas Stadium.By 1978, age was taking its toll on the Vikings, but they still made the playoffs with an 8-7-1 record. There was no more playoff magic as the Rams finally defeated the Vikings, 34-10 in Los Angeles.Quarterback Fran Tarkenton retired following the season holding league passer records in attempts (6,467), completions (3,686), yards (47,003), and touchdowns (342).

In December, 1979, ground is broken for construction of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in downtown Minneapolis.

1980s

On May 15, 1981, the Vikings moved into a new facility in suburban Eden Prairie that houses the team's offices, locker room and practice fields. The complex was named "Winter Park" after Max Winter, one of the Vikings' founders, who served as the team's president from 1965 to 1987.The Vikings played their final game at Metropolitan Stadium on December 20th to conclude the 1981 NFL season by losing to the Kansas City Chiefs, 10-6.

The Vikings played their first game at the Metrodome in a preseason matchup against the Seattle Seahawks on August 21, 1982 in a game Minnesota won, 7-3.The first touchdown in the new facility was scored by Joe Senser on an 11 yard pass from Tommy Kramer.The first regular-season game in the Metrodome was the 1982 opener on September 12, when the Vikings defeated Tampa Bay, 17-10. Rickey Young scored the first regular-season touchdown in the facility on a 3 yard run in the 2nd quarter.

On January 27, 1984, Bud Grant retired as head coach of the Vikings. With a career regular-season record of 151-87-5 (.632) in 17 seasons with Minnesota, Grant led the franchise to 12 playoff appearances, 11 division titles, and four Super Bowls.Les Steckel, who was an offensive assistant with the Vikings for 5 seasons, was then named the 3rd head coach in franchise history. Steckel, who came to the Vikings in 1979 after working as an assistant with the 49ers, was the youngest head coach in the NFL in 1984 at age 38.However, the Vikings lost a franchise-worst 13 games.After the season Steckel was fired, and on December 18, 1984, Bud Grant was rehired as the head coach of the Vikings.

On January 6, 1986, following the 1985 season, Bud Grant re-retired as head coach of the Vikings. At the time of his retirement he was the 6th winningest coach in NFL history with 168 career wins, including playoffs. In 18 seasons, he led the Vikings to a 158-96-5 regular season record.Longtime Vikings assistant coach Jerry Burns was named the 4th head coach in team history on January 7, 1986.He served as the Vikings' offensive coordinator from 1968-85, when the team won 11 division titles and played in 4 Super Bowls. In his first season, the Vikings led by the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Tommy Kramer, went 9-7,their first winning record in 4 years. On August 2, 1986, Fran Tarkenton was the first player who played the majority of his career with the Vikings, to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Following the strike-shortened 1987 season, the 8-7 Vikings --- who had finished 8-4 in regular games but 0-3 using strike-replacement players --- pulled two upsets in the playoffs by beating the two teams with the best regular season records. They beat the 12-3 New Orleans Saints, 44-10, at the Louisiana Superdome in the Wild Card Playoff game. The following week, in the Divisional Playoff game, they beat the 13-2 San Francisco 49ers, 36-24;, at Candlestick Park. During that game Anthony Carter set the all-time record for most receiving yards in a playoff game with 227 yards. The Vikings played the Washington Redskins in the NFC Championship Game on January 17, 1988, at RFK Stadium. Trailing 17-10, the Vikings drove to the Redskins' six yard line with a little over a minute left in the game but failed to get the ball into the end zone. Darren Nelson dropped a pass from Wade Wilson at the goal line to officially end the Vikings' hopes of a Super Bowl.

The Vikings would make what would be considered its biggest personnel blunder in team history. On October 12, 1989, the Vikings acquired Herschel Walker from Dallas. The final result of the trade gave the Vikings Walker, a 3rd round choice Mike Jones, a 5th round choice Reggie Thornton and 10th-round choice Pat Newman in 1990 and a 3rd-round choice in 1991 Jake Reed, while Dallas received Issiac Holt, David Howard, Darrin Nelson, Jesse Solomon, Alex Stewart, a 1st, 2nd and 6th-round choice in 1990, a 1st and 2nd-round choice in 1991 and a 1st, 2nd and 3rd-round choice in 1992. Two of those selections turned into Emmitt Smith and Darren Woodson. Herschel's performance fell short of expectations in his 3 seasons with the Vikings, while the Cowboys rode their draft picks to 3 Super Bowl victories in the early to mid 1990s.

1990s

On December 3, 1991, Jerry Burns announced his retirement. In 6 seasons as Head Coach of the Vikings, Burns compiled a career record of 52-43 (.547). He also led Minnesota to 3 playoff appearances, including a division title and an NFC Championship Game. Dennis Green was later named the 5th Head Coach in team history. He came to Minnesota after turning around a struggling Stanford University football program as head coach from 1989-91. In his 10 seasons as the coach of the Vikings, Green won 4 NFC Central division titles, had 8 playoff appearances, 2 NFC Championship game appearances and an all-time record of 97-62.

1998 was a year to remember for the franchise. With a spectacular offense led by quarterback Brad Johnson, who after being injured was replaced by Randall Cunningham, who had his best NFL season, running back Robert Smith, veteran wide receiver Cris Carter, and explosive rookie Randy Moss, the Vikings set a then-NFL record by scoring a total of 556 points, never scoring fewer than 24 in a game. The record was later broken by the 2007 New England Patriots, a team of which, not coincidentally, Randy Moss was also a member. The Vikings finished the season 15-1, their only loss by 3 points to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in week nine. In the playoffs, the Vikings rolled past the Arizona Cardinals 41-21, and came into the Metrodome heavily favored for their NFC title showdown with the Atlanta Falcons, which lost only one game more than the Vikings, at 14-2. However, kicker Gary Anderson, who had just completed the first perfect regular season in NFL history (not missing a single extra point or field goal attempt the entire year), missed a 38 yard attempt with less than 2 minutes remaining. That allowed the Falcons to tie the game. Though the Vikings won the coin toss, Atlanta went on to win it 30-27 in overtime on Morten Andersen's field goal, which was, coincidentally, also a 38-yarder. The Vikings became the first 15-1 team to fail to reach the Super Bowl (in this case, it was Super Bowl XXXIII). The Falcons lost Super Bowl XXXIII to John Elway and the Denver Broncos.

Cunningham resumed duties again in 1999, but after a lukewarm 2-4 start, Jeff George was given the starting job. He finished the season with an 8-2 record, and led the Vikings into the postseason once again, with an overall team record of 10-6. Minnesota beat Dallas in the Wild Card game 27-10, and faced playoff newcomer Kurt Warner and the St. Louis Rams in the Divisional matchup. The game was a shootout which Minnesota led 17-14 at halftime, but the Rams outscored Minnesota 35-20 in the second half to win 49-37.St. Louis would go on to win Super Bowl XXXIV.

2000s

In 2000, the Vikings went 11-5. The Vikings were 11-2 after 14 weeks, but slumped briefly, losing their last three to the Rams, Packers and Colts while starting quarterback Daunte Culpepper was hampered by injury. Nonetheless, the Vikings made the playoffs for the fifth straight year. After easily beating the Saints in the Divisional game 34-16, they went to New York to face the New York Giants in the NFC Championship Game. Though they were the road team, the Vikings were actually favored to win the game (since most considered their 12-2 record with Culpepper more indicative than their 0-3 record when he was out). But the Vikings were humiliated by the Giants 41-0, the worst loss in franchise history.Robert Smith, who ran for a team record (and NFL best) 1521 yards that season, retired at the end of the year after only playing eight NFL seasons.

2001-2005

In 2001, after a disappointing 5-11 season, the Vikings bought out the contract of Dennis Green, despite his successful coaching tenure with the team. Mike Tice coached the final game of 2001, losing to the Ravens.Tice was named the permanent coach after the season, but he would not lead the Vikings back to the playoffs until 2004.

During the 2003 season, the Vikings came close to getting into the playoffs. However, the Arizona Cardinals completed a game winning touchdown with 0:00 left knocking the Vikings out of the playoffs. The moment of Arizona's touchdown was actually the first moment the entire season in which the Vikings hadn't led their division. The Vikings became the second team in football history to miss the playoffs after getting off to a 6-0 start; the other was the Washington Redskins.

In 2004, Daunte Culpepper amassed MVP-like statistics, throwing for 4,717 passing yards (leading the NFL), 39 passing touchdowns (a Viking record), and 5,123 total yards (an NFL record). In the wild card game, the Vikings defeated the rival Green Bay Packers in their first-ever playoff meeting, 31-17.In doing so, the Vikings became the second team in NFL history to have a .500 record (8-8) in the regular season and win a playoff game (The St. Louis Rams did the same thing only a day earlier). In the divisional round, the Vikings were defeated by the eventual NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles.

On March 2, 2005, Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss was traded to the Oakland Raiders for linebacker Napoleon Harris and the Raiders' first round draft pick. After struggling to a disappointing 2-5 start to the 2005 season, Vikings lost quarterback Daunte Culpepper to a season ending knee injury. This injury was a very significant part to this Minnesota Vikings team due to the fact they also lost Randy Moss. The dynamic duo from years earlier were now lost and a new leader would eventually emerge. The Vikings finished the 2005 season with a 9-7 record, one win away from the playoffs.

Head Coach Mike Tice was let go after the 2005 season and was replaced by Brad Childress. This was one of many significant front office moves made by the new ownership team, led by Zygi Wilf.

2006-present

Minnesota began the 2006 season 4-2 (and Childress becoming the first coach in Vikings history to start 2-0 in his first year), but would finish the year at 6-10, tying for the 7th worst record in the NFL and receiving the 7th pick in the NFL Draft; with it, the Vikings selected Adrian Peterson out of the University of Oklahoma.

Peterson's first career TD was a 60 yard screen pass in his first career game against the Atlanta Falcons. When the Minnesota Vikings played the Chicago Bears in the first of their two games, Peterson broke the record for single game All-Purpose (rushing, receiving, kick returning) yards (361, 224 of them rushing yards). In Week 9 of the 2007 season, Peterson would break the NFL record set by Jamal Lewis in 2003 for most rushing yards in one game (296 rushing yards against the San Diego Chargers). Despite a strong push in the middle of the 2007 season winning five straight games, the Vikings lost their final two games to finish the season at 8-8, missing the playoffs. In week 13 of the 2008 season against the Bears, Gus Frerotte hooked up with Bernard Berrian for a 99 yard touchdown pass after an epic goal line stand by the Vikings. This was the longest play in Vikings history. Adrian Peterson had 1760 yards, first in the NFL in rushing yards, in front of atlantas Michael Turner. The Vikings are 10-6 under Tarvaris Jackson. A journeyman from the Chicago Bears, Bernard Berrian leads the team in receiving yards with 795, and Bobby Wade leads the team in catches. After Week 14 Vikings had a very tough game against the winless Detroit Lions who gave them a run for their money. The Lions led through half time, although the Vikings managed a 20-16 win. Frerotte was injured in the game and still has the starting job if he is able to play. In Week 15 the Vikings beat the Arizona Cardinals 35 to 14. Tarvaris Jackson started this game and threw for four touchdowns. Bernard Berrian caught a touchdown pass and returned a punt for a touchdown. Adrian Peterson broke the franchise record for most single season rush yards. In Week 16, the Vikings faced the Atlanta Falcons at the Metrodome, looking to clinch the NFC North with a victory. However, they suffered from 7 fumbles, 4 of them resulting in turnovers, and lost 24-17. Starter Tarvaris Jackson had another good game for Minnesota, as did tight end Visanthe Shiancoe, who caught 2 touchdowns from Jackson. The Vikings clinched the NFC North championship by defeating the New York Giants 20-19 in week 17 of the 2008 NFL Season, when kicker Ryan Longwell was successful in his attempt at the game-winning field goal.

On January 4, 2009, the Vikings hosted the Philadelphia Eagles for the Wild Card round and for the first time in eight years, the Vikings hosted a playoff game. The Vikings held the Eagles 14-16 at halftime, but the Eagles, coming off of a 44-6 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, defeated the Vikings, 26-14. The Eagles would go on to defeat the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants in the Divisional round only to lose to the Arizona Cardinals (who in turn lost Super Bowl XLIII to the Pittsburgh Steelers) in the NFC Championship Game.

Since 2006, the Vikings are particularly known for their strong defense against the run (#1 in the NFL in 2006, 2007, and 2008, first NFL team to accomplish this) anchored by the nicknamed “Williams Wall”/"Williams Wrecking Crew" consisting of defensive tackle Kevin Williams and nose tackle Pat Williams (no relation).