With all the other kingdoms having fallen to the Vikings, Wessex alone was still resisting.

However, by then the Vikings were almost certainly well established in Orkney and Shetland, and it is probable that many other non-recorded raids occurred before this.

Led by Rollo, some Vikings had settled in Normandy and were granted the land, first as counts and then as dukes, by King Charles the Simple, in order to protect the land from other raiders.

In the years 1953 – 66 the Colts played in the NFL Western Conference ( also known as division ), but were never known to have a significant rivalry with any of the other franchises in that alignment, seeing as they were the eastern-most team and the rest of the division included the Great Lakes franchises Green Bay, Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears, and after 1961, the Minnesota Vikings.

It has been used by local tribes as well as by Vikings, Russians, and other Europeans for trade, war, and conquest.

Jared Allen and other Vikings defenders in a 2009 NFC Wild Card Game.

The Vikings then went on to face their other divisional rival the Chicago Bears, but were defeated, and then went on to be blown out 31 – 3 in a rematch with the Packers the following game.

The Vikings, like other teams, wore NFL 50th and 75th anniversary patches in 1969 and 1994.

In an era where color TVs were rare, the Vikings ( along with several other NFL teams ) wore white jerseys for home games for the 1964 NFL season.

Unlike other raiders the Vikings made a lasting impact on the face of Europe.

The Saints and the Vikings have played each other three times in the postseason, with the most recent being the 2009 NFC Championship Game.

The Vikings in particular were fond of twisting bars of steel around each other, welding the bars together by hammering and then repeating the process with the resulting bars, to create complex patterns in the final steel bar.

The Vikings had four other significant running backs: Dave Osborn, Bill Brown, Oscar Reed, and Ed Marinaro combined for 1, 469 rushing / receiving yards and 11 touchdowns.

The Vikings came into the season trying to redeem themselves after a one sided Super Bowl VIII loss after which they became the first team ever to lose two Super Bowls ( the other loss was in Super Bowl IV ) as well as losing back to back Super Bowls.

More than any other single event, the attack on Lindisfarne cast a shadow on the perception of the Vikings for the next twelve centuries.

While there are few records, the Vikings are thought to have led their first raids in Scotland on the holy island of Iona in 794, the year following the raid on the other holy island of Lindisfarne, Northumbria.

The Vikings did, however, settle in the south around St. David's, Haverfordwest, and Gower, among other places.

There are numerous burial sites associated with Vikings throughout Europe — in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany and other North Germanic regions.

One common theory posits that Charlemagne " used force and terror to Christianise all pagans ", leading to " baptism, converting or death by iron and blood ", and as a result " Vikings and other pagans wanted to avenge ".

More than any other single event, the attack on Lindisfarne demonised perception of the Vikings for the next twelve centuries.

Building on the linguistic and cultural connections between Norse-speaking Scandinavians and other Germanic groups in the far past, Scandinavian Vikings were portrayed in Nazi Germany as a pure Germanic type.

The Vikings were often depicted with winged helmets and in other clothing taken from Classical antiquity, especially in depictions of Norse gods.

The Irish word gall, on the other hand, did originally mean " a Gaul " i. e. an inhabitant of Gaul, but its meaning was later widened to " foreigner ", to describe the Vikings, and later still the Normans.

The Vikings took advantage of ice-free seas to colonize Greenland and other outlying lands of the far north.

Gailey led the team to two playoff appearances with a 10 – 6 record in 1998 and an NFC East championship, but the Cowboys were defeated in the playoffs by the Arizona Cardinals 20-7 ; after an 8 – 8 season in 1999 ( during which Irvin suffered a career-ending spinal injury in a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles ) ending in another playoff loss ( this time to the Minnesota Vikings 27-10 ), he was fired and became the first Cowboys coach who did not take the team to a Super Bowl.

Dallas ended their playoff run after a hard divisional playoff loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

In, the Vikings went 12 – 2, the best record in the NFL, and had 12 straight regular-season victories, after a season-opening loss to the New York Giants, which was the longest single-season winning streak in 35 years.

The Vikings finished the season 15 – 1, their only loss was to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27 – 24 in Week 9.

But the Vikings were humiliated by the Giants 41 – 0, the worst playoff loss in franchise history.

The Vikings beat the New York Giants, 44 – 7, in Week 17 to help the team clinch the 2nd seed in the conference and a 1st round-bye with an Eagles loss later that same day.

The Vikings finished the season with a 20 – 13 loss against the Detroit Lions.

During the season, the Vikings had many distractions, including trading for Randy Moss and then waiving him only a month later, Brett Favre's NFL investigation for allegedly sending inappropriate text messages to Jets ' employee Jenn Sterger while he was with the team in 2008, the Metrodome's collapse and resulting venue changes, and finally head coach Brad Childress ' firing on November 22 following a 31 – 3 loss at the hands of the rival Green Bay Packers.

The Rams received the # 1 wild-card due to having the best conference record out of the 3, followed by the Vikings due to the 38 – 31 loss handed to the Saints in Week 6.

The team introduced a gold alternate jersey ( worn with the black pants ) during a December 15, 2002 game versus the Minnesota Vikings, a 32 – 31 loss, but have never worn them since then.

The Vikings also finished the regular season with a 12-2 record, winning their first nine games before a loss on Monday Night Football to the Atlanta Falcons.

The Vikings ' lethargic performance was very similar to their performance in their loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl IV.

The only NFL game he would miss in his career, was the 1973 NFC Championship Game loss ( 10-27 ), December 30, against the Minnesota Vikings, due to a leg injury.

* Canadian poet Al Purdy wrote a poem entitled " Lament for the Dorsets " which starts " Animal bones and some mossy tent rings ... all that remains of Dorset giants, who drove the Vikings back to their longships ..." This poem laments the loss of their culture and describes them and their end.

During a pregame interview before the Minnesota Vikings ' opening game of the 2010 NFL season against the Saints, Brett Favre, reflecting on the Vikings ' loss to the Saints in the 2009 – 10 NFC Championship Game, said of the Superdome: " That was, by far, the most hostile environment I've ever been in.

" It was during that loss that some of the Vikings players elected to wear earplugs, including Favre.

When the mission was completed, which had resulted in the loss of a helicopter, gunship and a Viking pilot, there was also an officer, the Major who was in command of the Vikings who had been wounded when the ship went down.

In the Vikings ' postseason divisional playoff game, a 13-41 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the Vikings used all three quarterbacks ( Wilson, Kramer, and Gannon ), and Gannon was 13-for-18 passing for 144 yards and 1 interception.

In a November 26 game, he set an NFL rookie record with 405 passing yards in a loss to the 6-10 Minnesota Vikings.