A similar game called Knattleikr had been played for a thousand years or more by the Vikings as documented in the Icelandic Sagas.

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.

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.

The Vikings played their final game at Metropolitan Stadium on December 20 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.

He served as the Vikings ' offensive coordinator from 1968 – 85, when the team won 11 division titles and played in 4 Super Bowls.

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.

The Vikings played the Washington Redskins in the NFC Championship Game on January 17, 1988, at RFK Stadium.

When the 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 total yards, 224 rushing ).

Brett Favre played for the Vikings in 2009 and 2010.

On August 18, 2009, after months of speculation and negotiations, twice-retired veteran quarterback Brett Favre, who until 2007 played 16 years for division arch rival Green Bay Packers, signed a two-year, $ 25 million deal with the Vikings, starting what many Vikings fans refer to as " The Brett Favre Era ".

On October 5, 2009, the Vikings hosted the Green Bay Packers as Favre played his former team for the first time.

The Vikings played the Dallas Cowboys in the divisional round on January 17, 2010, and won the game by a score of 34 – 3, advancing the Vikings to the NFC Championship game, the ninth in franchise history.

In the first week of the 2010 NFL regular season, the Vikings played the defending Super Bowl champions, the New Orleans Saints.

In Week 2, the Vikings played the Miami Dolphins and lost 14 – 10.

In Week 9, the Vikings played the Arizona Cardinals at home and won 27 – 24 in overtime.

Because of on-going repairs to the roof of the Metrodome, the Vikings played their December 20 game versus the Chicago Bears at TCF Bank Stadium ( the home of the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers ).

This marks the third consecutive venue or date change for a Vikings game and was the first NFL game played on a Tuesday since 1964.

On October 11, 1964 the Vikings played the Detroit Lions at Metropolitan Stadium and the Lions mistakenly only brought their white jerseys to Minnesota.

Three years later, the Vikings played the November 7, 2010 home game against the Arizona Cardinals in the all-purple uniform.

During home games at the Metrodome, the Vikings Gjallarhorn is loudly played and sounds often after the team has made a big play, gets a first down, or scores a touchdown.

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

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.

Despite producing some of the best teams in NFL history over the years, the Vikings have not won a Super Bowl.

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.

The Vikings, however, couldn't break their bad luck in the Super Bowl.

In, 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.

Redskins cornerback Darrell Green broke up a pass at the goal line from Wade Wilson intended for Darrin Nelson to end the Vikings ' hopes of a Super Bowl.

Walker's performance fell short of expectations in his three seasons with the Vikings, while the Cowboys rode their draft picks to three Super Bowl victories in the early to mid 1990s.

The Vikings became the first 15 – 1 team to fail to reach the Super Bowl.

Although its opponents would include winners of 9 of the last 15 NFL MVP awards, the team advanced to the 2010 NFC Championship game where they defeated the Minnesota Vikings, led by Brett Favre, 31 – 28 in overtime ( at 9: 19 CST ), and then went on to win their first Super Bowl appearance in franchise history.

The Saints 2010 season began in the Superdome as the Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints defeated the Minnesota Vikings 14 – 9, in a rematch of the 2010 NFC Championship Game.

Tarkenton would go on to lead the Vikings to three Super Bowls and earn a place in the Hall of Fame, while the Giants suffered through one of the worst stretches in their history, winning only 23 games from 1973 – 79.

But the Patriots were eventually held to negative yardage (- 19 ) throughout the entire first half, and finished with just 123 total yards from scrimmage, the second lowest total yards in Super Bowl history, behind the Minnesota Vikings ( 119 total yards ) in Super Bowl IX.

Despite the AFL's New York Jets winning the previous season's Super Bowl, many sports writers and fans thought it was a fluke and continued to believe that the NFL was still superior to the AFL, and thus fully expected the Vikings to defeat the Chiefs ; the Vikings entered the Super Bowl as 12. 5 to 13-point favorites.

Meanwhile, the Cowboys marched to the Super Bowl with playoff wins over the Minnesota Vikings, 20 – 12 in the NFC Divisional Playoffs, and the San Francisco 49ers, 14 – 3 in the NFC Championship Game, only giving up one touchdown in the two games.

Super Bowl VIII was an American football game between the National Football Conference ( NFC ) champion Minnesota Vikings and the American Football Conference ( AFC ) champion Miami Dolphins to decide the National Football League ( NFL ) champion for the 1973 season.

Super Bowl XI was an American football game between the American Football Conference ( AFC ) champion Oakland Raiders and the National Football Conference ( NFC ) champion Minnesota Vikings to decide the National Football League ( NFL ) champion for the 1976 season.

The Raiders were the first team to use the 3-4 in the Super Bowl in Super Bowl XI against the Minnesota Vikings, although the Miami Dolphins used a version of the 3-4 (" 53 defense ") in Super Bowl VI, Super Bowl VII and Super Bowl VIII.

The Bills became the 9th team to go scoreless in the 1st half, after the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III ; the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowls IV, VIII, IX, and XI ; the Redskins in Super Bowl VII, the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XII ; and the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI.

* Super Bowl XI – Oakland Raiders won 32-14 over the Minnesota Vikings

During the 1970s, the Vikings would appear in three more Super Bowls ( VIII, IX, and XI ) under Grant and lose each one, but was the first coach to lead a team to four Super Bowls.

During that period, Minnesota won the 1969 NFL championship and NFC titles in 1973, 1974 and 1976, and played in Super Bowls IV, VIII, IX and XI where Yary was one of 10 Players to have played in all four games for the Vikings.

Despite not winning a Super Bowl in any of their 4 trips ( Super Bowls IV, VIII, IX and XI ), the Vikings ' defense is considered arguably among the greatest defense of all time.

With the Vikings intimidating line leading their defense and their future Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton leading the offense, the Vikings went on to participate in Super Bowl's VIII, IX, and XI.

Casper caught the first touchdown of Super Bowl XI, a 32-14 Raiders victory over the Minnesota Vikings.

The Raiders then beat the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl XI, rushing for a whopping 266 yards and passing for 180 yards, as Upshaw overwhelmed the opposing defensive tackle, Alan Page, a Hall-of-Famer.

On January 9, 1977, 81. 9 million people ( the largest ever to view a sports event at that point ) watched NBC's telecast of Super Bowl XI between the Oakland Raiders and Minnesota Vikings.

His five year pro-career was spent with the Minnesota Vikings in which he helped lead to Super Bowl VIII, Super Bowl IX and Super Bowl XI all coming up a bit short against the dynasty teams of the Miami Dolphins, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Oakland Raiders.

His five year pro-career was spent with the Minnesota Vikings, during which time which he helped lead the team to Super Bowl IX and Super Bowl XI appearances.

The season ended with Super Bowl XI when the Oakland Raiders defeated the Minnesota Vikings.