The Vikings find themselves with an 8-3 record after 11 games.
It marks the eighth time the Vikings have started 8-3 or better since the NFL switched to a 16-game schedule.
Let’s take a look back at Minnesota’s previous hot starts.
2017
The Vikings started the 2017 season with a 9-2 record and ended the season with a 13-3 record. This was the weird year in which the team lost Sam Bradford to injury and then Case Keenum came out of nowhere to guide the Vikings.
Minnesota ended up losing in the NFC Championship game to the Philadelphia Eagles, which was especially disappointing considering the Super Bowl was in Minneapolis.
2015
This squad, led by Adrian Peterson and Teddy Bridgwater, started the season 8-3 and went 3-2 in its final five games to end the season with an 11-5 record.
This team probably overperformed a bit. Blair Walsh’s wide left field goal doomed the Vikings in the wild card round of the playoffs against the Seahawks.
2009
What a season this was. In Brett Favre’s first season in Purple, the team started out 10-1 and ended the season with a 12-4 record. Favre threw for 4,202 yards and 33 touchdowns. Ultimately, he led the team to the NFC Championship, but the team lost to the Saints in a controversial fashion.
We’ll let you decide for yourself, but if the Vikings win that game, they probably win it all.
2000
Minnesota started this season out 9-2. We’ll remember it more for the 41-0 embarrassment in the NFC Championship that year, but it was a pretty successful season. Daunte Culpepper was a second-year stud, throwing for 3,937 yards and 33 touchdowns, while Randy Moss had more than 1,400 receiving yards to go along with 15 touchdowns.
This was Dennis Green’s last full season as the team’s head coach.
1998
This is the season I’ll remember forever as a Vikings fan. I was eight, and watching Moss as a rookie, Cris Carter, Robert Smith and Randall Cunningham dominate offensively was so much fun.
The team started 10-1 and ended the season with a 15-1 record.
Of course, this season is also why people roll their eyes when they hear Gary Anderson’s name. Anderson missed a chip shot in the NFC Championship game against the Falcons after going a perfect 35-for-35 in the regular season.
If we could never talk about that again, that’d be super.
1997
This team started out 8-3 before losing four of its last five games to finish with a mediocre 9-7 record.
The Vikings, who were led by Brad Johnson, still made the playoffs and even beat the Giants 23-22 in the wild card round, but ended up losing 38-22 to the 49ers in the divisional round.
1992
And then we have the 1992 squad that started out 8-3 and ended the season 11-5.
The team’s defense was great, ranking in the top 10 in both yards and points allowed.
Despite having Anthony and Cris Carter, there really wasn’t much of a passing game for the team. While the team had Rich Gannon at quarterback, he wasn’t that Rich Gannon, yet.
The Vikings lost in the wild card round to the Redskins.
