The 2023 season was the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

' 63rd in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL), their eighth playing their home games at U.S. Bank Stadium and their second under the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

tandem of Kevin O'Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. They started 0–3 for the second time in the past four seasons. They failed to improve upon their 13–4 record from

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

after a Week 5 loss to the eventual back to back Super Bowl champion

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

and match that record with a Week 11 loss to the Broncos. However, after having a 1–4 record, the Vikings would win 5 games straight, going to a 6–4 record. During Minnesota's Week 8 game against their division rival, the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

, starting

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

Kirk Cousins Kirk Daniel Cousins (born August 19, 1988) is an American professional American football, football quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Michigan State Spartans football, Mi ...

ruptured his

achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

, ruling him out for the rest of the season. They went through a quarterback carousel for the rest of the season, going 1–6 in their last 7 games including 4 straight losses to end the season. In Week 16, they were knocked out of division contention following a loss to the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

, and in Week 18, they were eliminated from playoff contention after losing to the Lions again. For the first time since

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, wide receiver Adam Thielen was not on the roster, as he was released on March 10. Additionally, for the first time since

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, four-time

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (since 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's All-star, star players. The format has changed ...

running back Dalvin Cook was not on the roster, as he was released on June 9. This was also the first season after the death of legendary coach and team advisor

Bud Grant Harry Peter "Bud" Grant Jr. (May 20, 1927 – March 11, 2023) was an American professional football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL). Grant was head coach of the NFL's Minnesota Viki ...

on March 11.

Offseason

Additions

Subtractions

2023 draft

Draft trades

Staff

Final roster

Preseason

The Vikings' preseason schedule was announced on May 11, 2023, along with the regular season schedule. They will first travel to the Pacific Northwest to play the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

, before returning to Minnesota for their remaining two games, first against the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. They play the ...

and then the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

Schedule

Game summaries

Week 1: at Seattle Seahawks

Week 2: vs. Tennessee Titans

Week 3: vs Arizona Cardinals

Regular season

Schedule

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1: vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Week 2: at Philadelphia Eagles

Week 3: vs. Los Angeles Chargers

Week 4: at Carolina Panthers

Week 5: vs. Kansas City Chiefs

Week 6: at Chicago Bears

Week 7: vs. San Francisco 49ers

Week 8: at Green Bay Packers

Week 9: at Atlanta Falcons

Week 10: vs. New Orleans Saints

Week 11: at Denver Broncos

Week 12: vs. Chicago Bears

Week 14: at Las Vegas Raiders

The Vikings scored the only points of the game after both teams went over 58 minutes without scoring, in the lowest scoring NFL game since 2007.Vikings beat Raiders 3-0 in lowest-scoring NFL game in 16 years
CBS Sports, December 11, 2023 The Vikings improved to 7–6 and remained in the playoff race.

Week 15: at Cincinnati Bengals

Week 16: vs. Detroit Lions

Week 17: vs. Green Bay Packers

Week 18: at Detroit Lions

With this loss, the Vikings finished the season on a four-game losing streak, their first since

. They were also swept by the Lions for the first time since that same season. Their 7–10 record was their first double-digit losing season since

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, which also saw the Vikings go through a quarterback carousel driven by injuries and poor play.

Standings

Division

Conference

Statistics

Team leaders

Source: ''Pro-Football-Reference.com''

League rankings

Source: ''ProFootballReference.com''

References

External links

* {{2023 NFL season by team

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

Minnesota Vikings seasons