The 2017 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 ...

' 57th 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), and their fourth under

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 ...

Mike Zimmer. With the team's home stadium,

U.S. Bank Stadium U.S. Bank Stadium is an enclosed stadium located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. Built on the former site of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, the indoor stadium opened in 2016 and is the home of the Minnesota Vikings of the National Footbal ...

, scheduled to host

Super Bowl LII Super Bowl LII was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2017 season. As a rematch of Super Bowl XXXIX from 13 years earlier, the game was between the National Football Conferen ...

at the end of the season, the Vikings attempted to make history as the first team to play the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

on their home field; in recording their best regular season record since

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, they clinched a first-round bye for the first time since

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and became the eighth team in the Super Bowl era to qualify for the playoffs in a season in which their stadium hosted the Super Bowl. They defeated the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...

in the divisional round 29–24 on a walk-off play referred to as the "

Minneapolis Miracle The Minneapolis Miracle (also known as the Minnesota Miracle) refers to the final play of a NFC divisional playoff game played between the Minnesota Vikings and the New Orleans Saints at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 1 ...

", but lost 38–7 to the eventual Super Bowl champion

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

in the

NFC Championship Game The NFC Championship Game is the annual championship game of the National Football Conference (NFC) and one of the two semifinal National Football League playoffs, playoff games of the National Football League (NFL), the largest professional Ame ...

, preventing them from becoming the first team in NFL history to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium. This was the first season since

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

without star running back

Adrian Peterson Adrian Lewis Peterson (; born March 21, 1985) is an American former professional football running back who played 15 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He is widely considered to be one of the greatest running backs in football hist ...

on the roster, as the team declined his contract option in February.

Roster changes

2017 draft

Draft trades

Transactions

: Denotes this is a reserve/future contract.

Staff

Roster

Preseason

Schedule

The Vikings' preliminary preseason schedule was announced on April 10.

Game summaries

Week 1: at Buffalo Bills

Week 2: at Seattle Seahawks

Week 3: vs. San Francisco 49ers

Week 4: vs. Miami Dolphins

Regular season

Schedule

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1: vs. New Orleans Saints

Week 2: at Pittsburgh Steelers

Week 3: vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Week 4: vs. Detroit Lions

Week 5: at Chicago Bears

Week 6: vs. Green Bay Packers

Week 7: vs. Baltimore Ravens

Week 8: at Cleveland Browns

NFL London Games

Week 10: at Washington Redskins

Week 11: vs. Los Angeles Rams

Week 12: at Detroit Lions

NFL on Thanksgiving Day Since its inception in 1920, the National Football League (NFL) has played games on Thanksgiving (United States), Thanksgiving Day, patterned upon the historic playing of college football games on or around the November holiday. The NFL's Thanks ...

Week 13: at Atlanta Falcons

Week 14: at Carolina Panthers

Week 15: vs. Cincinnati Bengals

Week 16: at Green Bay Packers

Week 17: vs. Chicago Bears

Standings

Division

Conference

Postseason

Schedule

Game summaries

NFC Divisional Playoffs: vs. (4) New Orleans Saints

NFC Championship: at (1) Philadelphia Eagles

With their win against the

Saints In Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Anglican, Oriental Orth ...

in the NFC Divisional Round, Minnesota became the first team in the

era to advance to the conference championship game the same year they hosted the Super Bowl. Despite going to Lincoln Financial Field as three-point favorites, primarily due to a general lack of confidence in Eagles second-string quarterback

Nick Foles Nicholas Edward Foles (born January 20, 1989) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. A member of six teams, he achieved his greatest success wi ...

, the Vikings lost in a massive upset to the number 1 seeded Philadelphia Eagles by a score of 38–7. Although the Vikings took an early lead on their opening drive via a pass from Case Keenum to Kyle Rudolph, the Eagles leveled the scores on a 50-yard Patrick Robinson interception return before scoring a further 31 unanswered points over the final three-quarters. This loss extended the Vikings' NFC title drought to 41 seasons, second only to the Detroit Lions' 48.

Pro Bowl

Four Vikings players were elected to the Pro Bowl when the rosters were announced on December 19, 2017, with three-time selection

Everson Griffen Everson Griffen (born December 22, 1987) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL). A graduate of Agua Fria High School, Griffen played college football for the USC Trojans ...

, two-time selection

Xavier Rhodes Xavier Rhodes (born June 19, 1990) is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Florida State Seminoles, and was selected by the Minnesota Vikin ...

and first-timer

Adam Thielen Adam John Thielen (born August 22, 1990) is an American professional American football, football wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Minnesota State Mavericks football ...

all named as starters, while Griffen's fellow third-timer Anthony Barr was named on the bench at outside linebacker behind the Cardinals'

Chandler Jones Chandler James Jones (born February 27, 1990) is an American professional football defensive end. He played college football for the Syracuse Orange and was selected by the New England Patriots in the first round of the 2012 NFL draft. He has ...

and the Redskins'

Ryan Kerrigan Patrick Ryan Kerrigan (born August 16, 1988) is an American professional football coach and former player who is the assistant linebackers and pass rush specialist coach for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He pla ...

. Safety

Harrison Smith Harrison Smith (born February 2, 1989) is an American professional football safety for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and was selected by the Vikings in t ...

was rated as the best safety in the league by

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

over the course of the season, but was not included in the roster for the Pro Bowl, leading to some considering him to be one of the biggest snubs of the season. Smith was eventually named to the NFC's Pro Bowl roster on January 22, after New York Giants safety

Landon Collins Landon Alexander Collins (born January 10, 1994) is an American former professional football player who was a safety and linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide, where he was a pa ...

withdrew due to injury.

Kyle Rudolph Kyle Daniel Rudolph (born November 9, 1989) is an American former professional football player who was a tight end for 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the Minnesota Vikings. He played college football for the No ...

was also included after

Jimmy Graham Jimmy Graham (born November 24, 1986) is an American professional American football, football tight end. He was selected by the New Orleans Saints in the third round of the 2010 NFL draft. Graham has also been a member of the Seattle Seahawks, G ...

pulled out with an injury, while Linval Joseph took the place of the Super Bowl-bound Philadelphia Eagles'

Fletcher Cox Fletcher Cox (born December 13, 1990) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle for 12 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Mississip ...

. Smith will be appearing in his third straight Pro Bowl, while Rudolph and Joseph are appearing in their second career Pro Bowls. Barr and Griffen also pulled out of the Pro Bowl due to injury, replaced by Thomas Davis and Michael Bennett respectively.

Statistics

Team leaders

Source: Minnesota Vikings' official website

League rankings

Source: NFL.com

References

External links

* {{2017 NFL season by team

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

NFC North championship seasons