Despite frequent playoff berths, the Vikings consistently fall short, leaving fans questioning their team's postseason resilience and championship dreams.
This weekend is going to be tough for Minnesota Vikings fans. The Chicago Bears host the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday evening, looking to extend their Cinderella season. On Saturday, Sam Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks welcome the San Francisco 49ers to town for their second matchup in three weeks.
As Vikings fans, it's easy to wonder what if? But the reality is, our team doesn't do much in the playoffs. Adding to the pain is that Minnesota makes the postseason a lot.
The Vikings have made the playoffs 32 times, tied with the Philadelphia Eagles for the sixth-most trips in league history. All five teams with more postseason appearances have won multiple Super Bowls. The Eagles, of course, won their second championship in eight seasons last year.
Not only have the Vikings not won the Super Bowl, but they have also failed to win many playoff games. They are 21-32 (.396) in postseason play, the fourth-worst playoff winning percentage among active teams.
Eight of those wins came in the first 16 seasons of the franchise's existence. Minnesota became the first team to appear in four Super Bowls in January 1977. Unfortunately, they lost 32-14 to the Oakland Raiders, their third Super Bowl loss in four seasons and their fourth overall in eight years.
Since then, the Vikings have gone 13-24 in postseason play. They have lost six straight NFC Championship Games, including heartbreakers following the 1998 and 2009 seasons.
Their final appearance came in 2017, after the Minneapolis Miracle. Stefon Diggs' 61-yard touchdown reception against the Saints had Minnesota one win away from being the first team to play the Super Bowl in their own stadium. It felt like, for once, everything that could go the Vikings' way did.
Instead, Minnesota was embarrassed 38-7 by the Eagles one week later. Making matters worse was that Philadelphia would win the Super Bowl two weeks later at U.S. Bank Stadium, rubbing Minnesota fans' noses in the embarrassment.
Playoff runs just aren't a thing for the Vikings. The last time they won two games in the same postseason was in 1987, when they upset the New Orleans Saints and San Francisco 49ers.
But even that miraculous run ended in heartbreak as running back Darrin Nelson dropped a game-tying pass at the goal line late in the fourth quarter. Minnesota would lose to Washington 17-10.
These memories make it difficult to be optimistic about the Vikings' playoff potential. Last weekend, the Bears played poorly for 55 minutes in the wild-card round against the Green Bay Packers, but still found a way to win 31-27.
In fact, Chicago has probably played worse on their way to an 11-6 record this year than Minnesota did in 2024 when it went 14-3. That’s the part that drives Vikings fans crazy — competence isn’t always required in January, but belief seems to be.
Instead of stressing about the Vikings' inevitable collapse or tricking ourselves into believing they would do anything meaningful this year, we had the luxury of seeing our team miss the playoffs entirely.
Which stings worse – thinking back on a disappointing 2011 season where the team went 3-13, or watching back Brett Favre throw a game-losing interception across his body at the Superdome in January 2010?