page_title: Minnesota Vikings
section_title: 2014–present
hierarchical_section_title: Minnesota Vikings / History / 2000s / 2014–present
caption_attribution_description: English: US Bank Stadium as seen from the west
context_page_description: The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings joined the National Football League as an expansion team in 1960, and first took the field for the 1961 season. The team competes in the National Football Conference North division.
  During the 1960s, the Vikings' record was typical for an expansion franchise, but improved over the course of the decade, resulting in a Central Division title in 1968. In 1969, their dominant defense led to a league championship, the last NFL championship prior to the merger of the NFL with the AFL.
  The Vikings are arguably the most successful NFL franchise to never win a Super Bowl. Minnesota ranks sixth all-time in win percentage and seventh overall in combined regular season and postseason wins. The Vikings have won 20 division titles, and have made 30 playoff appearances. The club has appeared in 10 conference championship games, winning four to reach the Super Bowl. They are one of only three teams, along with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Los Angeles Rams, to appear in at least one conference title game every decade since the 1970s.
context_section_description: The team hired former Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer to replace Leslie Frazier as head coach on January 16, 2014. Former Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator Norv Turner replaced Bill Musgrave, and George Edwards replaced Alan Williams as defensive coordinator. In the 2014 NFL Draft, the Vikings selected Anthony Barr, a linebacker out of UCLA, and Teddy Bridgewater, a quarterback out of the University of Louisville. Bridgewater would later lose the starting job to Matt Cassel only to become the starter for the Vikings when Cassel was lost to a season-ending foot injury in week 3. Star running back Adrian Peterson only played in one regular season game due to his ongoing child abuse trial, with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell placing Peterson on the Commissioner's Exempt List indefinitely. On April 16, 2015, the league released a statement issuing Peterson's reinstatement to occur on April 17, 2015. The Vikings concluded their season with seven wins and nine losses, winning only one game against a divisional opponent, although Bridgewater set a franchise record for wins by a rookie starting quarterback. On January 3, 2016, the Vikings beat divisional rival Green Bay 20–13 to win the NFC North for the first time since 2009. The Vikings, led by their top 5 defense, ended the 2015 season with an 11–5 record, and a #3 seed in the playoffs. However, they lost to the Seattle Seahawks 10–9 after Blair Walsh missed a 27-yard field goal in the third coldest game in NFL playoff history.
  The Vikings were responsible for a historic milestone in the late rounds of the 2016 NFL draft. Their sixth-round selection, German wide receiver Moritz Böhringer, was the first European player ever to be drafted by an NFL team without having previously played at any level in North America. After Teddy Bridgewater went down with a knee injury in the preseason of 2016, the Vikings traded their 2017 first round pick and a conditional fourth round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles for quarterback Sam Bradford, who threw for 20 touchdowns, 5 interceptions, 3,877 yards, and while starting the season a league best 5-0, completed the season 3-8 for a season total of 8-8. Following the knee injury, the Vikings declined to pick up the fifth-year option on Bridgewater. Running back Adrian Peterson went down to injury in Week 2 against the Green Bay Packers with a torn meniscus and was placed on the Injured Reserve until Week 15. On February 28, 2017, the Vikings announced they would not exercise Peterson's 2017 contract option which made him a free agent. Had they exercised the option, Peterson would be owed $18 million for the 2017 season. On April 25, 2017, the New Orleans Saints signed Peterson to a 2-year, $7 million contract, ending his tenure with the Vikings since his debut in 2007 as a rookie. He holds several Vikings records including most career rushing touchdowns, career rushing yards, and most rushing yards in a season.
  In the summer of 2017, the Vikings ownership announced they would end the 52-year annual tradition of summer training camp in Mankato at Minnesota State University, Mankato as they built a large new headquarters building, training facility and area property development in Eagan on the site of the former Northwest Airlines offices completed in the spring of 2018 in time for the 2018 summer training camp that July.
  The Vikings won the NFC North for the second time in three years in 2017, finishing with a 13–3 record that saw them go into the playoffs as the number 2 seed in the NFC. In the divisional round, they came up against the New Orleans Saints. With less than 10 seconds remaining in the game and trailing by a single point, the Vikings lined up on 3rd-and-10 on their own 39-yard line. Quarterback Case Keenum threw the ball to wide receiver Stefon Diggs inside field goal range near the right sideline, giving the receiver a chance to get out of bounds with just enough time for a game-winning field goal attempt; however, safety Marcus Williams missed his attempted tackle, allowing Diggs to run down the sidelin
caption: The Vikings moved to U.S. Bank Stadium in 2016
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