The Minnesota Vikings kicked off their 2015 season last night against the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football. Sadly, the Vikings didn’t impress, as they were dominated and lost the game 20-3.
The Minnesota Vikings have a recent history of struggling with playing in prime time. In fact, odds are that if the Minnesota Vikings are in front of a national audience that they are likely to walk away with a loss.
Here is a list of the prime time games since the 2010 season:
Sep 14, 2015; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (28) and San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kapernick (7) shake hands after the game at Levi
2015: LOSS – 3-20 vs 49ers
2014: LOSS – 10-42 vs Packers
2013: LOSS – 7-23 vs Giants
2013: WIN – 34-27 vs Redskins
2012: LOSS – 17-36 vs Buccaneers
2012: LOSS – 10-24 vs Packers
2011: LOSS – 7-45 vs Packers
2011: WIN – 33-26 vs Redskins
2010: LOSS – 9-14 vs Saints
2010: LOSS – 20-29 vs Jets
2010: LOSS – 2-21 vs Giants
2010: LOSS – 14-40 vs Bears
2010: WIN – 24-14 vs Eagles
As you can see, the Minnesota Vikings are 3-10 in those games since the 2010 season and two of those wins are against the struggling Washington Redskins. It’s a very curious phenomenon, as most of those games were absolute blowouts where the game was never even close.
Former Minnesota Vikings head coach Bud Grant knows the positives and negatives that come with a game in prime time. In a recent interview on the CBS website, he spoke about how Monday Night Football can get into a player’s head.
"“Well Monday Night Football, I think the players kind of like it because they like the attention and it’s a lot of attention,” Grant said. “But on the other hand, it’s a disruption of the routine we used to have to play on Monday night. If you’re a player, you sit around all day waiting for a game. It’s different than when you play at noon. Monday Night Football has the good and the bad points. The bad point is you have to wait around all day and it disrupts your schedule for the next week. Now you have one less day to prepare for the following week. It goes both ways.”"
The Minnesota Vikings will have one more prime time game this year when they take on the Arizona Cardinals on December 10th. This will be a tough task, as the Cardinals are one of the better teams in the league and the Vikings already have recent history against them.
Next: Minnesota Vikings 2015 Game By Game Previews
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