What is the most pivotal Vikings game of the last decade?
By Dustin Baker
What was the most pivotal game of the last 10 years for the Minnesota Vikings?
The 2010s began for the Minnesota Vikings with seismic optimism. Fresh off an NFC Championship appearance the year prior, the ushering in of a new decade could not have started sooner for the Vikings in September of 2010.
Within two months, the fans (and probably others in the organization) wanted to fast forward to 2011. The 2010 campaign saw the abrupt shriveling of Brett Favre, the whimsical trade and release of Randy Moss, and the termination of head coach Brad Childress. It was Minnesota malarkey.
Current head coach Mike Zimmer would not arrive until four years later. This 2011-2013 gap was mostly one of defensive buffoonery, uncharacteristically poor quarterback play, and blown leads. The lone sublime achievement of this three-year era was the MVP-trophy hoist by running back Adrian Peterson. Aside from that honor, the team was 18-25-1 (.385) in those three seasons, which exiled the Vikings to the twenty-fifth best win percentage during the Leslie Frazier era.
Zimmer was hired in 2014 and has been the skipper ever since. Under him, the Vikings have won sixty-percent of all games and the franchise has returned to its defensive supremacy akin to that fostered in the 1970s.
In the midst of the Zimmer era and the decade as a whole, one particularly pivotal game stands out.
The Vikings defeated the Chicago Bears in a Monday night matchup in Week 5 of the 2017 season by a score of 20-17. There are a few reasons this game was the most pivotal rendezvous for Minnesota from the last decade.