What are the five best road wins for the Minnesota Vikings since 2014?
Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer is frequently chastised for the assumption that he “does not win on the road”. This is a very awkward talking point and that is because it’s a false one.
Zimmer took over the Vikings in 2014, and since then, the team has been the NFL’s ninth-best squad on the road. In these six seasons, Minnesota has a better road winning percentage (.490) that the Green Bay Packers, Baltimore Ravens, and Philadelphia Eagles.
Write this down. The Minnesota Vikings are not a bad road team. The Vikings are an elite home team that doesn’t play as well on the road as they do at home. And such is the case for most teams in the league.
Since U.S. Bank Stadium opened in 2016, Minnesota has been the NFC’s very best home team and the NFL’s second-best home squad behind the New England Patriots. Because those road numbers dip closer to 10th in the standings, onlookers think the Vikings are “bad” in away games.
Zimmer and Minnesota have pulled off some noteworthy road victories in the last six years. The Vikings have even won more away games since 2014 than the Las Vegas Raiders and Cleveland Browns combined. Although, that is not a sterling company.
Five of Minnesota’s away victories since 2014 stand out a bit more than rest, and here those games ranked in ascending order.
5. Carolina Panthers, 2016 (Week 3)
During the third week of the 2016 season, the Vikings toppled the Carolina Panthers by a score of 22-10. However, Panthers wound up being a jumbo-sized disappointment in 2016.
At the time though, neither Minnesota nor the world knew that Carolina was barreling toward a 6-10 win-loss campaign that year. This particular Vikings victory was momentous as the Panthers were the defending NFC champions led by the reigning NFL MVP, Cam Newton.
When this matchup took place, Minnesota was in the midst of (what turned out to be) a five-game winning streak to begin the season.
Newton was abused and stifled by the Vikings staunch defense, mainly by Minnesota’s two defensive ends, Everson Griffen and a 22-year-old Danielle Hunter. Griffen terrorized to the tune of three sacks and four quarterback hits. Hunter chipped in a safety for good measure and the Vikings stunned the Super Bowl 50 runner-up on their home field in North Carolina.
Regrettably, for Mike Zimmer and his reapers, it would be the second-to-last road game Minnesota would win all season. The Vikings 2016 season collapsed after a near-unprecedented and dazzling 5-0 start.
4. Dallas Cowboys, 2019 (Week 10)
This was one that just felt different.
The Vikings jaunted down to the Lone Star State with a 7-2 record and they sought the defeat of the 5-3 Dallas Cowboys. Kirk Cousins, Dalvin Cook, and the rest of Minnesota’s roster delivered with a 28-24 nailbiting triumph over the Cowboys.
For Dallas, the 2019 season ended on a sour note. The Cowboys finished the year with an 8-8 record, but they missed out on the playoffs, and this subsequently gave head coach Jason Garrett his walking papers.
But as was the case for the Panthers in 2016, Dallas was rocking and rolling at the time of their matchup with the Vikings.
Against the Cowboys, Minnesota safety Jayron Kearse tallied an interception and Everson Griffen was responsible for four quarterback hits on Dallas signal-caller Dak Prescott. Cousins scripted two touchdowns passes to tight end Kyle Rudolph, Cook made a trip to the end zone, and Vikings linebacker Eric Kendricks knocked away a game-saving fourth-down pass attempt in the final minute of the fourth quarter.
The win inspired vital away-game confidence as Minnesota went on to blaze a path to the postseason.
3. Chicago Bears, 2017 (Week 5)
If you remember this game or are ultra-interested in why it was so momentous, go ahead and check out a more detailed look at the matchup.
This Week 5 contest was a fateful one as it pertained to the prosperous 2017 season and Vikings history.
Nobody knew it at the time, but it was the last game Sam Bradford would ever play for Minnesota. Contrarily, it was the first start of current Chicago Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky’s career. He lost 20-17.
Case Keenum displayed mettle and led the Vikings to history. It was the first game of the Dalvin Cook era that the running back missed thanks to the torn ACL he suffered eight days prior.
The game was a vintage, slobber-knocking NFC North tryst. Hell, the score was 3-2 at halftime. The black and blue of the old NFC Central division was out in full force.
There’s more. This contest is the last Monday night game Minnesota won. Currently, the Vikings are embroiled in a three-game Monday-night losing steak.
It was also the last time the time Minnesota won a matchup due to a game-winning field goal.
2. Green Bay Packers, 2015 (Week 17)
A win for the NFC North crown gets you a seat at the table. This matchup was for all the regular-season marbles. At Lambeau Field, the NFC North title hung in the balance, and the Vikings were conquerors by the score of 20-13.
In his second season with Minnesota, Mike Zimmer took the division. The Vikings were led by second-year quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. In retrospect, this was the last time he started a regular-season game for Minnesota. Bridgewater was bedeviled by a ruinous knee injury eight months later, and that was mostly a wrap for his career in purple.
The Vikings jumped out to a 20-3 lead thanks to an Adrian Peterson touchdown, a pair of Blair Walsh field goals, and cornerback Captain Munnerlyn returning a fumble for a score. And then everyone in the stadium knew what was coming.
Aaron Rodgers propelled the Packers to a mini-comeback and they came within a seven-point striking distance.
Minnesota held serve down the stretch, basically stopped scoring, and played Zimmer Ball. If you are unfamiliar with Zimmer Ball, it is essentially running out the clock while maintaining a lead. But it’s generally a successful tactic, as was the case for the division-deciding contest.
1. New Orleans Saints, 2019 (Wild-Card Round)
For the Vikings, unlike the rest of the infamous year, 2020 started marvelously. Minnesota was an eight-point underdog as they traveled to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome to take on the New Orleans Saints.
It didn’t matter. The Vikings shocked the Saints, again, in the playoffs by a final score of 26-20. In the overtime period, Kirk Cousins connected on two consequential passes to Adam Thielen and Kyle Rudolph en route to walk-off victory for Minnesota.
Many Vikings loyalists were skeptical about the team’s chances in the Big Easy as Minnesota had finished the season with a whimper. Two weeks before taking on New Orleans, the Packers shamed the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Thankfully for Minnesotans, the “good” Vikings team arrived for the wild-card contest against the Saints.
Minnesota safety Anthony Harris bagged a late-second quarter interception, Danielle Hunter robbed Drew Brees of the football with a strip-sack, Dalvin Cook scored twice, and Cousins finished off New Orleans in overtime.
Because of the stakes, thrills, and maturity of the team, this game was, by far, the most impressive away-game victory on Mike Zimmer’s wall of accolades.