Minnesota’s first six seasons as a franchise also involved playing the Lions and Rams twice, all in the regular season. The Vikings went 1-3 in 1961, 1-2-1 in 1962, 2-2 in 1963, 1-2-1 in 1964, 3-1 in 1965 and 2-2 in 1966.
Additionally, when the Rams were based in St. Louis, Minnesota faced Detroit twice and the Rams once in the regular season nine times. The Vikings were largely successful in those games, racking up 22 wins and just five losses between 1998 and 2015. Minnesota also played the Lions twice in the regular season and St. Louis once in the playoffs, earning a season split with Detroit in 1999 before falling to the Rams 49-37 in the Divisional Round.
Throughout its 46-year history, Wild Card Weekend has been known to produce an upset or two; for the past seven consecutive seasons, there has been at least one lower-seeded team to defeat a higher-seeded opponent in the opening weekend of the playoffs.
When it comes to a No. 5 seed beating a No. 4 seed in the Wild Card Round, it’s been quite common, as 29 of the previous 46 seasons have had either one or both No. 5 seeds advancing to the Divisional Round. Of the 35 total victories by a fifth-seeded team in the first weekend, 18 have occurred in the AFC Playoffs and 17 have happened in the NFC Playoffs.
This season marks the 10th time in team history the Vikings have started the playoffs as a Wild Card entrant (out of 32 total trips). The previous nine were in 1987, 1988, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2012 and 2019.