Record 9–7 Playoff finish did not qualify Start date 2005 | Division place 2nd NFC North Head coach Mike Tice Owner Zygi Wilf | |
Home field Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome Similar 1995 Minnesota Vikings s, 1981 Minnesota Vikings s, 2008 Minnesota Vikings s | ||
The 2005 Minnesota Vikings season was the franchise's 45th season in the National Football League and the 86th regular season.
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The Vikings finished the 2005 season going 8–3 over the final 11 weeks. However, they failed to make the playoffs with an 9–7 record. Daunte Culpepper was injured after 7 games, making Brad Johnson the starter for the Vikings. The loss of Randy Moss and Culpepper made the Vikings drop from 2nd in passing offense in 2004 to 20th.
Offseason
Red McCombs sold the Minnesota Vikings to a group led by Zygi Wilf in May 2005. Wilf was originally going to be a limited partner to Reggie Fowler. However Fowler was not able to purchase the team. Wilf then became the lead owner and Fowler is one of a group of ownership partners.
2005 Draft
^[a] Oakland traded their 1st round selection (7th overall), 7th round selection (219th overall), and LB Napoleon Harris to Minnesota in exchange for WR Randy Moss. ^[b] Minnesota traded their 4th round selection (120th overall) and 5th round selection (154th overall) to Washington to move up 8 spots to the 112th overall selection and make this pick. ^[c] Minnesota traded their 7th round selection (230th overall) to the Jets for LB Sam Cowart.Regular season
The Vikings started off by losing their first two games to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (24–13) and the Cincinnati Bengals (37–8). They would win in Week 3 against the New Orleans Saints (33–16), but then they would go on to lose their next two road games to the Atlanta Falcons (30–10) and their division rival Chicago Bears (28–3). The Vikings would win at home against fellow division rival Green Bay Packers 23–20 by winning the same way the Packers did last season, which was a last second field goal. However, the Vikes had little to celebrate when in the next week- not only did they lose to the Carolina Panthers 38–13 on the road, but they also lost their star QB Daunte Culpepper for the season with a knee injury. Culpepper had thrown twice as many interceptions as touchdowns up at that point. At this point the Vikings were 2–5.
Taking Culpepper's place would be Brad Johnson (Viking from 1992–98 and quarterback of the Super Bowl XXXVII champion Buccaneers) and, upon taking over, led the Vikings to a six-game winning streak, including victories over the Detroit Lions at home (27–14), the New York Giants (24–21), the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field (20–17, once again on a last second field goal), the Cleveland Browns (24–12), the Detroit Lions at Ford Field (21–16), and a 27–13 home victory over the St. Louis Rams. Johnson ended up with the lowest interception to attempt ratio in Vikings history and the 3rd best passer rating in the NFC. The streak ended with an 18–3 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the eventual Super Bowl champions. After having their chances of winning the NFC North extinguished when the Bears defeated the Packers 24–17 in Lambeau Field earlier in the day, the Vikings were officially eliminated from NFC playoff contention with a 30–23 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. The Vikings won their last game of the 2005 season against the Bears, with a 34–10 victory. However, the Vikings fired head coach Mike Tice immediately following the game. They ended up with a 9–7 record and 1 win away from the playoffs.
The season is also remembered for the Love Boat scandal.