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NFL team season From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1977 season was the Minnesota Vikings' 17th in the National Football League. After starting the season 5–3, the team's starting quarterback Fran Tarkenton broke his leg in week 9 and missed the rest of the season. Despite losing Tarkenton, the team managed to finish the season with a 9–5 record and went to the playoffs as winners of the NFC Central division title. They beat the Los Angeles Rams 14–7 in the Divisional Round in a game played in Los Angeles and termed the Mud Bowl, although the Vikings had lost 35–3 to the Rams in week 6.[1][2] In the NFC Championship game played in Dallas, the Vikings lost to the Dallas Cowboys 23–6.
1977 Minnesota Vikings season | |
---|---|
General manager | Mike Lynn |
Head coach | Bud Grant |
Home field | Metropolitan Stadium |
Results | |
Record | 9–5 |
Division place | 1st NFC Central |
Playoff finish | Won Divisional Playoffs (at Rams) 14–7 Lost NFC Championship (at Cowboys) 6–23 |
Pro Bowlers | LB Matt Blair RB Chuck Foreman LB Jeff Siemon G Ed White WR Sammy White T Ron Yary |
AP All-Pros | T Ron Yary (2nd team) |
Uniform | |
Pro Bowler |
1977 Minnesota Vikings Draft | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Draft order | Player name | Position | College | Notes | |
Round | Selection | ||||
1 | 27 | Tommy Kramer | Quarterback | Rice | |
2 | 55 | Dennis Swilley | Guard | Texas A&M | |
3 | 83 | Tommy Hannon | Safety | Michigan State | |
4 | 111 | Traded to the Seattle Seahawks[upper-alpha 1] | |||
5 | 138 | Ken Moore | Tight end | Northern Illinois | |
6 | 166 | Traded to the New England Patriots[upper-alpha 2] | |||
7 | 194 | Traded to the Cincinnati Bengals[upper-alpha 3] | |||
8 | 222 | Clint Strozier | Defensive back | USC | |
9 | 250 | Scott Studwell | Linebacker | Illinois | |
10 | 278 | Dan Beaver | Placekicker | Illinois | |
11 | 306 | Keith Hartwig | Wide receiver | Arizona | |
12 | 335 | Jim Kelleher | Running back | Colorado |
Notes
Quarterbacks (QB)
Running backs (RB)
Wide receivers (WR)
Tight ends (TE)
|
Offensive linemen (OL)
Defensive linemen (DL)
|
Linebackers (LB)
Defensive backs (DB)
|
Reserve
Rookies in italics 54 active, 4 reserve, 0 practice squad |
Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance[3] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | August 6 | at Los Angeles Rams | W 22–17 | 1–0 | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | 55,168 |
2 | August 13 | Cleveland Browns | W 34–33 | 2–0 | Metropolitan Stadium | 45,370 |
3 | August 19 | at Baltimore Colts | L 7–29 | 2–1 | Memorial Stadium | 45,529 |
4 | August 26 | Miami Dolphins | W 33–7 | 3–1 | Metropolitan Stadium | 44,396 |
5 | September 3 | at Cincinnati Bengals | L 7–26 | 3–2 | Riverfront Stadium | 52,942 |
6 | September 10 | at Buffalo Bills | W 30–6 | 4–2 | Rich Stadium | 35,017 |
Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | September 18 | Dallas Cowboys | L 10–16 (OT) | 0–1 | Metropolitan Stadium | 47,678 |
2 | September 24 | at Tampa Bay Buccaneers | W 9–3 | 1–1 | Tampa Stadium | 66,272 |
3 | October 2 | Green Bay Packers | W 19–7 | 2–1 | Metropolitan Stadium | 47,143 |
4 | October 9 | Detroit Lions | W 14–7 | 3–1 | Metropolitan Stadium | 45,860 |
5 | October 16 | Chicago Bears | W 22–16 (OT) | 4–1 | Metropolitan Stadium | 47,708 |
6 | October 24 | at Los Angeles Rams | L 3–35 | 4–2 | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | 62,414 |
7 | October 30 | at Atlanta Falcons | W 14–7 | 5–2 | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium | 59,257 |
8 | November 6 | St. Louis Cardinals | L 7–27 | 5–3 | Metropolitan Stadium | 47,066 |
9 | November 13 | Cincinnati Bengals | W 42–10 | 6–3 | Metropolitan Stadium | 45,371 |
10 | November 20 | at Chicago Bears | L 7-10 | 6–4 | Soldier Field | 49,563 |
11 | November 27 | at Green Bay Packers | W 13–6 | 7–4 | Lambeau Field | 56,267 |
12 | December 4 | San Francisco 49ers | W 28–27 | 8–4 | Metropolitan Stadium | 40,745 |
13 | December 11 | at Oakland Raiders | L 13–35 | 8–5 | Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum | 52,771 |
14 | December 17 | at Detroit Lions | W 30–21 | 9–5 | Silverdome | 78,572 |
Minnesota's Fran Tarkenton threw a 54-yard touchdown pass to Sammy White to tie the game in the second quarter, then tossed a 6-yard scoring pass to Bob Tucker in the fourth quarter after Chuck Foreman's 51-yard run to salvage a big win for the Vikings. The Falcons took the lead early lead on a 49-yard scoring pass from Scott Hunter to Greg McCrary.[citation needed]
Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vikings | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
Bears | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
Game information | ||
---|---|---|
|
at Soldier Field, Chicago
Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vikings | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
Packers | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
Game information | ||
---|---|---|
|
at Lambeau Field, Green Bay, Wisconsin
Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vikings | 0 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 13 |
Raiders | 21 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 35 |
Game information | ||
---|---|---|
|
at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California
NFC Central | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
W | L | T | PCT | DIV | CONF | PF | PA | STK | |
Minnesota Vikings(3) | 9 | 5 | 0 | .643 | 6–1 | 8–4 | 231 | 227 | W1 |
Chicago Bears(4) | 9 | 5 | 0 | .643 | 6–1 | 8–4 | 255 | 253 | W6 |
Detroit Lions | 6 | 8 | 0 | .429 | 2–5 | 4–8 | 183 | 252 | L1 |
Green Bay Packers | 4 | 10 | 0 | .286 | 2–5 | 4–7 | 134 | 219 | W1 |
Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 2 | 12 | 0 | .143 | 0–4 | 2–11 | 103 | 223 | W2 |
Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Venue | Attendance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Div | December 26 | at Los Angeles Rams | W 14–7 | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | 62,538 |
Conf | January 1 | at Dallas Cowboys | L 6–23 | Texas Stadium | 61,968 |
Category | Player(s) | Value |
---|---|---|
Passing yards | Fran Tarkenton | 1,734 |
Passing touchdowns | Fran Tarkenton | 9 |
Rushing yards | Chuck Foreman | 1,112 |
Rushing touchdowns | Chuck Foreman | 6 |
Receiving yards | Sammy White | 760 |
Receiving touchdowns | Sammy White | 9 |
Points | Chuck Foreman Sammy White | 54 |
Kickoff return yards | Manfred Moore | 524 |
Punt return yards | Manfred Moore | 277 |
Interceptions | Bobby Bryant | 4 |
Category | Total yards | Yards per game | NFL rank (out of 28) |
---|---|---|---|
Passing offense | 2,368 | 169.1 | 6th |
Rushing offense | 1,821 | 130.1 | 21st |
Total offense | 4,189 | 299.2 | 14th |
Passing defense | 1,581 | 112.9 | 3rd |
Rushing defense | 2,218 | 158.4 | 21st |
Total defense | 3,799 | 271.4 | 11th |
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