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In what should be an absolute barn-burner of a matchup. . .said nobody outside of Minneapolis and Tampa. . .the 2-5 Minnesota Vikings will travel to Florida this weekend to take on the 1-6 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Vikings have an edge in a lot of things against the Buccaneers in their history, but recently have had a lot of trouble with their former NFC Central rivals, as they've dropped six in a row to Tampa Bay and seven of their last eight.
Let's take a look at the history between these two teams, with our facts and figures brought to you, as always, by the folks at Pro Football Reference.
Total Games Between the Vikings and the Buccaneers: 53 (all regular-season)
All-Time Record: Vikings, 31-22
Total Vikings Points Scored, Head-to-Head: 1,130 (21.3 points/game)
Total Buccaneers Points Scored, Head-to-Head: 970 (18.3 points/game)
Longest Vikings Winning Streak vs Buccaneers: 5 (three different occasions, most recently from 3 November 1991 to 10 October 1993)
Longest Buccaneers Winning Streak vs Vikings: 6 (28 October 2001 to 25 October 2012)
Most Recent Vikings Victory in Tampa: 26 October 1997 (Final score 10-6)
Most Recent Buccaneers Victory in Tampa: 16 November 2008 (Final score 19-13)
Biggest Vikings Victory in Tampa: 29 points, 23 October 1988 (Final score 49-20)
Biggest Buccaneers Victory in Tampa: 28 points, 29 October 2000 (Final score 41-13)
Yes, it has been 17 years since the Vikings beat the Buccaneers down in Tampa, and 13 years since the Vikings beat the Buccaneers at all. The last Minnesota victory over Tampa Bay came on 30 September 2001, a 20-16 victory at the Metrodome.
As Ted pointed out in another post. . .which one escapes me at the present time. . .but the Vikings have never won at Raymond James Stadium. The Bucs moved there from their old home at the start of the 1998 season, and were the "1" in the Minnesota Vikings 15-1 record that year, beating the Vikings 27-24.
Hopefully the Vikings can reverse this downward trend when the two teams get together on Sunday.
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