A Brief Look At Patriots/Vikings History

We'll kick off our look at the upcoming match-up between the Minnesota Vikings and the New England Patriots with a look back at the history between these two teams. There haven't been a lot of match-ups between them over the years, as you'll soon see.

Once again, the numbers provided in this particular piece are provided by the folks from Pro Football Reference.

Total Games Between the Patriots and the Vikings: 11 (all regular season)

All-Time Record: Patriots, 7-4

Total Vikings Points Scored, Head-to-Head: 237 (21.5 points/game)

Total Patriots Points Scored, Head-to-Head: 230 (20.9 points/game)

Longest Vikings' Winning Streak vs. Patriots: 2 games (2 November 1997 - 17 September 2000)

Longest Patriots' Winning Streak vs. Vikings: 3 games (24 November 2002 - 31 October 2010)

Most Recent Vikings Victory in Minnesota: 2 November 1997 (Final score 23-18)

Most Recent Patriots Victory in Minnesota: 30 October 2006 (Final score 31-7)

Biggest Vikings Victory in Minnesota: 30 points, 11 September 1988 (Final score 36-6)

Biggest Patriots Victory in Minnesota: 24 points, 30 October 2006 (Final score 31-7)

A few things from this series of games:

-That's not a misprint above. . .even though the Vikings have a three-game deficit in head-to-head wins and losses, they've scored more total points than the Patriots in their head-to-head match-ups. The Vikings own 30-point and 21-point victories over the Patriots in their history, while the 2006 game shown above is the only time the Patriots have beaten the Vikings by more than ten points.

-And, yes, it has been nearly two decades since the Vikings beat the Patriots in Minneapolis. They've only met in Minnesota once since that 1997 victory, and that was the game where Tom Brady basically said, "You know, this Vikings' defense is great against the run, but they're not worth a damn against the pass." And he was right, as Brady threw for 372 yards and four scores in that whooping at the Metrodome. (Brady has never lost to the Vikings, by the way.)

-Adrian Peterson has only faced the Patriots once in his career, and he was just sort of average. . .well, "Adrian Peterson average," anyway. In 2010, he carried the ball 25 times for 92 yards and a touchdown up in Foxboro, and threw in five catches for 50 yards in a 28-18 Minnesota loss.

-Current Vikings quarterback Matt Cassel is a former Patriot, having stepped in for Tom Brady after he got hurt in 2008. This will be his first shot at his former team, as he did not face them as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs. (The Chiefs and Patriots met in November of 2011, but Cassel did not play in that game.)

And that's a look at the history between the Minnesota Vikings and the New England Patriots. Hopefully Sunday's match-up will provide another positive chapter in this history for the Vikings as they look to snap a three-game losing streak to the Patriots and beat Tom Brady for the first time.