A Brief Look At Vikings/Falcons History

It's once again time to take a look back at the history between the Minnesota Vikings and their upcoming opponent. This week, the team travels to the A-T-L to do battle with the Atlanta Falcons. We know about the most famous match-up between these two teams, but since this look back is going to focus on regular season games, we don't have to talk about if we don't want to.

And we won't. So there.

The Vikings have a slight edge over the Falcons in their history in the regular season series. Let's look at things in a bit more detail, courtesy. . .as always. . .of the good folks at Pro Football Reference.

Total Games Between the Vikings and the Falcons: 28 (26 regular season, 2 post-season)

All-Time Head-to-Head Record: Vikings, 16-10 (teams tied 1-1 in post-season)

Total Vikings' Points Scored Head-to-Head, Regular Season: 623 (24 points/game)

Total Falcons' Points Scored Head-to-Head, Regular Season: 442 (17 points/game)

Longest Vikings' Winning Streak Against the Falcons, Regular Season: 5 (7 December 1974 - 7 September 1980)

Longest Falcons' Winning Streak Against the Vikings, Regular Season: 2 (twice, most recently from 21 December 2008 - 27 November 2011)

Most Recent Vikings' Victory in Atlanta: 5 October 2003 (Final score 39-26)

Most Recent Falcons' Victory in Atlanta: 27 November 2011 (Final score 24-14)

Biggest Vikings' Victory in Atlanta: 30 points, 20 December 1970 (Final score 37-7)

Biggest Falcons' Victory in Atlanta: 20 points, 2 October 2005 (Final score 30-10)

Current Streak: Vikings, 1 victory

A few things about the history between these two teams. . .

-The Vikings have actually had some relatively decent success over the years when they've traveled to Atlanta. In the 13 games the Vikings and Falcons have played in Atlanta, the Vikings have a record of 6-7. Sure, it's a losing record, but they can get to .500 in Atlanta with a victory on Sunday. (Conversely, the Vikings are 10-3 against the Falcons in Minnesota.)

-The last game between these two teams in Atlanta featured a piece of history, as it featured what was then the longest play in NFL history that didn't result in a score. Percy Harvin returned a Falcons' kickoff 104 yards, but did not reach the end zone. (In typical 2011 Vikings fashion, they turned that field position into exactly zero points.) The Falcons ultimately won the game, 24-14, on the strength of three Matt Ryan touchdown passes.

-Minnesota's last victory in Atlanta was an exciting one. The Vikings, with Gus Frerotte subbing for the injured Daunte Culpepper, saw the Falcons take a 20-12 lead into the locker room. The Vikings then scored 27 unanswered points in the third and fourth quarters to pull away to a 39-26 win. That game also saw the Falcons take two safeties. . .one on an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone, and the other on a holding penalty in the end zone.

-Adrian Peterson has only faced the Falcons twice in his career. . .he missed the 2011 game and the 2014 game against the Falcons. In those two games, he's carried the ball 41 times for 179 yards and has yet to find the end zone as a rusher. However, his first NFL touchdown did come against the Falcons in his first career NFL game.

-Falcons' quarterback Matt Ryan has had decent success against the Vikings over his career, leading the Falcons to a 2-1 record in three career starts. He's completed 65.7% of his passes against the Vikings, and averages around 230 yards/game. He has a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 7-to-2 in those three starts.

And that's a brief look back at the history between the Minnesota Vikings and the Atlanta Falcons, regular season style.