A Brief Look At Seahawks/Vikings History

We're getting closer to this weekend's big NFC match-up between your Minnesota Vikings and the defending NFC Champions, the Seattle Seahawks. These two teams don't have a whole lot of history between them, owing at least partially to the fact that the Seahawks spent most of the early years of their existence in the AFC. They played their inaugural season (1976) in the NFC, but then jumped to the AFC in 1977 (with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers moving to the NFC), where they remained until 2002.

So, there haven't been many games between these two teams, but there's still an opportunity to take a look back at what's happened in the past. We'll do that now, with the help of the good folks at Pro Football Reference.

Total Games Between the Seahawks and the Vikings: 13 (all regular season)

All-Time Head-to-Head Record: Seahawks, 8-5

Total Seahawks' Points Scored, Head-to-Head: 336 (25.8 points/game)

Total Vikings' Points Scored, Head-to-Head: 317 (24.4 points/game)

Longest Seahawks' Winning Streak against the Vikings: 3 (8 October 1978 - 1 November 1987)

Longest Vikings' Winning Streak against the Seahawks: 2 (22 October 2006 - 22 November 2009)

Most Recent Seahawks' Victory in Minnesota: 12 December 2004 (Final score 27-23)

Most Recent Vikings' Victory in Minnesota: 22 November 2009 (Final score 35-9)

Biggest Seahawks' Victory in Minnesota: 8 points, 30 September 1984 (Final score 20-12)

Biggest Vikings' Victory in Minnesota: 26 points, 22 November 2009 (Final score 35-9)

Current Streak: Seahawks, 2 victories

And a few things about the history between these two teams. . .

-Of the 13 games in this series, only five of them have taken place in Minnesota. The Vikings are 3-2 against the Seahawks in Minnesota, which means they're 2-6 against them when they have to travel to the Pacific Northwest.

-The last game between these two teams was a bit of a laugher. Brett Favre completed 22-of-25 passes and threw four touchdown passes. Tarvaris Jackson even got into things with a fourth quarter touchdown pass to Sidney Rice as the Vikings rolled to a 35-9 win.

-The last time the Seahawks won in Minnesota is one that I'm sure a lot of Vikings fans remember. Minnesota found themselves trailing 27-23 late in the fourth quarter, but were driving down the field and appeared to be poised to go ahead. Then, offensive coordinator Scott Linehan called an end-around pass. . .Randy Moss took the handoff from Daunte Culpepper, went around the right side of the formation, and fired a pass intended for Marcus Robinson that was intercepted by Michael Boulware in the end zone. Minnesota got one last gasp at the end, but the Seahawks ultimately hung on for the win.

-The longest running play in Minnesota Vikings' history came against the Seahawks in 2006 at Qwest Field. That run was by Chester Taylor, and it measured 95 yards. That blew a close game wide open, as the Vikings went on to win by a score of 31-13.

-In his career, Adrian Peterson has faced the Seahawks three times, and though the Vikings have a 1-2 record in those three games, Peterson has been able to move the ball. He's carried the ball 62 times for 329 yards against the Seahawks, and has scored two rushing touchdowns. Most of that damage was done in one game, as in the 2012 match-up at CenturyLink Field saw him carry the ball 17 times for 182 yards and two touchdowns in a 30-20 Minnesota loss.

And that's a quick look back at the history between the Minnesota Vikings and the Seattle Seahawks going into this weekend's game. Hopefully the purple and gold can narrow the gap in the all-time head-to-head series a bit at TCF Bank Stadium on Sunday.