A Brief Look At Colts/Vikings History

For teams in opposite conferences, the Minnesota Vikings and the Indianapolis Colts have a pretty extensive history against one another. Of course, their history stretches back to when the Colts were still in Baltimore prior to their move in 1984. For the most part, the history between these two teams has been fairly one-sided. . .and not in the way that Vikings fans would like it to be.

So, courtesy of the folks from Pro Football Reference, let’s take a look at the history between these two franchises.

Total Games Between the Colts and the Vikings (including playoffs): 24

All-time record: Colts, 15-7-1 (Colts 1-0 in post-season)

Total Vikings Points Scored, head-to-head: 482 (21 points/game)

Total Colts Points Scored, head-to-head: 585 (25.4 points/game)

Longest Vikings’ Winning Streak Against Colts: 5 (28 September 1969 - 21 December 1997)

Longest Colts’ Winning Streak Against Vikings: 5 (15 November 1964 - 23 October 1966)

Most Recent Vikings’ Home Win In Series: 21 December 1997 (Final score 39-28)

Most Recent Colts’ Road Win In Series: 14 September 2008 (Final score 18-15)

Biggest Vikings’ Home Win In Series: 38 points, 28 September 1969 (Final score 52-14)

Biggest Colts’ Road Win In Series: 25 points, 16 December 1962 (Final score 42-17)

Current Streak: Colts, 4 victories

Yes, the Vikings have a pretty awful record against the Colts, all things considered. They did manage to put together a five-game winning streak against the Colts, but they also had a 13-game stretch where they went 1-10-1 against them in the regular season and lost the lone playoff game between these two teams, a 24-14 Baltimore victory in December of 1968. They broke out of that one in pretty historic fashion in the September 1969 game linked above, where Joe Kapp set a then-NFL record by throwing seven touchdown passes in a game (and 449 yards to boot).

The last time the Vikings beat the Colts, a fresh-faced young man named Peyton Manning was in the middle of preparing to lead his Tennessee Volunteers against the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Orange Bowl. The Colts came to the Metrodome that year, and the Vikings scored a 39-28 victory on the strength of four touchdown passes (and three interceptions) by Randall Cunningham and 160 rushing yards from Robert Smith.

The last game between these two teams took place at Lucas Oil Stadium in 2012, and was a pretty solid football game overall. The Vikings found themselves down 20-6 going into the fourth quarter, but two touchdown passes from Christian Ponder (one to Stephen Burton and one to Kyle Rudolph) tied the score at 20-20 with less than a minute to go. However, rookie Andrew Luck managed to maneuver his team into position for Adam Vinatieri to attempt a 53-yard field goal, and he drained it as time ran down to give Luck his first victory as an NFL quarterback, 23-20.

These two teams last met in Minnesota in Week 2 of the 2008 season, and it was an ugly one for fans of the purple. Minnesota moved the ball up and down the field against the Indy defense, but could only manage five Ryan Longwell field goals and had a 15-0 lead over the Colts midway through the third quarter. However, Manning and company mounted a comeback, with a Joseph Addai touchdown run and a 32-yard touchdown pass to Reggie Wayne (and a two-point conversion) tying the game at 15-15. Vinatieri got to be the hero once again, as he connected on a 47-yard field goal at the gun to give the Colts a victory, 18-15.

This will be the first time in Sam Bradford’s seven-year NFL career that he has faced the Indianapolis Colts. Andrew Luck has only faced the Vikings once, and put together a solid-if-unspectacular performance, completing 20-of-31 passes for 224 yards and two touchdowns.

That’s a quick look at the history between the Minnesota Vikings and the Indianapolis Colts going into this Sunday’s contest at the Metrodome. Hopefully the Vikings can reverse their history against Indy a bit and get themselves a victory that they absolutely have to have.