Minnesota Vikings Logo

Minnesota Vikings is a professional American football team from Minneapolis, Minnesota. They were created in 1960, playing in the NFL even before the merger in 1970. Since 2002, they play in the North division of AFC. They are famous for wearing purple and for their Viking aesthetic.

Information

Minnesota Vikings were created in 1960 in Minneapolis. In 1970, they joined the NFL as part of the NFC Central – moved to NFC North in 2002. They have never won a Super Bowl, although they did come close on 4 occasions. They also won a single NFL championship in ’69, exactly a year before the NFL reorganization.

They were originally an unsuccessful team, only becoming a relevant force when the coach Bud Grant joined them in 1967. After that, the team won their only NFL championship, followed by several Super Bowl runner-up positions in ’73, ’74 and ’76. After that, they’ve won divisional championships almost every other year.

Despite failures on the highest stages, they have one of the highest winning percentages out of all the teams in the League. They’ve won the majority of their divisional games, and each of their seasons in the past 60 years was a success, although they’ve only rarely reached the conference level.

They are regarded as a team with the tendency for strong defense; their famous ‘Purple People Eaters’ nickname originated in late 60s and 70s under Grant. Even after he retired, their defense was considered one of the strongest in the League.

They enjoy traditional popularity in Minnesota, and particularly in the city of Minneapolis. They are the only NFL team to come from this state, and they are a source of pride for millions of Minnesotans. The ‘Skol’ battle chant is performed by the team before each match, and it’s very famous all over the country.

Meaning and History

The Vikings were created as an expansion team in 1960 during the old NFL. In 1970, they joined the reorganized NFL. They’ve only ever won a single Super Bowl (before NFL was even arranged in its current form). Even so, they do have a long and successful stream of divisional and conference victories.

The Vikings are known to have been coached by Bud Grant in the 60s and 70s, which contributed to their early successes. Since 2022, the current coach is Kevin O’Connell, currently leading the team with the highest winning score out of all previous coaches, including Grant.

What is Minnesota Vikings?
Minnesota Vikings is one of the 32 teams to compete in the NFL. They come from Minnesota, in particular – from the city of Minneapolis. They are regarded as one of the less successful teams in terms of Super Bowl wins, although their image is one of the most influential in the League. Their battle chant ‘Skol’ is one of the most well-known football songs.

1961 – 1965

The first logotype depicted a head of what was then a popular image of a Viking.

It was a generic ‘northern barbarian’ type that could as well be a Gaul, a German or any other ethnic group. They gave him pale skin, rich white mustache and long blond hair made into braids. The golden helmet on his head had a pointed top, as the following designs. There were the typical horns, which started at the center of the helmet and stretched far behind the man’s head to the right.

It has a simplistic, cartoonish style. It was stretched sideways on many versions, although in others it uses completely normal proportions.

1966 – 1996

1997 – 2001

 2002 – 2009

2010 – 2012

The general layout didn’t change much, although they did switch the color palette and made some other alterations.

For starters, the man now looked to the right. The skin became a normal human color instead of the previous white, while the mustache turned the same blond color as the hair. As for the helmet: they turned the horns white, while also giving it a purple band around the base of the headwear.

The horns were also somewhat shorter now, being visibly closer to the helmet.

2013 – today

In 2013, they made several superficial changes. They toned down the shading, tilted the head somewhat to be perfectly horizontal and redrew some features (like the hair, braids, mustache and more). As a result, became more simplistic and clean.

Helmet

The Vikings commonly wear a purple helmet with all their uniforms. The shell part is almost fully covered in purple. The exception is the white horn symbols on the sides of the helmet, referring to the popular image of Viking helmets. They start at the temple area and run towards the back of the head.

They are mostly white, with black for shading and outlines. At their root, there is also a golden ring painted onto a helmet as if supporting the base of a horn. As for faceguards, they are universally black.

Uniform

The Vikes have three types of uniform

The most common one includes a purple jersey worn with white pants. On the flanks, it also features golden stripes, as well as white and purple ones respectively. The numbers on such jerseys are fully white without any outline.

The slightly lesser common variety is just a reversed outfit with white jerseys and purple pants. An even less common sort includes a fully purple gear, adorned with golden stripes and numbers. There is also a fully white variety, used very rarely and mainly for training.