Regular Season
The Vikings started off by losing their first two games to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (24-13) and the Cincinnati Bengals (37-8). They would win in Week 3 against the New Orleans Saints (33-16), but then they would go on to lose their next two road games to the Atlanta Falcons (30-10) and their division rival Chicago Bears (28-3). The Vikings would win at home against fellow division rival Green Bay Packers 23-20 by winning the same way the Packers did last season, which was a last second field goal. However, the Vikes had little to celebrate when in the next week- not only did they lose to the Carolina Panthers 38-13 on the road, but they also lost their star QB Daunte Culpepper for the season with a knee injury. Culpepper had thrown twice as many interceptions as touchdowns up at that point. At this point the Vikings were 2-5.
Taking Culpepper's place would be Brad Johnson (Viking from 1992-98 and quarterback of the Super Bowl XXXVII champion Buccaneers) and, upon taking over, led the Vikings to a six-game winning streak, including victories over the Detroit Lions at home (27-14), the New York Giants (24-21), the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field (20-17, once again on a last second field goal), the Cleveland Browns (24-12), the Detroit Lions at Ford Field (21-16), and a 27-13 home victory over the St. Louis Rams. Johnson ended up with the lowest interception to attempt ratio in Vikings history and the 3rd best passer rating in the NFC. The streak ended with an 18-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the eventual Super Bowl champions. After having their chances of winning the NFC North extinguished when the Bears defeated the Packers 24-17 in Lambeau Field earlier in the day, the Vikings were officially eliminated from NFC playoff contention with a 30-23 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. The Vikings won their last game of the 2005 season against the Bears, with a 34-10 victory. However, the Vikings fired head coach Mike Tice immediately following the game. They ended up with a 9-7 record and 1 win away from the playoffs.
The season is also remembered for the Love Boat scandal.
Read more about this topic: 2005 Minnesota Vikings Season
Famous quotes containing the words regular and/or season:
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—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)
“At this season I seldom had a visitor. When the snow lay deepest no wanderer ventured near my house for a week or fortnight at a time, but there I lived as snug as a meadow mouse.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)