A brief look at Cowboys/Vikings history

It’s been a while since a purple win in Minneapolis

For a non-divisional opponent, the Dallas Cowboys have a pretty extensive history with the Minnesota Vikings. The two teams have faced off 25 times in the regular season throughout their history, along with seven postseason meetings. This post, as all of hour history posts do, will focus on the regular-season matchups between these two clubs. If you want to talk about Drew Pearson pushing off or Ray Edwards damn near killing Tony Romo at the Metrodome, you can discuss that in the comments.

As always, the facts and figures in this post are brought to you by the good folks from Pro Football Reference.

• Regular season games between the Cowboys and the Vikings: 25
• All-time record: Cowboys, 13-12
• Vikings’ home record against the Cowboys: 5-9
• Total Vikings’ points scored, head-to-head: 605 (24.2 points/game)
• Total Cowboys’ points scored, head-to-head: 587 (23.5 points/game)
• Longest Vikings’ winning streak vs Cowboys: 4 games (26 November 1998 – 12 September 2004)
• Longest Cowboys’ winning streak vs Vikings: 4 games (24 September 1961 – 20 October 1968)
• Most recent Vikings’ home win in series: 17 October 2010 (final score 24-21)
• Most recent Cowboys’ road win in series: 22 November 2020 (final score 31-28)
• Biggest Vikings’ home win in series: 41 points, 18 October 1970 (final score 54-13)
• Biggest Cowboys’ road win in series: 28 points, 8 October 1961 (final score 28-0)
• Current streak: Cowboys, 1 win

Yes, the Vikings have actually been more successful over the years in Dallas in the regular season than they have been at home. They’re 7-4 in their history in games that have been played in Dallas but just 5-9 against them in Minneapolis. It’s also been over a decade since the Vikings were able to claim a victory over the Cowboys on their home field.

The Vikings had an opportunity to correct that last year when they hosted the Cowboys. . .a Cowboys team that had come in having lost six of its previous seven games. Dallas started Andy Dalton at quarterback, and while he wasn’t spectacular, he made the plays that needed to be made. The Cowboys took a 16-7 lead into the locker room, but the Vikings got to within 16-14 on a touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins to Adam Thielen midway through the third quarter. That same combination connected again on the first play of the fourth quarter to give the Vikings the lead, but the Cowboys quickly took it back on a long touchdown run from Tony Pollard. Cousins found Justin Jefferson for a 39-yard score to take the lead back, and they held on until just after the two-minute warning. Dalton then found Dalton Schultz on a two-yard score and the Vikings’ last-second drive fizzled out to give Dallas a 31-28 victory.

The last Vikings’ win over the Cowboys also came on Sunday Night Football, but this one happened at AT&T Stadium in Dallas. The Vikings took an early 14-0 lead on two first-quarter touchdown passes from Cousins to Kyle Rudolph, but the Cowboys got a pair of touchdowns of their own in the second quarter before a Dan Bailey field goal sent the Vikings into the halftime locker room with the lead. After another Bailey field goal, Dallas took the lead back on a pass from Dak Prescott to Amari Cooper, but Minnesota pulled back in front on a 2-yard touchdown run from Dalvin Cook on the last play of the third quarter to make it 28-21. Dallas got a field goal in the fourth quarter, but that was all they could muster. Prescott’s Hail Mary attempt was intercepted by Jayron Kearse on the game’s final play to give the Vikings a 28-24 victory.

To find the last time the Vikings beat the Cowboys in the Twin Cities, we need to go back to 2010. The Cowboys took the lead into the locker room at halftime, 14-7, after a pair of touchdown passes from Tony Romo to Roy Williams. The Vikings answered with Percy Harvin returning the opening kickoff of the second half 95 yards for a touchdown to tie things up, and got a short touchdown run from Adrian Peterson at the end of the third quarter to take a 21-14 lead. Romo then found Dez Bryant for a 31-yard score to tie things back up at 21-21, but the Vikings got Ryan Longwell into position to hit a 38-yard field goal with four minutes remaining. That would prove to be the difference, as the Cowboys went three-and-out on the ensuing drive and the Vikings ran out most of the rest of the clock to hold on for a 24-21 victory at the Metrodome.

That’s a quick look back at the history between this Sunday night’s opponents, folks. Hopefully the Vikings can get themselves back to .500 all-time against the Cowboys on Halloween night.