Vikings ride big offensive performance to victory over Carolina

One of the biggest days in team history

It took everything that they had. . .and more than it probably should have needed. . .for the Minnesota Vikings to take down the Carolina Panthers in Week 6 NFL action, but by the time the dust settled and the smoke cleared, the Vikings finished the day with one of the top days in terms of yardage in team history.

According to the Vikings’ PR team, the 571 yards that the Vikings put up on Sunday at Bank of America Stadium is the third-highest total in team history, and the most they’ve put up in 17 years.

Which two games did the Vikings put up more yards than they did today? Glad you asked.

The highest yardage total in team history was 622 yards in a 52-14 thrashing of the Baltimore Colts at Metropolitan Stadium on 28 September 1969. That game is also historical for the Vikings, and for the NFL as a whole, because that was the game that saw Joe Kapp throw seven touchdown passes, a mark that remains an NFL record to this day (though it has been matched several times over the years). Kapp threw for 449 yards that day, and two other quarterbacks registered passing yardage that day as well (54 for Gary Cuozzo and 35 for Bob Lee). The Vikings also had 92 yards on the ground in that contest.

The second-highest total was seventeen years ago today in a Sunday night contest between the Vikings and the New Orleans Saints at the Superdome on 17 October 2004. Many Vikings fans will recall that game as the one where Randy Moss suffered the hamstring injury that would wind up hampering him through much of the 2004 season, but even after he went out the Vikings put up a ton of yardage. . .and points. The Vikings wound up winning that game by a score of 38-31 on the strength of 425 passing yards and five touchdowns from Daunte Culpepper, but the Vikings managed to put up 188 yards on the ground as well (109 for Mewelde Moore, 66 for Moe Williams and 13 for Culpepper). That gave them a total of 605 yards, the second-biggest day in terms of yardage in team history.

With that much yardage put up. . .and how much the Carolina offense struggled for much of the day. . .it seems crazy to think that the Vikings needed overtime to put the Panthers away on Sunday afternoon. But, at the end of the day, they came out with the victory, even if it might not have been a work of art from start to finish.