1977 Minnesota Vikings season

The 1977 season was the Minnesota Vikings' 17th in the National Football League. After starting the season 5–3, the team's starting quarterback Fran Tarkenton broke his leg in week 9 and missed the rest of the season. Despite losing Tarkenton, the team managed to finish the season with a 9–5 record and went to the playoffs as winners of the NFC Central division title. They beat the Los Angeles Rams 14–7 in the Divisional Round in a game played in Los Angeles and termed the Mud Bowl, although the Vikings had lost 35–3 to the same opponent in week 6.[1][2] In the NFC Championship game played in Dallas, the Vikings lost to the Dallas Cowboys 23–6.

1977 Minnesota Vikings season
General managerMike Lynn
Head coachBud Grant
Home fieldMetropolitan Stadium
Results
Record9–5
Division place1st NFC Central
Playoff finishWon Divisional Playoffs
(at Rams) 14–7
Lost NFC Championship
(at Cowboys) 6–23
The Vikings' famed Purple People Eaters defensive line stopping a Rams rushing play in the 1977 NFC Divisional Playoff game.

Offseason

1977 Draft
Main article: 1977 NFL draft
Pro Bowler
1977 Minnesota Vikings Draft
Draft order Player name Position College Notes
Round Selection
127 Tommy KramerQuarterbackRice
255 Dennis SwilleyGuardTexas A&M
383 Tommy HannonSafetyMichigan State
4111 Traded to the Seattle Seahawks[a]
5138 Ken MooreTight endNorthern Illinois
6166 Traded to the New England Patriots[b]
7194 Traded to the Cincinnati Bengals[c]
8222 Clint StrozierDefensive backUSC
9250 Scott StudwellLinebackerIllinois
10278 Dan BeaverKickerIllinois
11306 Keith HartwigWide receiverArizona
12335 Jim KelleherRunning backColorado
^[a] The Vikings traded their fourth-round selection (111th overall) to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for WR Ahmad Rashad.
^[b] The Vikings traded their sixth-round selection (166th overall) and 1976 eighth-round selection (235th overall) to the New England Patriots in exchange for OL Doug Dumler.
^[c] The Vikings traded their seventh-round selection (194th overall) to the Cincinnati Bengals in exchange for TE Orlando Nelson.

Roster
1977 Minnesota Vikings final roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

 Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

 Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

 Reserve lists
  •  7 Rick Danmeier K (IRTooltip Injured reserve)


Rookies in italics
 54 active, 4 inactive, 0 practice squad

Preseason
Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance[3]
1 August 6 at Los Angeles Rams W 22–17 1–0 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 55,168
2 August 13 Cleveland Browns W 34–33 2–0 Metropolitan Stadium 45,370
3 August 19 at Baltimore Colts L 7–29 2–1 Memorial Stadium 45,529
4 August 26 Miami Dolphins W 33–7 3–1 Metropolitan Stadium 44,396
5 September 3 at Cincinnati Bengals L 7–26 3–2 Riverfront Stadium 52,942
6 September 10 at Buffalo Bills W 30–6 4–2 Rich Stadium 35,017

Regular season

Schedule
Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance
1 September 18 Dallas Cowboys L 10–16 (OT) 0–1 Metropolitan Stadium 47,678
2 September 24 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 9–3 1–1 Tampa Stadium 66,272
3 October 2 Green Bay Packers W 19–7 2–1 Metropolitan Stadium 47,143
4 October 9 Detroit Lions W 14–7 3–1 Metropolitan Stadium 45,860
5 October 16 Chicago Bears W 22–16 (OT) 4–1 Metropolitan Stadium 47,708
6 October 24 at Los Angeles Rams L 3–35 4–2 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 62,414
7 October 30 at Atlanta Falcons W 14–7 5–2 Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium 59,257
8 November 6 St. Louis Cardinals L 7–27 5–3 Metropolitan Stadium 47,066
9 November 13 Cincinnati Bengals W 42–10 6–3 Metropolitan Stadium 45,371
10 November 20 at Chicago Bears L 7-10 6–4 Soldier Field 49,563
11 November 27 at Green Bay Packers W 13–6 7–4 Lambeau Field 56,267
12 December 4 San Francisco 49ers W 28–27 8–4 Metropolitan Stadium 40,745
13 December 11 at Oakland Raiders L 13–35 8–5 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 52,771
14 December 17 at Detroit Lions W 30–21 9–5 Silverdome 78,572

Week 7: at Atlanta Falcons

Minnesota's Fran Tarkenton threw a 54-yard touchdown pass to Sammy White to tie the game in the second quarter, then tossed a 6-yard scoring pass to Bob Tucker in the fourth quarter after Chuck Foreman's 51-yard run to salvage a big win for the Vikings. The Falcons took the lead early lead on a 49-yard scoring pass from Scott Hunter to Greg McCrary.

Week 10: at Chicago Bears
Week 10: Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Vikings 0 0 707
Bears 0 10 0010

at Soldier Field, Chicago

Game information

Week 11: at Green Bay Packers
Week 11: Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Vikings 0 13 0013
Packers 6 0 006

at Lambeau Field, Green Bay, Wisconsin

Game information

Week 13: at Oakland Raiders
Week 11: Minnesota Vikings at Oakland Raiders – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Vikings 0 7 0613
Raiders 21 0 7735

at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California

Game information

Standings
NFC Central
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Minnesota Vikings(3) 9 5 0 .643 6–1 8–4 231 227 W1
Chicago Bears(4) 9 5 0 .643 6–1 8–4 255 253 W6
Detroit Lions 6 8 0 .429 2–5 4–8 183 252 L1
Green Bay Packers 4 10 0 .286 2–5 4–7 134 219 W1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2 12 0 .143 0–4 2–11 103 223 W2

Postseason
Week Date Opponent Result Venue Attendance
Div December 26 at Los Angeles Rams W 14–7 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 62,538
Conf January 1 at Dallas Cowboys L 6–23 Texas Stadium 61,968

Statistics

Team leaders
Category Player(s) Value
Passing yardsFran Tarkenton1,734
Passing touchdownsFran Tarkenton9
Rushing yardsChuck Foreman1,112
Rushing touchdownsChuck Foreman6
Receiving yardsSammy White760
Receiving touchdownsSammy White9
PointsChuck Foreman
Sammy White		54
Kickoff return yardsManfred Moore524
Punt return yardsManfred Moore277
InterceptionsBobby Bryant4

League rankings
Category Total yards Yards per game NFL rank
(out of 28)
Passing offense2,368169.16th
Rushing offense1,821130.121st
Total offense4,189299.214th
Passing defense1,581112.93rd
Rushing defense2,218158.421st
Total defense3,799271.411th

References
  1. Heroes of Yesteryear: Pro Football’S Dying Breed of Players from a Bygone Era, Danny Jones, Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse, 2017. Chapter on Chuck Foreman.
  2. The Super '70s, Tom Danyluk, Mad Uke Publishing, 2005, page 95. The person being interviewed, "LM," is former Rams running back (1972-'79) Lawrence McCutcheon.
  3. "1977 Minnesota Vikings (NFL) - Pro Football Archives".
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