How often have the Minnesota Vikings started 5-0? Here's what it could mean for the postseason

Minnesota Vikings fans enjoyed a stress-free Sunday with the team on its bye week. Their 5-0 record remains intact along with hopes for a magical season.

US Bank Stadium will be rocking this coming Sunday when the undefeated Vikings take the field against the Indianapolis Colts. While their record remains perfect, the team itself is far from that.

There have been 10 times in franchise history, including this season, that the Vikings started with five straight wins. It most recently happened 2024 with quarterback Sam Darnold leading the team. They finished the regular season with a 14-3 record. They did so also in 2016 (8-8) and 2009 (12-4).

Randy Moss carried the Vikings to similar starts in 1998 (15-1), 2000 (11-5), and 2003 (9-7).

The team's defensively dominant era led by the Purple People Eaters opened with five victories in 1973 (12-1), 1974 (10-4), and 1975 (12-2).

When a team starts 5-0 in the NFL, it's almost a guarantee they'll be playing in the post season. In the last 10 years (2016-2025) there have been 15 teams that started 5-0 with 14 of them making the playoffs.

Mike Max, WCCO's Sports Director, said teams that start 5-0 can lean on the ".500 rule" going forward. Playing .500 is when a team wins and loses the same number of games.

"If you get to a certain point, you say, 'if I play .500 football the rest of the way, will I make the playoffs?' And right now, if the Vikings played .500 football the rest the way they'd make the playoffs," said Max. "It gives you a little more jump in your step, a little bit more belief that, yeah, we want to run the table, we want to do all those things, but we don't have to."

What's notable though, is the last team to start 5-0 and miss the playoffs was the 2016 Vikings. 

"They went to Philadelphia. They got beat. Norv Turner was the offensive coordinator. He resigned after that game and everything went south," said Max.

Coming off a bye in Week 6, like this year, the 2016 team lost four games in a row. They would end up losing eight of their last 11 games, finishing with an 8-8 record.

The 2003 Vikings shared the same fate, losing on the last week of the season in a heartbreaker to the Arizona Cardinals that kept them out of the playoffs. 

"All they had to do was stop one play, make one play, and they would have been in the playoffs. But it was not particularly great team, you could say a little like this year's team," said Max.

The Vikings made the playoffs the seven other times they started 5-0 before this year. In those seasons, the Vikings made it to the Super Bowl twice (1973, 1974) and the NFC title game three times (1998, 2000, 2009).

So, can this year's team make a deep run as well?

"This is the most vulnerable 5-0 team that I've seen in a long time," said Max, mainly referencing the team's offense. The defense however, has carried the team to victory each game so far.

"They don't have to play well to win football games. They don't have to have big numbers from their quarterback, from their receiver. They can afford injuries on offense," Max said. "Just don't turn the ball over and let the defense win the game."

The last team to win the Super Bowl after starting 5-0 was the 2015 Denver Broncos. That team was also well known for having an elite defense.