The Best Vikings Playoff Moments of the Last 20 Years

Minnesota Vikings Football season is back! As the 2026-27 season gets underway, we can barely contain our excitement. Our excitement over what's to come this year has us looking back at some of the best postseason moments The Vikings have had in the last 20 years.

Listing out every Vikings playoff moment that stands out in people's memories is not possible. So we are focusing on positive moments from the last 20 years. That means heartbreaks like the Gary Anderson missed field goal or the '01 NFC Championship Game against New York aren't going to be discussed here. Not only are they depressing, they are too old.

Nor will we look closely at the famous, wonderful game in January of '05 when Daunte Culpepper and Randy Moss went to Wisconsin and carved up the Packers under a "full moon." That game just missed the cut because, as hard as it is to believe, 2005 was 21 years ago!

The thing that all of these great Vikings postseason highlights have in common is that they were all made better when experienced with a great crowd. And if you can't be at the game in person, the next best thing is to watch every down at Boardwalk. Win or lose, our food and atmosphere will be just what you need.

So grab your horned helmet, throw on as much purple as you possibly can, get ready for all the "SKÖL" chants you can handle and enjoy a trip through some of the greatest Minnesota Vikings playoff moments of the last 20 years.

The Minneapolis Miracle

After the overtime loss in the 2009 NFC Championship Game (the infamous "Bountygate" game), the Vikings vs Saints rivalry has become very important to angry Minnesota fans. Any game against New Orleans became almost as important in the eyes of the fans as a game against the Packers.

So when the Saints and Vikings were matched up in the NFC Divisional round in January of 2018, it was a big deal. And the game lived up to the hype. In one of the best Vikings playoff games of all time, both teams made outstanding plays on both sides of the ball. And then came the fourth quarter.

Head Coach Mike Zimmer called defensive plays that kept the game close. But in spite of our best efforts, we still allowed the Saints to just pull ahead late in the game. When the Vikings got the ball with one last shot to win, our hopes were put on the unassuming shoulders of the relatively unknown Case Keenum at quarterback.

Keenum had done pretty well during the game up to that point. He ran the offense well, but a moment of brilliance had yet to come. Once the Saints took the lead, the whole fan base started to worry that we were headed for another letdown.

Then, with time running out, the world witnessed a sports miracle. A deep pass from Case Keenum to Stefon Diggs went 61 yards on a catch and run. The Vikes recaptured the lead as time expired, and arguably the greatest moment in Minnesota football was etched into the hearts of every Vikings fan in the world.

The Minneapolis Miracle will always be special, because it felt like a curse was broken when it happened. We have had our hearts shattered so many times in close playoff games, but not on that cold, January day. That day, we won.

Kirk in Overtime

You can't talk about the top Vikings playoff wins in the last 20 years without taking a trip to the Superdome in 2020. Facing down the New Orleans Saints again, the score in this game was tied at the end of regulation. That meant overtime!

By this time, the Vikings had chosen Kirk Cousins as starting quarterback. He was a major name coming out of college, but his pro career hadn't quite lived up to expectations. To be blunt, he had a reputation as a guy who never manages to seal the deal in crunch time. That was about to change.

Overtime in the NFL is very punishing. If you don't score on your first opportunity, you are likely to lose the game. The pressure cannot be higher. Fortunately for Cousins, he had receivers that he could trust when the chips were down.

To get into a good scoring position, Cousins picked out Minnesota-native Adam Thielen for a 41-yard beauty of a reception. Then, it was just a matter of finding Kyle Rudolph in the endzone to close out the game and get another bit of sweet revenge against the Saints.

In Minnesota's long history, there aren't many Vikings playoff upsets as sweet as this one. The best stories in sports are about the people who no one outside the team believes in that prove the world wrong. And that is just what Kirk Cousins did in New Orleans.

Favre and the Beatdown

Before 2010, there weren't many Vikings playoff highlight videos against the Cowboys. But that does not mean that we don't have history with Dallas. All the way back in 1989, the Cowboys traded a past-his-prime Herschel Walker to Minnesota for enough draft compensation to secure the core players that would fuel a dynasty through the '90s. It was a terrible piece of business by the Vikings' front office and set our team back years.

21 years later, with the help of former rival-turned-starting quarterback Brett Favre, we were able to show Dallas some Purple Pride in the postseason. The game was predicted to be a close, hard-fought matchup, but the Vikings had other ideas. 

Favre threw four touchdowns on the day, with three of them finding the waiting arms of Sidney Rice. Favre and Rice connected six times for a massive 141 yards and three TDs while the Minnesota defense, led by a ferocious pass rush, held the Cowboys to a single field goal. It was, in a word, beautiful.

Finding the Right Place to Experience Great Vikings Playoff Moments

As of the writing of this blog, we don't know what will happen to our boys in purple during the '26-'27 NFL season. We know that U.S. Bank Stadium will be rocking from the pregame until the final whistle during every home game, but that's about it.

When you don't have a ticket or the team is on the road, where are you going to watch the game? It's always more fun in a place with a great crowd and great food. And in Shakopee, you'd have a hard time finding a better atmosphere and menu than Boardwalk Kitchen & Bar.

We are so excited to see how far the Vikings can go this year that we are putting together a brand new Sunday Brunch menu for game days. That is in addition to our already excellent full menu and huge selection of beers, wines, and cocktails.

We have classic game day foods like wings as well as some less traditional shareables like our tempura-fried calamari fries that you will want to make a regular part of your Vikings-watching routine.

Be There for the Next Great Minnesota Playoff Memory

The Minnesota Vikings are a team that has had it rough in the postseason. Four Super Bowl losses in the '70s, a few NFC Championship Game heartbreakers in the late '90s and 2000s, and a few first-round exits peppered through the years. But here at the start of a new season, hope springs eternal.

As our Vikings look to make new NFC playoff history by outdoing all the moments we've looked at today, you need to choose where you will experience those new moments. Will you sit at home eating leftovers? Or will you join a restaurant full of your brethren to cheer on your favorite team while you enjoy some of the best food in Shakopee?

When the Minneapolis Miracle happened, when Cousins put the ball in Rudolph's hands for the OT win or when Favre and Rice ran roughshod over Dallas, do you remember where you were? 

When the next incredible Vikings playoff moment happens, you could be screaming your heart out, giving high fives to everyone near you (whether you know them or not), and celebrating with incredible food and drinks at Boardwalk. It's just a short hop to Shakopee for an experience you will never forget.