Vikings

Minnesota's only NFL title still dates to 1969, when the Vikings beat the Cleveland Browns for the championship. They lost it, and lost three more after that — to Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Oakland across the 1970s — a run that took them to four championship games without ever winning one. Bud Grant coached the team through all four, a body of work that earned him a place in the Hall of Fame in 1994.

The names from that era carried the franchise's reputation more than any single Super Bowl would have: Fran Tarkenton at quarterback, Alan Page and Carl Eller anchoring a defensive line that made Minnesota's pass rush one of the sport's most feared. Randy Moss and Cris Carter later gave the Vikes a different identity, built on receivers rather than sacks, and Justin Jefferson has since taken up that thread.

Recent seasons have swung hard. A 13-4 finish in 2022 ended in a home playoff loss to the Giants; 2023 fell away to 7-10; 2024 climbed back to 14-3 before New York's other team, the Rams, ended it. The Packers and the Bears remain the fixtures that matter most, the Chicago meetings still billed by some as the Battle of the I-94.

Home games are played at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, a ground that holds just over 66,000 and can be pushed toward 73,000 when the occasion calls for it.