# 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 Rams in week 6. In the NFC Championship game played in Dallas, the Vikings lost to the Dallas Cowboys 23–6.

## Offseason
### 1977 draft

* Pro Bowler
1977 Minnesota Vikings Draft :
| Draft order | Draft order | Player name | Position | College | Notes |
| Round | Selection | Player name | Position | College | Notes |
| 1 | 27 | Tommy Kramer | Quarterback | Rice | |
| 2 | 55 | Dennis Swilley | Guard | Texas A&M | |
| 3 | 83 | Tommy Hannon | Safety | Michigan State | |
| 4 | 111 | Traded to the Seattle Seahawks | Traded to the Seattle Seahawks | Traded to the Seattle Seahawks | |
| 5 | 138 | Ken Moore | Tight end | Northern Illinois | |
| 6 | 166 | Traded to the New England Patriots | Traded to the New England Patriots | Traded to the New England Patriots | |
| 7 | 194 | Traded to the Cincinnati Bengals | Traded to the Cincinnati Bengals | Traded to the Cincinnati Bengals | |
| 8 | 222 | Clint Strozier | Defensive back | USC | |
| 9 | 250 | Scott Studwell | Linebacker | Illinois | |
| 10 | 278 | Dan Beaver | Placekicker | Illinois | |
| 11 | 306 | Keith Hartwig | Wide receiver | Arizona | |
| 12 | 335 | Jim Kelleher | Running back | Colorado | |
Notes
* ↑ The Vikings traded a fourth-round selection (111th overall) to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for WR Ahmad Rashad.
* ↑ The Vikings traded a sixth-round selection (166th overall) and a 1976 eighth-round selection (235th overall) to the New England Patriots in exchange for C Doug Dumler.
* ↑ The Vikings traded a seventh-round selection (194th overall) to the Cincinnati Bengals in exchange for TE Orlando Nelson.

## Preseason

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance |
| 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 |

### Game summaries
#### Week 7: at Atlanta Falcons

* Television network: CBS
* Announcers: Pat Summerall and Tom Brookshier
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

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Vikings | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| Bears | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
at Soldier Field, Chicago
* Date: Sunday, November 20
* Game time: 12:00 p.m.
* Game weather: 48 °F (9 °C)
* Referee: Gordon McCarter
* Pro-Football-Reference.com
Game information :
First quarter
No scoring plays.
Second quarter
CHI – Walter Payton 1-yard run (Bob Thomas kick). Bears 7–0.
CHI – Bob Thomas 37-yard field goal. Bears 10–0.
Third quarter
MIN – Matt Blair 10-yard return of blocked punt (Fred Cox kick). Bears 10–7.
Fourth quarter
No scoring plays.
Top passers
MIN – Bob Lee – 12/24, 116 yards, 2 INT
CHI – Bob Avellini – 4/6, 33 yards, INT
Top rushers
MIN – Chuck Foreman – 14 rushes, 54 yards
CHI – Walter Payton – 40 rushes, 275 yards, TD
Top receivers
MIN – Sammy White – 3 receptions, 31 yards
CHI – James Scott – 2 receptions, 22 yards :

#### Week 11: at Green Bay Packers

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Vikings | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| Packers | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
at Lambeau Field, Green Bay, Wisconsin
* Date: Sunday, November 27
* Game time: 1:00 p.m.
* Game weather: 10 °F (−12 °C)
* Referee: Don Wedge
* TV announcers (CBS): Gary Bender and Johnny Unitas
* Pro-Football-Reference.com
Game information :
First quarter
GB – David Whitehurst 3-yard run (kick failed). Packers 6–0.
Second quarter
MIN – Sammy White 40-yard pass from Bob Lee (Fred Cox kick). Vikings 7–6.
MIN – Fred Cox 21-yard field goal. Vikings 10–6.
MIN – Fred Cox 31-yard field goal. Vikings 13–6.
Third quarter
No scoring plays.
Fourth quarter
No scoring plays.
Top passers
MIN – Bob Lee – 5/8, 68 yards, TD
GB – David Whitehurst – 6/23, 75 yards, 2 INT
Top rushers
MIN – Chuck Foreman – 26 rushes, 101 yards
GB – Eric Torkelson – 13 rushes, 53 yards
Top receivers
MIN – Sammy White – 1 reception, 40 yards, TD
GB – Bert Askson – 1 reception, 34 yards :

#### Week 13: at Oakland Raiders

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Vikings | 0 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 13 |
| Raiders | 21 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 35 |
at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California
* Date: Sunday, December 11
* Game time: 4:00 p.m.
* Game weather: 53 °F (12 °C)
* Referee: Fred Wyant
* TV announcers (CBS): Vin Scully and Alex Hawkins
* Pro-Football-Reference.com
Game information :
First quarter
OAK – Mark van Eeghen 2-yard run (Errol Mann kick). Raiders 7–0.
OAK – Cliff Branch 10-yard pass from Ken Stabler (Errol Mann kick). Raiders 14–0.
OAK – Willie Hall 2-yard fumble recovery (Errol Mann kick). Raiders 21–0.
Second quarter
MIN – Nate Wright 27-yard fumble recovery (Fred Cox kick). Raiders 21–7.
Third quarter
OAK – Cliff Branch 32-yard pass from Ken Stabler (Errol Mann kick). Raiders 28–7.
Fourth quarter
OAK – Carl Garrett 2-yard pass from Ken Stabler (Errol Mann kick). Raiders 35–7.
MIN – Sammy White 11-yard pass from Tommy Kramer (kick failed, wide right). Raiders 35–13.
Top passers
MIN – Tommy Kramer – 16/34, 177 yards, TD, 3 INT
OAK – Ken Stabler – 10/15, 143 yards, 3 TD
Top rushers
MIN – Chuck Foreman – 11 rushes, 48 yards
OAK – Mark van Eeghen – 28 rushes, 112 yards, TD
Top receivers
MIN – Sammy White – 5 reception, 73 yards, TD
OAK – Cliff Branch – 4 reception, 95 yards, 2 TD :

### Standings

NFC Central :
| viewtalkedit | 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 yards | Fran Tarkenton | 1,734 |
| Passing touchdowns | Fran Tarkenton | 9 |
| Rushing yards | Chuck Foreman | 1,112 |
| Rushing touchdowns | Chuck Foreman | 6 |
| Receiving yards | Sammy White | 760 |
| Receiving touchdowns | Sammy White | 9 |
| Points | Chuck Foreman Sammy White | 54 |
| Kickoff return yards | Manfred Moore | 524 |
| Punt return yards | Manfred Moore | 277 |
| Interceptions | Bobby Bryant | 4 |

### League rankings

| Category | Total yards | Yards per game | NFL rank (out of 28) |
| Passing offense | 2,368 | 169.1 | 6th |
| Rushing offense | 1,821 | 130.1 | 21st |
| Total offense | 4,189 | 299.2 | 14th |
| Passing defense | 1,581 | 112.9 | 3rd |
| Rushing defense | 2,218 | 158.4 | 21st |
| Total defense | 3,799 | 271.4 | 11th |