List of Minnesota Vikings head coaches The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis , Minnesota . The Vikings are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League ( NFL ) . The club was founded by Minneapolis businessmen Bill Boyer , H . P . Skoglund and Max Winter in 1959 as a member of the American Football League . However , they forfeited their membership in January 1960 and became the National Football League ' s 14th franchise in 1961 . There have been eight head coaches in the history of the franchise , beginning with Norm Van Brocklin , who was head coach for six seasons between 1961 and 1967 . Van Brocklin ' s successor , Bud Grant , is the only coach to have had more than one tenure with the franchise , and also the only one to have won an NFL championship with the team , at the 1969 NFL Championship Game . Grant is the all - time leader in games coached ( 243 ) , wins ( 151 ) , and winning percentage ( . 622 ) . Les Steckel has the worst winning percentage of the franchise ' s seven head coaches ( . 188 ) , with just three wins in his only season in charge . Two Vikings coaches have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame : Grant and Van Brocklin , although Van Brocklin was elected for his playing career . Mike Tice is the only former Vikings player to have become a head coach for the franchise . The current coach is former defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier , who took over as interim head coach from Brad Childress after the latter was fired on November 22 , 2010 . Frazier was named head coach on January 3 , 2011 . History . Following the Minnesota Vikings ' admission to the National Football League , there were ultimately two candidates for the position of head coach : Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Norm Van Brocklin and Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Bud Grant . Van Brocklin was favored by three of the Vikings ' five board members , and after discussions with the franchise management on January 18 , Van Brocklin signed an initial three - year contract and was appointed as head coach on January 18 , 1961 . In Van Brocklin ' s first season in charge of the Vikings , the team won just three of their 14 games , a record that got worse before it got better . The team had a record of 2 – 11 – 1 in Van Brocklin ' s second season as head coach , but improved to 8 – 5 – 1 in the 1964 season . However , this was not enough to reach the NFL Championship Game as the team finished in second place in the West Division . By Van Brocklin ' s final season at the helm , his relationship with starting quarterback Fran Tarkenton had deteriorated to the point that the two could no longer work together . This resulted in Van Brocklin ' s resignation on February 11 , 1967 , shortly followed by Tarkenton being traded to the New York Giants . In the search for Van Brocklin ' s replacement , Vikings founder Max Winter and general manager Jim Finks re - approached Bud Grant , who joined the Minnesota side on March 10 , 1967 after 10 seasons coaching the Winnipeg Blue Bombers . With a record of 8 – 6 , the Vikings finished top of their division in Grant ' s second season in charge , reaching the playoffs for the first time in franchise history . However , they lost out to the Baltimore Colts 24 – 14 in their Conference Championship Game . The following year , they went two better by beating the Los Angeles Rams and the Cleveland Browns to claim the NFL Championship , before losing out to the Kansas City Chiefs 23 – 7 in Super Bowl IV . Nine more divisional championships followed in the next 11 seasons , including NFC Championships in 1973 , 1974 and 1976 , making Grant the first head coach to lead teams to four Super Bowls , despite never winning one . Grant retired as head coach after the 1983 season , and was replaced by receivers coach Les Steckel in January 1984 . However , under Steckel , the team had their worst season to date , only managing to win three of their 16 games in 1984 . After Steckel was fired , Grant was coaxed out of retirement to replace him for the 1985 season . After Grant ' s second retirement , Vikings assistant coach Jerry Burns was named as his successor . Burns ' tenure as head coach lasted for six seasons , including three playoff appearances , one of which resulted in a loss to the Washington Redskins in the 1987 NFC Championship Game . Burns retired from coaching at the end of the 1991 season , and the Vikings turned to Stanford Cardinal head coach Dennis Green as his successor , making Green the first African - American head coach in franchise history . In the first nine years of Green ' s tenure with the Vikings , the closest he came to a losing record was an 8 – 8 record in 1995 , the only season in which his team missed the playoffs . Three years later , Green ' s team played out the best season in franchise history , losing only to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the way to a 15 – 1 record . The team received a bye to the Divisional Playoffs , in which they beat the Arizona Cardinals to set up a Conference Championship Game against the Atlanta Falcons . With six minutes left in the fourth quarter and the Vikings in the lead at 27 – 20 , they drove down the field to set up a 38 - yard field goal for kicker Gary Anderson , who had not missed a single kick all season . A successful kick would have given the Vikings a two - score lead with just over two minutes left to play , but Anderson hooked his kick wide left , allowing the Falcons to take the ball back downfield for a game - tying touchdown . They followed this with a field goal in overtime , denying the Vikings a fifth Super Bowl appearance . Green ' s 10th season at the Vikings helm turned out to be his final year in Minnesota ; with a 5 – 10 record with one game remaining in the 2001 season , the Vikings management bought out the final two years of Green ' s contract and promoted offensive line coach and former tight end Mike Tice to the top job for the final game of the season . Tice remained in the job for a further four seasons , but only reached the playoffs once , losing out to the Philadelphia Eagles in the Divisional Playoffs of the 2004 season . Tice ' s contract was allowed to expire at the end of the 2005 season , and he was quickly replaced by the Philadelphia Eagles ' offensive coordinator Brad Childress . Since Childress ' first season in charge , the Vikings regular season record has improved by two wins a season from 6 – 10 in 2006 to 12 – 4 in 2009 . They reached the playoffs as NFC North champions twice in two consecutive years in 2008 and 2009 ; they lost out to Childress ' former team , the Philadelphia Eagles , in the 2008 NFC Wildcard game , but beat the Dallas Cowboys in the 2009 Divisional game to reach their first NFC Championship Game since 2001 . However , they lost to the New Orleans Saints and missed out on the Super Bowl . The following season , the Vikings picked up just three wins in their first 10 games ; after the seventh defeat of the season , Childress was fired and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier took over as interim head coach . Frazier was named head coach on a permanent basis on January 3 , 2011 . Statistics . " Note : Statistics accurate as of the end of the 2010 season . "