2005 Minnesota Vikings season 2005 was the 45th year of season play for the Minnesota Vikings and the 86th regular season of the National Football League . Offseason . Red McCombs sold the Minnesota Vikings to a group led by Zygi Wilf in May 2005 . Wilf was originally going to be a limited partner to Reggie Fowler . However Fowler was not able to purchase the team . Wilf then became the lead owner and Fowler is one of a group of ownership partners . Minnesota traded WR Randy Moss to the Oakland Raiders for linebacker Napoleon Harris and the Raiders ' first and seventh round picks of the 2005 NFL Draft . With the first round pick ( number 7 ) they selected WR Troy Williamson of South Carolina . A common misconception is the Vikings freed a ton of salary cap space by trading Moss . The reality is they were already well under the salary cap - more than $ 30 million in fact - and actually had to absorb about $ 7 – 10 million just to trade Moss . But they still had around $ 20 million in cap space and signed 5 new defensive starters to shore up their previously 28th ranked defense . The Vikings fan base wondered if this was the franchise ' s biggest blunder in team history or one of their greatest moves . Regular season . The Vikings started off by losing their first two games to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ( 24 - 13 ) and the Cincinnati Bengals ( 37 - 8 ) . They would win in Week 3 against the New Orleans Saints ( 33 - 16 ) , but then they would go on to lose their next two road games to the Atlanta Falcons ( 30 - 10 ) and their division rival Chicago Bears ( 28 - 3 ) . The Vikings would win at home against fellow division rival Green Bay Packers 23 - 20 by winning the same way the Packers did last season , which was a last second field goal . However , the Vikes had little to celebrate when in the next week - not only did they lose to the Carolina Panthers 38 - 13 on the road , but they also lost their star QB Daunte Culpepper for the season with a knee injury . Culpepper had thrown twice as many interceptions as touchdowns up at that point . At this point the Vikings were 2 - 5 . Taking Culpepper ' s place would be Brad Johnson ( Viking from 1992 - 98 and quarterback of the Super Bowl XXXVII champion Buccaneers ) and , upon taking over , led the Vikings to a six - game winning streak , including victories over the Detroit Lions at home ( 27 - 14 ) , the New York Giants ( 24 - 21 ) , the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field ( 20 - 17 , once again on a last second field goal ) , the Cleveland Browns ( 24 - 12 ) , the Detroit Lions at Ford Field ( 21 - 16 ) , and a 27 - 13 home victory over the St . Louis Rams . Johnson ended up with the lowest interception to attempt ratio in Vikings history and the 3rd best passer rating in the NFC . The streak ended with an 18 - 3 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers , the eventual Super Bowl champions . After having their chances of winning the NFC North extinguished when the Bears defeated the Packers 24 - 17 in Lambeau Field earlier in the day , the Vikings were officially eliminated from NFC playoff contention with a 30 - 23 loss to the Baltimore Ravens . The Vikings won their last game of the 2005 season against the Bears , with a 34 - 10 victory . However , the Vikings fired head coach Mike Tice immediately following the game . They ended up with a 9 - 7 record and 1 win away from the playoffs . The season is also remembered for the Love Boat scandal .