Vikings all-time tournament: 1976 (7) vs. 2000 (10)

First-round matchup in the all-time Minnesota Vikings tournament — No. 7 seed 1976 vs. No. 10 seed 2000.

We dip back into the best decade of Vikings football for the 1976 team. The defense was still elite, giving up the second-fewest points per game (12.6) in the league. But that didn’t stop Ken Stabler, Cliff Branch and Dave Casper (and head coach John Madden) from scoring a boatload of points in the Oakland Raiders’ 32-14 win in Super Bowl XI.

A much different team than those defensive forces in the 1970s, the 2000 team ranked fifth in the NFL in points scored (397) and 24th in points allowed (371). In his third season, Moss caught 77 passes for 1,437 yards and a league-high 15 touchdowns. Carter would go on to play two more seasons, but the 2000 campaign marked his last with 1,000+ receiving yards at 1,274. Hopefully we won’t see any 41-donut scores in our fictional tournament like we did in the NFC title game.