Best Vikings teams all-time: Where does the 2024 squad rank?

The Minnesota Vikings have easily been one of the biggest surprises of this 2024 NFL season.

Predicted by most pundits to win anywhere from five to seven games all year, the Vikes raced out to a 5-0 start. And since taking back-to-back losses to the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams, Kevin O'Connell & Co. have won another five straight, their latest victory coming in comeback fashion over the Arizona Cardinals.

With that 23-22 win over the Cards, the Vikings improved to 10-2 on the season, marking the 10th time in franchise history that they've won at least 10 of their first 12. And this is already the second time O'Connell has done so, as Minnesota also started 10-2 just two years, ultimately finishing 13-4 before losing to the New York Giants in the Wild Card Round.

Naturally, the previous nine Vikings teams that started 10-2 or better are among the best in franchise history in terms of winning percentage at season's end and overall advancement in the postseason.

With that in mind, let's see what this 2024 team is up against.

Only two of the nine Vikings teams to start 10-2 or better went to the Super Bowl

Here's a quick summary of every Vikings team to start 10-2 or better.

In terms of winning percentage, the most successful team in Vikings history during the regular season was Dennis Green's 1998 squad, which went 15-1 (.938).

Led by an offense featuring a resurgent Randall Cunningham, who finished second in the NFL MVP voting; running back Robert Smith, who rushed for 1,187 yards; and arguably one of the best 1-2 wide receiver combos of all time in Cris Carter and rookie Randy Moss, who combined to catch 147 passes for 2,324 yards and 29 touchdowns, the Vikings averaged a league-best 34.8 points per game.

And the Minnesota defense, led by All-Pro defensive end John Randle, wasn't too shabby either, allowing just 18.5 points per game, the sixth-fewest in the NFL.

After getting off to a 7-0 start, the '98 Vikes took their first and only defeat of the season in Week 9, losing 27-24 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before winning out to take the top seed in the NFC, thus earning a first-round bye in the postseason.

In the Divisional Round, Minnesota destroyed the Cardinals, 41-21, and were heavy favorites over the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship Game, which spoke volumes about how good that team was as the Falcons had gone 14-2. But despite being 11-point underdogs, Atlanta kept things close throughout and ultimately took a 30-27 victory in overtime.

As every Vikings fan knows, Minnesota was up 27-20 late in the fourth quarter and had a chance to put the game away with just over two minutes remaining on a 38-yard field goal from Gary Anderson, who hadn't missed a kick of any kind all season — until then, of course. Following Anderson's miss, the Falcons tied the game with just under a minute remaining and then sealed the three-point win in the extra frame on a Morten Andersen field goal, a kick that ironically enough was from 38 yards out.

After the '98 squad, the best teams Minnesota has had in terms of winning percentage were the four that went 12-2 (.857) in the late 1960s and early-to-mid 1970s.

These 2024 Vikings obviously can't catch the 1998 team in this regard, as the best they can do is win out to finish 15-2. That would give them a winning percentage of .882, which would be the second-best mark in franchise history. A 14-3 finish would put them at .824, dropping them below those 12-2 teams.

But we all know most teams aren't remembered for winning percentage but instead for how well they perform (or don't perform) in the postseason. And that'll be the same for this Vikings team. Even if they go 15-2 in the regular season but don't win the Super Bowl, the campaign has to be considered a lost opportunity, just as the 1998 season was.

Minnesota, of course, has never won a Super Bowl, the franchise's lone title being the 1969 NFL Championship, the last before the NFL-AFL merger became official in 1970. That win earned them a trip to Super Bowl IV, which they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.

As you can see in the table above, that '69 squad was one of just two Vikings teams to start 10-2 or better to reach the Super Bowl, the second being the 1973 squad that lost to the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VIII.

Will the 2024 Vikings join those two clubs or the seven that failed to reach the Super Bowl? We'll find out soon enough.