Minnesota Vikings International History

The Minnesota Vikings depart tonight for a 10-day international business trip. It’s a business trip that includes a Week 4 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Dublin and a Week 5 game against the Cleveland Browns in London. It’s the first time a team has played consecutive games in two different overseas countries. One international game is a terrible deal. Two is much, much worse. The only good thing about these international games is the Vikings have never lost one. Four overseas regular season trips. Four wins. 

2013 - London, Wembley Stadium

Minnesota Vikings 34

Pittsburgh Steelers 27

2017 - London, Twickenham Stadium

Minnesota Vikings 33

Cleveland Browns 16

2022 - London, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Minnesota Vikings 28

New Orleans Saints 25

2024 - London, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Minnesota Vikings 23

New York Jets 17

Here’s hoping the winning streak continues and that both of this year’s games have a winning margin more like the second one than the other three. 

The upcoming international games will be the second such against both the Steelers and the Browns. Last year, the Vikings played a Jets team quarterbacked by Aaron Rodgers. This year, they played a Steelers team quarterbacked by Aaron Rodgers. I wouldn’t mind seeing another multiple-interception game from the ancient hurler, including another pick-six. I love seeing this clown fail on a big stage. 

There are so many reasons I dislike these international games. First of all, I’m absolutely against the NFL’s clear interest in establishing overseas teams. Each international game is a move in that direction. Why have a team based in London, or wherever? It isn’t odd that no other professional league seems international expansion as necessary. Why does the NFL see it as a damn fine idea? The answer is easy. Money. The greed of the league has no bounds. As long as the very rich get much richer, everything’s great. It’s the world we live in. I don’t like that each of the international games robs a team of a home game. There’s only eight or nine of them each year and the league sees taking one away from the fans as perfectly fine. I don’t like the potential disruption of a team’s season routine. I know the planning that goes into these trips but no matter the depth of those plans it’s such a disruption. The more time a team spends on travel and the forced logistics the less time spent on preparing for the game. It makes the short-week difficulties of Thursday games feel like a breeze. There should be no surprise that one or both teams often looked unready to play on Thursdays or overseas. The NFL is always willing to swap shitty games for more cash. Finally, I don’t like the 6:30 in the damn morning start. The only good thing about these international games is the Vikings success in them. Here’s hoping that success continues.