1987 Minnesota Vikings season

1987 Minnesota Vikings season
Head coach	Jerry Burns
General manager	Mike Lynn
Home field	Metrodome
Results
Record	8–7
Division place	2nd NFC Central
Playoff finish	Won Wild Card Playoffs (Saints) 44–10 Won Divisional Playoffs (49ers) 36–24 Lost Conference Championship (Redskins) 10–17

The 1987 Minnesota Vikings season was the team's 27th year in the National Football League. The Vikings finished with a record of eight wins and seven losses. The 1987 strike caused the cancellation of the September 27 game at the Kansas City Chiefs. The games played October 4, 11 and 18 were played with replacement players.

Despite finishing the season only one game over .500, and losing three of their final four games, Minnesota sneaked into the playoffs with the final Wild Card position. In the playoffs, the Vikings won two huge upsets, beating the 12–3 Saints and 13–2 49ers on the road. The Vikings were unable, however, to defeat the eventual Super Bowl champion Redskins in the NFC Championship Game.

Offseason

1987 Draft

=Pro Bowler

1987 Minnesota Vikings Draft
Draft order			Player name	Position	College	Notes
Round	Choice	Overall
1	14	14	D. J. Dozier	Running Back	Penn State	from Dolphins^[a]
	16	16	Traded to the Miami Dolphins^[a]
2	16	44	Ray Berry	Linebacker	Baylor
3	16	72	Henry Thomas	Defensive Tackle	Louisiana State
4	16	100	Reggie Rutland	Defensive Back	Georgia Tech
5	16	128	Traded to the Miami Dolphins^[a]
6	15	156	Greg Richardson	Wide Receiver	Alabama
7	16	184	Traded to the Seattle Seahawks^[b]
8	16	211	Rick Fenney	Running Back	Washington
9	16	239	Leonard Jones	Defensive Back	Texas Tech
10	16	267	Bob Riley	Offensive Tackle	Indiana State
11	16	295	Brent Pease	Quarterback	Montana
12	16	323	Keith Williams	Defensive Tackle	Florida

^{^[a]} Minnesota traded their 1st round selection (16th overall) and 5th round selection (128th overall) to Miami to move up 2 spots and make this pick.

Personnel

Staff

1987 Minnesota Vikings staff
	Front office President – Wheelock Whitney, Jr. Executive Vice President/General Manager – Mike Lynn Director of Football Operations – Jerry Reichow Director of Player Personnel – Frank Gilliam Director of Pro Personnel – Bob Hollway Head coaches Head Coach – Jerry Burns Offensive coaches Offensive Coordinator – Bob Schnelker Running Backs – Rollie Dotsch Interim Running Backs – John Brunner Receivers – Dick Rehbein Tight Ends – Tom Batta Offensive Line – John Michels			Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator – Floyd Peters Defensive Line – Paul Wiggin Linebackers – Monte Kiffin Secondary – Pete Carroll Special teams coaches Special Teams – Tom Batta

^[1]

Final roster

1987 Minnesota Vikings final roster
	Quarterbacks 16 Rich Gannon  9 Tommy Kramer 11 Wade Wilson Running backs 46 Alfred Anderson FB 42 D. J. Dozier 31 Rick Fenney 20 Darrin Nelson 36 Allen Rice Wide receivers 58 Walker Lee Ashley 81 Anthony Carter 80 Jim Gustafson 84 Hassan Jones 87 Leo Lewis PR Tight ends 82 Carl Hilton 83 Steve Jordan 86 Mike Mularkey		Offensive linemen 62 Chris Foote C 72 Dave Huffman G 76 Tim Irwin T 68 Greg Koch G 63 Kirk Lowdermilk C 71 Mark MacDonald G 52 Randy Rasmussen C 67 Dennis Swilley C 66 Terry Tausch G 65 Gary Zimmerman T Defensive linemen 56 Chris Doleman DE 79 Doug Martin DE 73 Stafford Mays DT 75 Keith Millard DT 96 Tim Newton DT 95 Gerald Robinson DE 97 Henry Thomas DT		Linebackers 53 Sam Anno 50 Ray Berry OLB 51 David Howard OLB 57 Chris Martin OLB 54 Jesse Solomon OLB 55 Scott Studwell MLB Defensive backs 47 Joey Browner SS 22 Steve Freeman CB 41 Neal Guggemos CB/KR 30 Issiac Holt CB 44 John Harris FS 24 Wymon Henderson CB 39 Carl Lee CB 48 Reggie Rutland CB 40 Wayne Smith CB Special teams  8 Greg Coleman P  1 Chuck Nelson K 13 Bucky Scribner P		Reserve lists 84 James Brim WR (IR) 23 Terry Love CB (IR) Practice squad Rookies in italics 51 Active, 2 Inactive, 0 Practice squad

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Venue	Attendance
1	September 13, 1987	Detroit Lions	W 34–19	Metrodome	57,061
2	September 20, 1987	at Los Angeles Rams	W 21–16	Anaheim Stadium	63,367
–	September 27, 1987	at Kansas City Chiefs	canceled	Arrowhead Stadium
3	October 4, 1987	Green Bay Packers	L 23–16	Metrodome	13,911
4	October 11, 1987	at Chicago Bears	L 27–7	Soldier Field	32,113
5	October 18, 1987	at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	L 20–10	Tampa Stadium	20,850
6	October 26, 1987	Denver Broncos	W 34–27	Metrodome	51,011
7	November 1, 1987	at Seattle Seahawks	L 28–17	Kingdome	61,134
8	November 8, 1987	Los Angeles Raiders	W 31–20	Metrodome	57,150
9	November 15, 1987	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	W 23–17	Metrodome	48,605
10	November 22, 1987	Atlanta Falcons	W 24–13	Metrodome	53,866
11	November 26, 1987	at Dallas Cowboys	W 44–38 (OT)	Texas Stadium	54,229
12	December 6, 1987	Chicago Bears	L 30–24	Metrodome	62,331
13	December 13, 1987	at Green Bay Packers	L 16–10	Milwaukee County Stadium	47,059
14	December 20, 1987	at Detroit Lions	W 17–14	Silverdome	27,693
15	December 26, 1987	Washington Redskins	L 27–24 (OT)	Metrodome	59,160

Note: The October 18 game against Tampa Bay was originally scheduled to be played in Minneapolis. The game was switched with the November 15 game due to Game 2 of the World Series. The game against the Broncos, originally scheduled for Sunday, October 25, was pushed back to Monday because the Metrodome was being used for Game 7 of the World Series.

Game summaries

Week 11: at Dallas Cowboys

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
Vikings	14	7	7	10	6	44
Cowboys	0	14	10	14	0	38

at Texas Stadium, Irving, Texas

• Date: Thursday, November 26
• Game time: 3:00 p.m.
• Game weather: 48°F, wind 11 mph
• TV announcers (CBS): Pat Summerall and John Madden
• Pro-Football-Reference.com

Game information

First Quarter Vikings – Anthony Carter 11-yard pass from Tommy Kramer (Chuck Nelson kick) – Vikings 7–0 Vikings – Tommy Kramer 1-yard run (Chuck Nelson kick) – Vikings 14–0 Second Quarter Cowboys – Danny White 1-yard run (Roger Ruzek kick) – Vikings 14–7 Cowboys – Herschel Walker 3-yard pass from Danny White (Roger Ruzek kick) – Tie 14–14 Vikings – Anthony Carter 37-yard pass from Tommy Kramer (Chuck Nelson kick) – Vikings 21–14 Third Quarter Vikings – Darrin Nelson 52-yard run (Chuck Nelson kick) – Vikings 28–14 Cowboys – Roger Ruzek 38-yard field goal – Vikings 28–17 Cowboys – Mike Renfro 8-yard pass from Danny White (Roger Ruzek kick) – Vikings 28–24 Fourth Quarter Vikings – Chuck Nelson 33-yard field goal – Vikings 31–24 Vikings – Rick Fenney 1-yard run (Chuck Nelson kick) – Vikings 38–24 Cowboys – Mike Renfro 14-yard pass from Danny White (Roger Ruzek kick) – Vikings 38–31 Cowboys – Mike Renfro 18-yard pass from Danny White (Roger Ruzek kick) – Tie 38–38 Overtime Vikings – Darrin Nelson 24-yard run – Vikings 44–38 Vikings Wade Wilson 9/18, 189 Yds, INT Darrin Nelson 16 Rush, 118 Yds, 2 TD Anthony Carter 8 Rec, 184 Yds, 2 TD Cowboys Danny White 25/41, 341 Yds, 4 TD, 3 INT Herschel Walker 21 Rush, 76 Yds Mike Renfro 7 Rec, 100 Yds, 3 TD

Darrin Nelson's 24-yard touchdown run helped sealed the Vikings victory in an overtime thriller. It was the first time in 18 years the Vikings played on Thanksgiving.

Standings

NFC Central
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Chicago Bears^(2)	11	4	0	.733	7–0	9–2	356	282	W1
Minnesota Vikings^(5)	8	7	0	.533	3–5	6–6	336	335	L1
Green Bay Packers	5	9	1	.367	3–4	4–7	255	300	L2
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	4	11	0	.267	3–4	4–9	286	360	L8
Detroit Lions	4	11	0	.267	2–5	4–7	269	384	W1

Playoffs

NFC Wildcard Playoff Game

Minnesota Vikings 44, New Orleans Saints 10

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vikings	10	21	3	10	44
Saints	7	3	0	0	10

at Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana

• Game time: 12:30 p.m. EST/11:30 a.m. CST
• Game attendance: 68,546
• Referee: Tom Dooley
• TV announcers (CBS): Pat Summerall and John Madden

In the Saints' first playoff game in history, the Vikings dominated the game by recording 2 sacks, forcing 4 turnovers, and allowing only 149 yards. The 34-point margin of victory stands as the most lop-sided win by an NFC team in a Wild Card round game in NFL history.

NFC Divisional Playoff Game

Minnesota Vikings 36, San Francisco 49ers 24

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vikings	3	17	10	6	36
49ers	3	0	14	7	24

at Candlestick Park, San Francisco

• Game time: 4:00 p.m. EST/1:00 p.m. PST
• Game attendance: 63,008
• Referee: Gene Barth
• TV announcers (CBS): Tim Ryan and Joe Theismann

Jerry Rice set a single-season record for the 49ers with 22 touchdown receptions. This was an amazing feat when you consider that he achieved this goal in only 12 regular season contests (due to the players' strike). This record was later broken by Randy Moss in 2007 when he caught 23 touchdown passes in 16 games (originally, Randy played with the Vikings from 1998–2004 and was traded back to Minnesota in 2010)

NFC Championship Game

Washington Redskins 17, Minnesota Vikings 10

	1	2	3	4	Total
Vikings	0	7	0	3	10
Redskins	7	0	3	7	17

at RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.

• Game time: 12:30 p.m. EST
• Game attendance: 55,212
• Referee: Ben Dreith
• TV announcers (CBS): Pat Summerall and John Madden

In a defensive battle, the Redskins played a little better by limiting the Vikings to only 76 rushing yards and forcing 8 sacks. Washington scored first on a 98-yard drive that was capped by running back Kelvin Bryant's 42-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Doug Williams. However, Minnesota tied the game before halftime with quarterback Wade Wilson's 23-yard touchdown pass to Leo Lewis. In the third quarter, Redskins linebacker Mel Kaufman returned an interception 10 yards to the Minnesota 17-yard line to set up kicker Ali Haji-Sheikh's 28-yard field goal. In the final period, Vikings kicker Chuck Nelson made an 18-yard field goal to tie the game, 10–10. The Redskins then marched 70 yards to score on Williams' 7-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Gary Clark to take the lead, 17–10, with 5:06 remaining in the game. Minnesota then advanced to the Washington 6-yard line, but Wilson's fourth down pass, intended for running back Darrin Nelson in the end zone was defended expertly by Darrell Green with 52 seconds remaining and the Redskins ran out the clock.

Statistics

Team leaders

Category	Player(s)	Value
Passing Yards	Wade Wilson	2,106
Passing Touchdowns	Wade Wilson	14
Rushing Yards	Darrin Nelson	642
Rushing Touchdowns	D.J. Dozier Wade Wilson	5
Receiving Yards	Anthony Carter	922
Receiving Touchdowns	Anthony Carter	7
Points	Chuck Nelson	75
Kickoff Return Yards	Neal Guggemos	808
Punt Return Yards	Leo Lewis	275
Tackles	Jesse Solomon	126
Sacks	Chris Doleman	11.0
Interceptions	Joey Browner	6
Forced Fumbles	Chris Doleman	6

League rankings

Category	Total yards	Yards per game	NFL rank (out of 28)
Passing Offense	2,826 Yards	176.6 YPG	20th
Rushing Offense	1,983 Yards	123.9 YPG	11th
Total Offense	4,809 Yards	300.6 YPG	15th
Passing Defense	3,100 Yards	193.8 YPG	16th
Rushing Defense	1,724 Yards	107.8 YPG	11th
Total Defense	4,824 Yards	301.8 YPG	10th

References

1. 2010 Minnesota Vikings Media Guide. p. 265. Retrieved February 18, 2011.

• Vikings on Pro Football Reference
• Vikings on jt-sw.com