That’s a brief look back at the history between the Minnesota Vikings and the Cleveland Browns over the years, ladies and gentlemen. Brad Johnson wound up with three touchdown passes on the afternoon, all of them to Marcus Robinson, and the Browns didn’t reach the end zone until a minute remained in the contest in a 24-12 Minnesota win. Minnesota’s defense forced five Cleveland turnovers that afternoon, including three interceptions from the two-headed quarterback monster of Trent Dilfer and Charlie Frye. The Mike Tice-led Vikings were in the midst of a winning streak that saved their season after the Love Boat scandal rocked the early part of their year. The only other game between the Vikings and the “new” Browns took place at the Metrodome in 2005. The Minnesota defense sacked Brady Quinn five times on the afternoon en route to a 34-20 victory for the Vikings. Favre only threw for 110 yards on the afternoon, but he did get his first touchdown pass as a Viking, a six-yard connection with Percy Harvin. However, it was Adrian Peterson that turned out to be the star in that contest, as he carried the ball 25 times for 180 yards and three touchdowns. It was the 2009 season opener, and the first game of the zombie Brett Favre era for Minnesota. The Vikings’ last trip to Cleveland was much more enjoyable for Vikings’ fans. Minnesota battled back to take a 27-24 lead in the fourth quarter, but Hoyer found tight end Jordan Cameron with under a minute left to give Cleveland a 31-27 victory. The Browns even got a touchdown on a fake field goal attempt to take a 24-17 lead into halftime. Brian Hoyer led the Cleveland offense into town and threw for 321 yards and three touchdowns, though he did throw three interceptions as well. Minnesota was coming off of two straight tough divisional losses, and the Browns came in with an 0-2 record as well. It was the 2013 home opener for Minnesota in what would end up being their final season at the Metrodome. Of course, the last game between these two teams is one that fans of the Vikings would rather forget. The Browns’ four all-time victories over the Vikings have come by a combined total of 17 points, while the Vikings have had several double-digit wins over the Browns over the course of their history. You can see the fairly significant discrepancy in the point totals between these two teams. Most recent Browns’ home win in series: 17 December 1989 (final score 23-17, OT)īiggest Vikings’ road win in series: 32 points, 28 September 1975 (final score 42-10)īiggest Browns’ home win in series: 6 points, 17 December 1989 (final score 23-17, OT) Most recent Vikings’ road win in series: 13 September 2009 (final score 34-20) Longest Browns’ winning streak vs Vikings: 2 (26 October 1986 - 17 December 1989) Longest Vikings’ winning streak vs Browns: 5 (9 November 1969 - 4 September 1983) Total Browns’ points scored, head-to-head: 224 (16 points/game) Total Vikings’ points scored, head-to-head: 377 (26.9 points/game) Games between the Vikings and the Browns: 14 As always, we’re getting all of our information from the good folks at Pro Football Reference. However, we’ll take a full look back at that history now. The Vikings have only played the “new” (read: post-move to Baltimore) Browns three times, and they’ve won two of those three contests. Though we’re not counting post-season games in our look back, it’s worth mentioning that the Browns are the teams that the Vikings beat for their only NFL title, as they beat the Browns in the 1969 NFL Championship Game by a score of 27-7. The history between these two teams has largely been in favor of the Vikings, as they’ve won a majority of the games between these two teams over the years. This is classed as a home game for the Browns, even though it’s on another continent, so that’s how we’ll treat it. On Sunday, the purple will travel halfway around the world to take on the Cleveland Browns at Twickenham Stadium in London. As is our wont, it’s time to take a look at the history between the Minnesota Vikings and the team they’re playing this week.
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