StaTuesday: Top playoff performances in Vikings history

The Minnesota Vikings are preparing for their 48th postseason game in franchise history this week as they host the New Orleans Saints at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday.

In its previous 47 playoff games, Minnesota owns a 19-28 record and a 9-12 record in the divisional round.



So who in franchise history has shined the most in the spotlight?

We’ll start under center.

Vikings quarterbacks have passed for over 300 yards five times in the postseason, with four different QBs achieving the feat (Daunte Culpepper did it twice). Oddly enough, four of those five occasions resulted in a loss, most recently the Vikings’ tragic overtime defeat in 2010 by, yes, the Saints.

Culpepper’s performance at Lambeau Field in 2005 (think the Randy Moss “moon” celebration) is arguably the best postseason contest in Vikings history for a quarterback. He threw four touchdowns with no interceptions, adding up to a 137.1 passer rating -- the highest single-game mark in franchise history.

Since 1950, only 16 other QBs have had 4+ touchdowns and no interceptions in a playoff game and just six since Culpepper accomplished the feat. Brett Favre is the only other Minnesota quarterback to do it; he also had four TDs and no INTs in the Vikings’ 34-3 rout of Dallas in 2010.

A common cliché tossed around this time of year is playoff games are won on the ground. In Minnesota’s case, it rings true.

The Vikings have seen 100-yard playoff games from running backs nine times and are 7-1 in those games (Minnesota had two 100-yard rushers in its 35-20 victory over the Redskins in 1976, racking up 221 rushing yards as a team thanks to Brent McClanahan and Chuck Foreman).

The only loss was, again, in 2010 against New Orleans, which (obviously) has more to do with Adrian Peterson’s pair of fumbles rather than his 122 rushing yards.

Heading back to the passing game, the Vikings have had a 100-yard receiver in 15 postseason contests. Of the 11 different players to do so, you’ll find the typical names on the list -- Moss (three games), Cris Carter (two), Anthony Carter (two) and Jake Reed (one).

There are a couple of surprises on the list, however. Amp Lee, a running back, caught 11 passes for 159 yards on New Year's Day in 1995 against the Bears, but his fourth-quarter fumble was returned for a touchdown, costing the Vikings a chance to defeat their division rival in the wild-card round.

Anthony Carter has the most receiving yards in a single game with 227, followed by Moss’ 188 in 2000. It would go down as a career high in the postseason for Moss, who surpassed the 100-yard mark just two other times in the postseason, all while wearing Vikings purple.

On the other side of the ball, four different Vikings defensive players have intercepted two passes in a playoff game. Bobby Bryant did it twice, in 1973 and 1976, and Joey Browner (1988), Robert Griffith (1999) and John Turner (1983) achieved the feat once.

In the trenches, Carl Eller recorded three playoff games with two sacks or more, including a three-sack game in 1975 that ties Ray Edwards for the franchise record.