After serving as the interim head coach for the final six games of the season (finishing with a 3–3 record), defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier was officially named the head coach on January 3, 2011, after signing a three-year contract. On January 17, Brett Favre retired for the third, and officially last, time, leaving the team in search for a long term replacement at the quarterback position. Wasting no time after being appointed head coach, Frazier began to restructure the team's coaching staff, including letting go of offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and hiring Mike Singletary as linebackers coach and Bill Musgrave as the new offensive coordinator.
The team is currently owned by Zygi Wilf, Mark Wilf, Jeffrey Wilf, Leonard Wilf, David Mandelbaum, Alan Landis and Reggie Fowler.
Season-by-season records
Vikings helmet (2006–present)
From the team's debut in 1961 to 1995, the Vikings' logos and uniforms essentially remained the same. Reflecting Minnesota's Scandinavian cultural heritage, one of the team's two primary logos consists of a profile of a blond norseman, while the other consists of a white Viking horn.
The team's helmet is purple with a Viking horn logo on each side. Each horn is outlined in gold. The horn logo was slightly revised in 2006. The original uniform design consisted of white pants, gold trim, and either purple or white jerseys. From 1962 to 1964, the Vikings wore purple pants with their white jerseys (The Vikings, with their new uniform, still wear, on occasion, purple pants with yellow and white trim). In a design that was unique among American football teams, the white jerseys had a completely different stripe pattern, which was over the shoulders, than the purple ones, which was around the sleeve cuff. These unique shoulder stripes on the white jerseys did not appear until 1969, the year they went to their first Super Bowl. There have also been minor changes to the uniform design throughout the years, such as changing the color of the facemask from gray to white (1980), and then to purple (1985); and adding the Norseman logo to the sleeves (1996). The Vikings wore black shoes until Les Steckel became the coach in 1984. In 2006 team returned to black shoes for first time since the 1983 season.
From 1969 through 1973, the Vikings had an alternate purple jersey without stripes for warm-weather games.
The team's uniforms were redesigned in 2006, the first significant change in the franchise's 46-year history. Although the team colors remained the same, trim lines were added to the outside shoulders and sleeves, and the sides of the jerseys and pants. In addition the horn on the helmet was slightly more defined. Included in the new design are both white and purple pants, the purple pants have not been regularly used since 2007, but resurfaced twice in 2010.
The team wore black armbands for the last four games in 1978 in memory of Jack "Jocko" Nelson, an assistant coach who died during the season. In 1985 the team wore a 25 years patch on their jerseys. In 1989, they wore a "40 for 60" patch honoring the 1969 NFL championship team. They wore a 35 years patch in 1995, 40 years in 2000 and 45 years in 2005. They also wore patches in 1999 for assistant coach Chip Myers who died in the offseason and in 2001 for Korey Stringer. The Vikings like the other teams wore NFL 50 and 75 year patches in 1969 and 1994.
All Purple
In an era where color TVs were rare, the Vikings (along with several other NFL teams) wore white jerseys for home games for the 1964 NFL season. This allowed fans to see the visiting teams' primary colors. In the 1960s the Vikings wore purple pants with road white jerseys. On October 11, 1964 the Vikings played the Detroit Lions at Metropolitan Stadium and the Lions mistakenly only brought their white jerseys to Minnesota. Both teams started the game in white, but by the second quarter the Vikings were able to obtain their purple tops. The Vikings changed jerseys on the sidelines during the 2nd quarter, finishing the game in purple jerseys and purple pants. It wasn't until 43 years later, on December 17, 2007 (a Monday Night Football game versus the Chicago Bears) that the Vikings again donned both purple jerseys and purple pants. Three years later, the Vikings played the November 7, 2010 home game against the Arizona Cardinals in the all-purple uniform.
Mascots
Current mascots
The current team mascot is Ragnar (played by Joseph Juranitch). Ragnar has been working for the Vikings since 1994 and claims to be the most widely-recognized mascot in the world.[citation needed] Juranitch admits to being somewhat of an eccentric—he holds the current world record for fastest time shaving a beard with an axe, but hasn't shaved his beard since he won the Ragnar job among 3,000 applicants. Ragnar drives onto the field at the beginning of the game dressed in Viking garb, on a motorcycle, while a cheerleader used to ride a snowmobile. Although never one to shy away from confrontations with opposing players, notably Ochocinco, he had a soft spot for Brett Favre while the quarterback started for the rival Green Bay Packers.
After several failed attempts at developing an official team-owned mascot, the Vikings finally introduced Viktor the Viking during the 2007 Vikings' season. Team officials had long indicated that they were after a mascot concept that would primarily appeal to the team's younger fan base. Viktor the Viking, a muscle-bound, blond-haired and mustachioed character wears a Vikings' #1 jersey and an oversized Vikings' helmet with protruding horns and a small yellow nose guard.
Historic mascots
From 1970 to 1992, Hub Meeds dressed as a Viking and served as the team mascot.
Another mascot associated with the Vikings was "Vikadontis Rex", a purple foam dinosaur. Vikadontis was the official mascot of the Minnesota Vikings Children's Fund and took part in the 1995 Celebrity Mascot Olympics. Vikadontis was retired starting with the 2000 season. The team also had an NFL Huddles mascot in the mid 1980s, (somewhat similar to Viktor the Viking). Krazy George was also employed as a cheerleader from 1982 to 1985.
Traditions
Fight song
Skol, Vikings is the fight song of the Minnesota Vikings. It was introduced around the time the team was founded in 1961 and is always played whenever the team scores as well as half time and the end of regulation.
Helga hats
Viking fans are known to dress up in "Helga hats", or purple hats with white horns and blonde braids, mimicking the helmets popularly believed to have been worn by Viking warriors. The original Helga Hats are still hand assembled in the Twin Cities area.
Vikings horn
During home games at the Metrodome, the Vikings Gjallarhorn is loudly played and sounds often after the team has made a big play, gets a first down, or scores a touchdown. The team will also use the horn during its pre-game ceremonies. In addition, a flash cannon fires upon Vikings touchdowns. The horn sounds the interval of a minor 6th in western music.
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