For the ninth time since entering the NFL in 1961, the Minnesota Vikings will be rearranging Thanksgiving plans for some families.
The league announced its 2022 schedule Thursday, and the Vikings will be playing on Turkey Day.
Minnesota will host the New England Patriots in a 7:20 p.m. kickoff at U.S. Bank Stadium.
It will be the first the Vikings will play at home on Thanksgiving. Their previous contests have been at Detroit or Dallas.
The Vikings have historically fared well in Thanksgiving Day games, having gone 6-2 with a 3-2 record vs. the Lions and 3-0 vs. the Cowboys.
First Thanksgiving appearance
Minnesota’s first Thanksgiving game was on Nov. 27, 1969. The Vikings won 27-0 in the snow and mud at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.
It was a game that I listened to Ray Scott and Paul Christman do the broadcast but couldn’t see:
Minnesota’s defense made life miserable for Lion quarterbacks Greg Landry and Bill Munson all afternoon, intercepting two passes and recording an unofficial seven sacks. The sack was not an official recorded statistic at the time.
On the other side of the ball, the Vikings’ offense methodically put together scores in each of the first three quarters.
Dave Osborn went in from one yard out in the first quarter, Fred Cox kicked a 41-yard field goal in the second quarter and Joe Kapp connected with Oscar Reed on six-yard touchdown pass in the third.
The Vikings salted the game away in the fourth quarter when defensive end Jim Marshall intercepted a pass and then flipped a no-look lateral to teammate Alan Page, who finished the play by rumbling into the end zone for the TD. Cox kicked his second field goal of the game, this one from 38 yards out, to wrap up the scoring.
The win was the 10th straight for Minnesota since a season-opening 24-23 loss to Frank Tarkenton and the New York Giants.
The Vikings would win at the 11-0 Los Angeles Rams 20-13 the next week before coming home for a 10-7 win over the San Francisco 49ers in the snow at Metropolitan Stadium. Minnesota lost the finale 10-3 at Atlanta to finish the regular season with a 12-2 record.
In the postseason, the Vikings rallied for a 23-20 win over the Rams in the Divisional Playoffs and then beat the Cleveland Browns 27-20 in the NFL Championship Game. In Super Bowl XI in New Orleans, they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs 23-7.
Moss’s big day
On the positive side, on Thanksgiving Day in 1998, the Dallas Cowboys held Vikings rookie wide receiver Randy Moss to three catches.
On the flip side, those three catches went for 51, 56 and 56 yards and each resulted in a touchdown catch from Randall Cunningham. That’s three receptions for 163 yards and three TDs.
The Vikings would win 46-36 to put their record at 11-1.
They would finish 15-1 and beat Arizona 41-21 in the Division Round of the playoffs but lose the NFC Championship Game to Atlanta at the Metrodome 27-24 in overtime.
Last time
The most recent Thanksgiving Day game for the Vikings was in Detroit in 2017.
Minnesota won 30-23 as Case Keenum threw two touchdown passes to Kyle Rudolph and also scored on this first quarter run and the Vikings got festive with their celebration:
Patriots
This marks New England's sixth time playing on Thanksgiving.
The Patriots are 3-2, dropping their first two before winning three straight. They are 2-1 vs. Detroit, 0-1 vs. Dallas and 1-0 vs. the New York Jets.
New England’s most recent appearance featured one of the more infamous plays in NFL history.
The Butt Fumble.
With almost 80,000 fans at MetLife Stadium and a prime-time television audience of 20 million, New York Jets QB Mark Sanchez took the snap, had what he would describe later as a “mental error” and mistakenly turned to the left to discover that there was no one to receive the handoff.
He scrambled forward toward the line of scrimmage and in an attempt to slide he collided with the butt of his teammate Brandon Moore.
Sanchez was sent backwards and fumbled the ball, which was recovered by the Patriots’ Steve Gregory and returned for a touchdown. The Patriots would win the game 49-19.
Thanksgiving Day results
Minnesota Vikings
Nov. 27, 1969 – Minnesota Vikings 27, Detroit Lions 0
Nov. 26, 1987 – Minnesota Vikings 44, Dallas Cowboys 38 (OT)
Nov. 24, 1988 – Minnesota Vikings 23, Detroit Lions 0
Nov. 23, 1995 – Detroit Lions 44, Minnesota Vikings 38
Nov. 26, 1998 – Minnesota Vikings 46, Dallas Cowboys 36
Nov. 23, 2000 – Minnesota Vikings 27, Dallas Cowboys 15
Nov. 24, 2016 – Detroit Lions 16, Minnesota Vikings 13
Nov. 23, 2017 – Minnesota Vikings 30, Detroit Lions 23
Nov. 24, 2022 – New England Patriots at Minnesota Vikings
New England Patriots
Nov. 22, 1984 – Dallas Cowboys 20, New England Patriots 17
Nov. 23, 2000 – Detroit Lions 34, New England Patriots 9
Nov. 28, 2002 – New England Patriots 20, Detroit Lions 12
Nov. 25, 2010 – New England Patriots 45, Detroit Lions 24
Nov. 22, 2012 – New England Patriots 49, New York Jets 19
Nov. 24, 2022 – New England Patriots at Minnesota Vikings