1980 Minnesota Vikings season

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox NFL team season The 1980 season was the Minnesota Vikings' 20th in the National Football League and their 14th under head coach Bud Grant. The Vikings improved on their 7–9 record from last year with a 9–7 record, equal to that of the Detroit Lions, but won the NFC Central division title on the tiebreaker. In the Divisional Playoffs the Vikings lost to the Philadelphia Eagles 31–16.

The most dramatic game of the season came in a Week 15 home game against Cleveland, with Minnesota at 8–6. The Vikings trailed 23–9 early in the fourth quarter, but with five seconds left in regulation, despite missing two field goals and two extra points in the game, they were on the Cleveland 46-yard line having reduced the Browns' lead to one point. Quarterback Tommy Kramer threw a Hail Mary pass that Ahmad Rashad caught at the 2-yard line before backing into the end zone to give Minnesota a 28–23 win.

Offseason

1980 draft

colspan="6" style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| 1980 Minnesota Vikings Draft
colspan="2" style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Draft order	rowspan="2" style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Player name	rowspan="2" style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Position	rowspan="2" style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| College	rowspan="2" style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Notes
style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Round	style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Selection
1	9	Doug Martin	Defensive tackle	Washington
2	30	Willie Teal	Cornerback	LSU	From 49ersTemplate:Efn-ua
	39	Traded to the San Francisco 49ersTemplate:Efn-ua
3	65	Traded to the San Francisco 49ersTemplate:Efn-ua
	68	Brent Boyd	Center	UCLA	From SaintsTemplate:Efn-ua
4	92	Dennis Johnson	Linebacker	USC
5	121	Doug Paschal	Running back	North Carolina
	122	Paul Jones	Running back	California	From SaintsTemplate:Efn-ua
6	148	Ray Yakavonis	Defensive end	East Stroudsburg
7	174	Henry Johnson	Linebacker	Georgia Tech
8	204	Traded to the Seattle SeahawksTemplate:Efn-ua
9	232	Dennis Mosley	Running back	Iowa	In lieu of #231 (passed)Template:Efn-ua
10	258	Kenny Brown	Wide receiver	Nebraska
11	288	Sam Harrell	Running back	East Carolina
12	315	Thomas Lane	Defensive back	Florida A&M

Notes Template:Notelist-ua

Preseason

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	August 9	San Diego Chargers	W 21–17	1–0	Metropolitan Stadium	45,179
2	August 18	at Kansas City Chiefs	L 10–14	1–1	Arrowhead Stadium	39,879
3	August 23	at Miami Dolphins	W 17–10	2–1	Miami Orange Bowl	36,116
4	August 30	Cleveland Browns	W 38–16	3–1	Metropolitan Stadium	47,262

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	September 7	Atlanta Falcons	W 24–23	1–0	Metropolitan Stadium	44,773
2	September 14	Philadelphia Eagles	L 7–42	1–1	Metropolitan Stadium	46,460
3	September 21	at Chicago Bears	W 34–14	2–1	Soldier Field	59,983
4	September 28	at Detroit Lions	L 7–27	2–2	Silverdome	80,291
5	October 5	Pittsburgh Steelers	L 17–23	2–3	Metropolitan Stadium	47,583
6	October 12	Chicago Bears	W 13–7	3–3	Metropolitan Stadium	46,751
7	October 19	at Cincinnati Bengals	L 0–14	3–4	Riverfront Stadium	44,487
8	October 26	at Green Bay Packers	L 3–16	3–5	Lambeau Field	56,191
9	November 2	at Washington Redskins	W 39–14	4–5	Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium	52,060
10	November 9	Detroit Lions	W 34–0	5–5	Metropolitan Stadium	46,264
11	November 16	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	W 38–30	6–5	Metropolitan Stadium	46,032
12	November 23	Green Bay Packers	L 13–25	6–6	Metropolitan Stadium	47,234
13	November 30	at New Orleans Saints	W 23–20	7–6	Louisiana Superdome	30,936
14	December 7	at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	W 21–10	8–6	Tampa Stadium	65,649
15	December 14	Cleveland Browns	W 28–23	9–6	Metropolitan Stadium	42,202
16	December 21	at Houston Oilers	L 16–20	9–7	Astrodome	51,064

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 15: vs Cleveland Browns

Week 15: Cleveland Browns at Minnesota Vikings – Game summary

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Browns	7	6	3	7	23
Vikings	0	0	9	19	28

at Metropolitan Stadium, Bloomington, Minnesota

• Date: December 14, 1980
• Game time: 12:00 p.m. CST
• Game weather:
• Referee: Ben Dreith
• TV announcers (NBC): Charlie Jones and Len Dawson

Game information

First quarter CLE – Calvin Hill 18-yard pass from Brian Sipe (Don Cockroft kick). Browns 7–0. Second quarter CLE – Brian Sipe 2-yard run (kick failed). Browns 13–0. Third quarter MIN – Joe Senser 31-yard pass from Tommy Kramer (kick failed). Browns 13–6. CLE – Don Cockroft 32-yard field goal. Browns 16–6. MIN – Rick Danmeier 24-yard field goal. Browns 16–9. Fourth quarter CLE – Cleo Miller 1-yard run (Don Cockroft kick). Browns 23–9. MIN – Ted Brown 7-yard pass from Tommy Kramer (kick failed). Browns 23–15. MIN – Ahmad Rashad 12-yard pass from Tommy Kramer (Rick Danmeier kick). Browns 23–22. MIN – Ahmad Rashad 46-yard pass from Tommy Kramer (kick failed). Vikings 28–23.

Trailing 23–9 entering the fourth quarter the Vikings came back and won on a desperation Hail Mary pass from quarterback Tommy Kramer to wide receiver Ahmad Rashad to clinch the NFC Central Division title in what became known as the "Miracle at the Met".

Postseason

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Venue	Attendance
Divisional	January 3	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 16–31	Veterans Stadium	68,434

Statistics

Team leaders

width=150px style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Category	width=150px style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Player(s)	width=75px style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Value
Passing yards	Tommy Kramer	3,582
Passing touchdowns	Tommy Kramer	19
Rushing yards	Ted Brown	912
Rushing touchdowns	Ted Brown	8
Receiving yards	Ahmad Rashad	1,095
Receiving touchdowns	Joe Senser	7
Points	Rick Danmeier	81
Kickoff return yards	Eddie Payton	1,184
Punt return yards	Eddie Payton	251
Interceptions	John Turner	6

League rankings

width=150px style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Category	width=100px style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Total yards	width=110px style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| Yards per game	width=80px style="Template:NFLPrimaryStyle"| NFL rank (out of 28)
Passing offense	3,688	230.5	3rd
Rushing offense	1,642	102.6	27th
Total offense	5,330	333.1	11th
Passing defense	3,400	212.5	24th
Rushing defense	2,456	153.5	25th
Total defense	5,856	366.0	26th