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EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — The 2016 NFL schedule is offering Vikings fans ample reasons to celebrate on holidays this year.
The season schedule was released Thursday, and the Vikings are slated to play games on Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and New Year's Day – all against NFC North division rivals.
On Nov. 24, the Vikings will face the Lions in Detroit for an 11:30 a.m. (CT) kickoff. The game will mark Minnesota's seventh Thanksgiving game, the most recent being at Dallas on Nov. 23, 2000.
"The good thing is that it's a division team," Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer said upon the schedule release. "We kind of know them, and they kind of know us. It's a short trip for us, so we're looking forward to that as well."
The Vikings have totaled 205 points and boast an overall record of 5-1 in Thanksgiving matchups, their lone loss coming to Detroit in 1995. Of their three games against the NFC North division rivals, the Vikings have held the Lions scoreless twice. Below is a list of Minnesota's Thanksgiving Day history:
Nov. 27, 1969 | Vikings 27, Lions 0 | W
Nov. 26, 1987 | Vikings 44, Cowboys 38 | W (OT)
Nov. 24, 1988 | Vikings 23, Lions 0 | W
Nov. 23, 1995 | Vikings 38, Lions 44 | L
Nov. 26, 1998 | Vikings 46, Cowboys 36 | W
Nov. 23, 2000 | Vikings 27, Cowboys 15 | W
It's been almost two decades since the Vikings have made an appearance on Turkey Day, but their **reputation stands on its own** in the holiday games. In Minnesota's past two Thanksgiving games, 1998 and 2000, former wide receiver Randy Moss combined for five receiving touchdowns and totaled 307 yards off of only 10 catches.
The 1998 game was all-around one for the books. Minnesota recorded six touchdowns that afternoon in Dallas, five of them on plays of 50-plus yards. Moss recorded a 51-yard catch followed by two 56-yarders, running back Leroy Hoard posted 12-yard and 50-yard touchdown runs, and quarterback Randall Cunningham connected with receiver Cris Carter for a 54-yard touchdown.
Minnesota has an overall series record of 71-36-2 against Detroit. The Vikings swept the Lions during the 2015 regular season, and they'll look to keep their Thanksgiving game reputation alive when they face Detroit Week 12.
"You know that everybody in the world is going to be watching you," Zimmer said. "It's always a fun thing."
View photos through the years of the Vikings on Thanksgiving.
Hoping to scare the Bears
The Vikings will travel to Chicago to face the NFC North division rival Bears in a Halloween edition of Monday Night Football. Minnesota will try to spook the Bears and come away with a win in the teams' first meeting of the season.
Throughout team history, the Vikings are 3-4 in Halloween games. This will not be their first Halloween showdown with the Bears, as the two teams met on Oct. 31, 1976. The Vikings lost to the Bears by a single point before winning five of their next six regular-season games and making it to Super Bowl XI that season under legendary Head Coach Bud Grant.
This year will mark the Vikings first Monday night Halloween game but second prime time Halloween game.
1965 | Vikings 27, Browns 17 | W
1971 | Vikings 17, Giants 10 | W
1976 | Vikings 13, Bears 14 | L
1993 | Vikings 27, Lions 30 | L
1999 | Vikings 23, Broncos 20 | W
2004 | Vikings 13, Giants 34 | L
2010 | Vikings 18, Patriots 28 | L
Minnesota has an overall series record of 57-51-2 against the Bears and will look for a fourth consecutive win. Soldier Field has historically been a scary place for the Vikings, but last season they defeated the Bears 23-20 for the team's first win in Chicago since 2007, snapping a seven-game losing streak.
View images of the Vikings opponents after the 2016 schedule was released on Thursday.
Marcus Mariota threw 19 touchdowns for the Titans in 12 games played as a rookie in 2015.
Tennessee's defensive unit ranked 12th in the NFL with 39.0 sacks last season.
The Titans hired former Vikings tight end Mike Mularkey as the team's head coach in January of the offseason.
Clay Matthews recorded 6.5 sacks and one interception in 2015.
Eddie Lacy ran for 100 yards on 22 carries against the Vikings in Minnesota last year.
Mike McCarthy is 49 games over .500 (104-55-1) in 10 seasons as an NFL head coach.
Josh Norman had four interceptions and three forced fumbles in 2015.
Cam Newton won his first NFL MVP award in 2015 and threw for 35 touchdowns and 3,837 yards.
Ron Rivera has led the Panthers to a 47-32-1 record in five seasons as Carolina's head coach.
Eli Manning threw for a career-high 35 touchdowns in 2015.
The Giants defense ranked last in the NFL, allowing a total of 6,725 yards to opponents.
Ben McAdoo was hired as the Giants 17th head coach in January after working as the team's offensive coordinator for the past two seasons.
J.J. Watt has won the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year honor three of the past four seasons.
DeAndre Hopkins was third in the NFL in receiving yards last season (1,521), trailing Antonio Brown and Julio Jones.
Bill O'Brien has led Houston to two 9-7 seasons since taking over as head coach in 2014.
Sam Bradford was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft.
Malcolm Jenkins led Philadelphia with 109 tackles (90 solo), according to NFL.com.
Doug Pederson enters his first season as the head coach of the Eagles. Pederson spent two stints with Green Bay (1996-98 and 2001-04) as a backup to Brett Favre.
Pernell McPhee had 53 tackles, 6.0 sacks, one forced fumble and one interception last season.
Alshon Jeffery had four receiving touchdowns in 2015 after compiling 17 collectively in the previous two seasons.
The Vikings won at Soldier Field for the first time since 2007 last season.
Matt Stafford had a career-high 67.2 completion percentage in 2015.
Detroit's scoring defense ranked 23rd in the NFL last season, allowing 400 total points to opponents.
Jim Caldwell holds an 18-14 overall record as the Lions head coach.
Kirk Cousins compiled a 101.6 passer rating and threw for 4,166 yards in his first full season as a starter for the Redskins.
Jay Gruden led Washington to the playoffs with a 9-7 record in his second season as head coach.
DeAngelo Hall enters his 13 season in the NFL and his eighth year with the Redskins as the league's active leader with 43 career interceptions.
Tyrann Mathieu returns for his fourth season with the Cardinals after tearing his right ACL in December.
Carson Palmer is 16th on the all-time passing touchdown list (259).
Bruce Arians holds a 34-14 regular season record in three seasons as the head coach of Arizona.
Theo Riddick had five receptions for 41 yards against the Vikings in September.
Golden Tate led the Lions with 90 receptions last season. He totaled 813 yards and six receiving touchdowns.
The Vikings came back from a 14-3 deficit to win 28-19 at Ford Field last season.
The Cowboys defense finished last in the NFL in turnover margin last season (minus-22) with 11 takeaways against 33 giveaways by the offense.
Jason Garrett led Dallas to a 12-4 record in 2014, followed by a 4-12 record last season.
Dez Bryant had 16 touchdowns and 1,320 receiving yards in his last full season played in 2014.
Allen Hurns caught 10 touchdowns and had 1,031 receiving yards in his second season with the Jaguars.
The Jaguars defense placed 31st in the NFL, allowing 28.0 points per game by opponents in 2015.
Gus Bradley is 12-36 in three seasons as the Jaguars head coach.
Andrew Luck battled injuries in 2015 and started seven games for the Colts.
Chuck Pagano was 11-5 in his first three years as the head coach of Indianapolis. Last year he led the Colts to an 8-8 record.
The Indianapolis scoring defense was 25th in the NFL in 2015, allowing 25.5 points per game.
Aaron Rodgers had a career-high 572 attempts in 2015, throwing for 3,821 yards and 31 touchdowns.
Julius Peppers is the active leader with 136.0 sacks in the NFL.
The last time the Vikings played at Lambeau Field, Minnesota was crowned as the 2015 NFC North champion.
Jay Cutler compiled the best passer rating (92.3) of his career in 2015.
Tracy Porter had an interception and a forced fumble in the Bears secondary last season.
John Fox enters his second season as the Bears head coach.
Looking to unwrap a win
Minnesota is scheduled to face the Packers at noon (CT) on Christmas Eve for the teams' second matchup of the season.
The Vikings are 1-2 on Dec. 24. Their first Christmas Eve game occurred in 1995. Minnesota lost to Cincinnati in the final game of an 8-8 regular season. Minnesota's yuletide game log is as follows:
1995 | Vikings 24, Bengals 27 | L
2000 | Vikings 10, Colts 31 | L
2011 | Vikings 33, Redskins 26 | W
Although the Vikings won their last Christmas Eve game, it didn't leave much else to celebrate for running back Adrian Peterson, who tore his ACL against the Redskins. True to form, however, he returned from surgery for a comeback 2012 season.
After dethroning the Packers to take the NFC North division title in 2015's last regular-season game, the Vikings have an overall series record of 50-59-2 against Green Bay. Their first matchup of the 2016 season will be Minnesota's home opener on Sept. 18.
New Year's resolution
Minnesota will kick off 2017 while wrapping up the 2016 regular season by hosting Chicago.
The Vikings are 1-4 in New Year's Day games, including three postseason losses. Interestingly, 2016 will mark the fourth time for Chicago and Minnesota to face off on New Year's Day. Most recently, the two teams played the final game of the 2011 season on Jan. 1, 2012, but Jared Allen recorded his franchise-record 22nd sack of the season. The complete list of Minnesota's New Year's Day games is below:
1978 | Vikings 6, Cowboys 23 | L, NFC Championship Game
1989 | Vikings 9, 49ers 34 | L, NFC Divisional Playoff Game
1995 | Vikings 18, Chicago 35 | L, NFC Playoffs, First Round
2006 | Vikings 34, Bears 10 | W
2011 | Vikings 13, Bears 17 | L
