Hey guess what? They let me come back and do another one of these!
Let’s look at the playoff uniform history of the Minnesota Vikings and the Philadelphia Eagles!
1980 NFC Divisional Round – Jan. 3, 1981 – Veterans Stadium
Philadelphia Eagles 31, Minnesota Vikings 16
YouTube was not kind in helping find footage of this game, so maybe it’s for the best that it is not available.
Minnesota gets out to an early 14-0 lead in this one, but turnovers — all eight of them — come back and bite the Vikings in the you-know-what really quickly. Philadelphia outscores the Vikings 24-2 in the second half and gets a matchup with Dallas in the NFC title game the following week.
So yes, Minnesota lost badly. But not as badly as their Week 2 matchup that season where the Eagles came into Met Stadium and demolished the Vikings, 42-7.
Dick Vermeil and the Eagles do go onto the Super Bowl, but suffer defeat at the hands of the Oakland Raiders
This is a great uniform matchup. Minnesota trots out in their classic white uniforms that they wore through the 2005 season, while the Eagles are sporting their incredible kelly green throwbacks that are one of the best in league history.
If this had been a color-on-color matchup, holy moly that would have been incredible.
2004 NFC Divisional Round – Jan. 16, 2005 – Lincoln Financial Field
Philadelphia Eagles 27, Minnesota Vikings 14
Vikings fans were over the moon after beating Green Bay 31-17 in the Wild Card round the week before. But Minnesota ran into the buzzsaw that was the Philadelphia Eagles, who were an NFC-best 13-3 with one of the league’s best offenses.
Even without Terrell Owens, Philadelphia was able to get out to a quick 14-0 lead, and even though Minnesota cut that lead in half shortly after, the game just never felt in reach for the Vikings. Randy Moss — in what would be his final game as a Viking (that time) — was just held to three catches for 51 yards, and neither Michael Bennett or Onterrio Smith were able to get anything going on the ground.
Stop me if you heard this before: Eagles win against Minnesota, go on to in the NFC Championship Game and then lose the Super Bowl.
When 24 years have passed since playoff games, there are bound to be some uniform changes.
Minnesota’s road whites in this have a similar feel as the 1980 game, but the only changes are the addition of the Norseman’s head to the jersey sleeves, making the purple stripes thicker on the pants, and the facemask goes to purple. As noted last week, the Vikings touched up the home jersey before the 1996 season, dumping the double white stripes on the sleeves in favor of just one.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia undergoes a major rebrand prior to the 1996 season. The kelly green uniforms/helmets are done away with and replaced by a midnight green color. The Eagles main logo is given a more bald eagle look to it, and it includes the new midnight green color and black trim as well — which paves the way for a black jersey in 2003. The helmet also reflects the new changes, as the wing has a bit more detail to it over the previous helmets.
This is not a terrible change by Philadelphia by any means. In fact, this is probably one of the better major uniform changes in recent memory. But when that change comes at the expense of the kelly green…
Ugh.
2008 NFC WildCard Round – Jan. 4, 2009 – H.H.H. Metrodome
Philadelphia Eagles 26, Minnesota Vikings 14
For the first time since 2000, the Vikings had won their division and were hosting a playoff game in the Metrodome (RIP). Their starting quarterback in this game was future Super Bowl champion* Tarvaris Jackson, and they also had Adrian Peterson — who had rushed for 1,700 yards that in just his second season in the NFL.
*denotes as a backup
In what would be his last great run with the Eagles, future Vikings quarterback Donovan McNabb was the one who shined brightly by passing for 300 yards and a touchdown. Jackson, in his only postseason start, completed 15 throws on 35 attempts as the Vikings could just not get anything going offensively. David Akers kicked four field goals and sent the Eagles onto the divisional round, where they pulled off another upset of the Giants before losing to Arizona in the conference title game.
No changes here for the Eagles, as they hold virtually the same uniforms from the 2004 meeting.
However, it was the Vikings who underwent a major uniform change this time. Horns on the shoulders/pants, more detail to the horn on the helmet and the script ‘Vikings’ logo on the front of the uniform are the main changes here. It’s not a good look, but the Vikings did bring out the throwback jerseys for all divisional home games. Like the kelly green Eagles jerseys, those would be nice to see again, but don’t hold your breath on it.
2017 NFC Championship Game – Jan. 21, 2018 – Lincoln Financial Field
Minnesota Vikings at Philadelphia Eagles
The Vikings, on the road, in an NFC Championship game.
Somehow, the Vikings are favored on Sunday in the first ever NFC Championship game meeting between these two teams. What makes it strange is that it comes on the road for Minnesota, as you typically see the home team favored.
But when you think about it, it would have been Minnesota at home against Atlanta if the Falcons had a clue on first-and-goal last Saturday. But, the Eagles catch a break and get to host this game on Sunday, where the weather might not be that bad. Anyway, for actual analysis of this game, click here.
Again, no change for the Eagles in terms of uniforms. They are still going strong with the same look, which is now over 20 (!!!) years old.
Minnesota underwent a major jersey overhaul (again) in 2013, as a much simpler look was brought in. White and gold stripes on the sleeves, matte helmets and a new horned number font on the jerseys gives Minnesota a much better look. Also getting dropped were the horns on the pants, as they were replaced with purple and gold stripes. They will more than likely go with the purple pants on Sunday, which is a bit of a throwback to Minnesota’s first years of existence.
Graphics in this post courtesy of Gridiron-Uniforms.com
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