As many people prepare to stay indoors for the foreseeable future, the NFL has made the decision to make NFL Game Pass available for free until May 31.
NFL Game Pass is traditionally offered to football fans at $100 per year. The service includes game replays from the past 11 seasons — going back to 2009 — and NFL original shows such as RedZone and Hard Knocks.
Click here to subscribe for free through May 31.
With the status of the NFL Draft — and perhaps the entire 2020 NFL season — hanging the balance, this is a nice distraction for football fans during some challenging times.
Click here to read the other list with Nos. 5-1.
Vikings fans can now watch some of the team’s best wins from the past 11 years and relive some of their favorite moments rooting for the purple and gold.
Below are Nos. 6-10 on my list of the top-10 Vikings games that fans should re-watch using NFL Game Pass.
10. Vikings vs. Eagles — week 16, 2010
Nearly every part of the 2010 season sucked. It was terrible. Minnesota had Super Bowl aspirations following 12-4 season that almost resulted in an NFC Championship. Everything that could have gone wrong did. Not even the stadium could stand it.
That’s right — this game was 16 days after the Metrodome roof collapsed for the fifth time in building history.
But Minnesota’s Week 16 game at Philadelphia represents one of my favorite moments as a fan. First of all, due to a massive snowstorm that hit the Philadelphia area on Sunday, the game was played on a Tuesday — the first Tuesday NFL game since 1946.
It was also Joe Webb‘s first start as an NFL quarterback — and the second missed game in the last three since the end of Brett Favre‘s 297-game iron-man streak. The situation couldn’t have been much more difficult. His team was 5-9 and realistically had nothing to play for. Meanwhile, the Eagles were 10-4 and playing for playoff positioning, perhaps a first-round bye.
The Vikings were severe underdogs, but it didn’t matter. Minnesota’s defense forced three Michael Vick turnovers, one of which was returned 45 yards for a touchdown by Antoine Winfield. Webb played mistake-free football and delivered an electric nine-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter. The Vikings came out on top 24-14 in one of the most surprising results of the entire NFL season.
This game represented a bright spot in an otherwise dark 2010 season for all Vikings fans.
9. Vikings vs. Packers — Week 2, 2016
The first five games of the 2016 season were pretty cool. But this game is my favorite, and it’s not particularly close. It was the first regular-season game played at U.S. Bank Stadium. And, of course, it was against the Green Bay Packers.
The last thing any Vikings fan wanted was for Packers fans to say their team won the first game at U.S. Bank Stadium. This meant more than just your standard Week 2 game.
This was also Sam Bradford‘s first game as a Viking, and it may have been his best. He hit throw after throw while protection broke down around him. He simply could not miss. This man had been on the roster for about 34 minutes, and he absolutely picked apart the Packers in a crucial divisional game on national television.
We cannot forget about Trae Waynes and his game-sealing interception with under two minutes to go. Aaron Rodgers and the Packers targeted him all game, a tactic that was successful more times than not. But Waynes got the last laugh as he blanketed Davante Adams to seal the 17-14 win and move the Vikings to 2-0.
8. Vikings vs. Packers — Week 17, 2012
Many of us like to joke about Christian Ponder from time to time, but you got to give him credit where it’s due — he showed up when it mattered in this game. The Vikings were in a win-and-in situation against the high-powered Packers. Ponder had struggled most of the season, but Minnesota was still in position to make the playoffs.
The big story here, however, is Adrian Peterson. He capped his historic season with a 199-yard performance that included two touchdowns. Peterson ultimately came up nine yards short of breaking Eric Dickerson‘s single-season rushing record.
Even more impressive might be his 26-yard run that set up the game-winning field goal. Instead of throwing, the Vikings handed off to Peterson with 24 seconds remaining from the 37-yard line, and he ripped off a 26-yard run that set up a short kick that Blair Walsh drilled to send the Vikings to playoffs by a 37-34 score.
This was the day that the Vikings, quarterbacked by Ponder, won a shootout against prime Aaron Rodgers.
7. Vikings vs. Packers — Week 4, 2009
It shouldn’t be a surprise that this list will include several games from the 2009 season. Everything about that season was magical — well, almost everything. In Week 4, the Vikings hosted the Packers as Favre played against his former team for the first time on Monday Night Football.
Favre played a near-flawless game, throwing three touchdowns and zero interceptions en route to a 30-23 win. I was not in the Metrodome for this game, but I imagine the atmosphere in that building was on another level.
Jared Allen, by the way, was completely unstoppable in this game. He recorded 4.5 sacks, one of which was a safety. Allen assembled some spectacular performances in his Vikings career, but this one might be the best. Allen and Favre led Minnesota to a 4-0 record with the win, and Vikings fans got the sense that 2009 was about to be special.
6. Vikings vs. Packers — Week 8, 2009
I don’t think I’ve ever been more hyped for a Vikings game than I was on Nov. 1, 2009. The Vikings took a 6-1 record to Lambeau Field to play the Packers. It was Brett Favre’s first time back at Lambeau as an opponent, and he was met with thundering boos when he took the field.
The crowd’s behavior made his performance that much more fun. Favre threw four touchdowns and no interceptions, leading the Vikings to a 38-26 win at the stadium where he built his legacy as a Packer.
For a few months, the Vikings-Packers rivalry felt like the biggest rivalry in all of sports. It was nice for the Vikings to come out on top in both of their matchups in the 2009 season.
