The
2012 season was the
Minnesota Vikings' 52nd in the
National Football League (NFL), as well as their second full season under head coach
Leslie Frazier. They looked to improve upon their 3–13 season the year before, and did so after defeating the
Tennessee Titans in Week 5; their win over the
Houston Texans in Week 16 made this their first winning season since
2009. The Vikings also made the playoffs for the first time since 2009 with a Week 17 win over the
Green Bay Packers to give them a 10–6 regular season record, but were defeated by the same opponents in the Wild Card playoff round the following week.
Adrian Peterson was named the league's
Most Valuable Player after rushing for 2,097 yards, just nine yards short of breaking the single-season record held by
Eric Dickerson since
1984.
As of 2023, the only player from the 2012 squad still with the Vikings is safety
Harrison Smith.
Offseason
Adrian Peterson rushed to a new career franchise record against Jacksonville in week 1, overtaking
Robert Smith's 6,818 rushing yards
Pre-draft transactions
The first major transactions of the 2012 offseason were the releases of veteran guards
Steve Hutchinson and
Anthony Herrera, and CB
Cedric Griffin on March 10, as the Vikings began rebuilding their offensive line and secondary. Three days later, the team re-signed perennial backup QB
Sage Rosenfels and DT
Letroy Guion off their unrestricted free agents list. This was followed up with the signing of the
Seattle Seahawks' unrestricted free agent TE
John Carlson on a five-year contract.
April saw very few transactions go through in anticipation of the
2012 NFL draft at the end of the month. Nevertheless, the Vikings signed LB
Marvin Mitchell and WR
Jerome Simpson, despite the fact that Simpson would miss the first three games of the season for a violation of the NFL's substance abuse policy.
^[a]Cleveland traded their first-round selection (4th overall), fourth-round selection (118th overall), fifth-round selection (139th overall), and seventh-round selection (211th overall) to move up one spot to the third overall selection and draft RB
Trent Richardson.
^[b] Minnesota traded their second-round selection (35th overall) and fourth-round selection (98th overall) to
Baltimore to move up six spots to 29th overall selection and make this pick.
^[d]Detroit traded their seventh-round selection (219th overall) and
2013 fourth-round selection (102nd overall) to Minnesota for their fifth-round selection (138th overall) and the seventh-round selection (223rd overall) that they received from
New England in the trade for
Randy Moss in 2010.
^[g]Tennessee traded their
2013 sixth-round selection (176th overall) to Minnesota for the seventh-round selection (211th overall) that they received in the first-round trade with Cleveland.[a] Minnesota later traded the pick they received from Tennessee to the Arizona Cardinals in exchange for a seventh-round pick and CB
A. J. Jefferson.
Post-draft transactions
With the 2012 Draft over, the Vikings resumed their transactions in May, signing a number of undrafted free agents to their roster, and releasing RB
Caleb King, following a short jail term. With the drafting of
Blair Walsh, veteran kicker
Ryan Longwell found himself surplus to requirements for the Vikings and he was released on May 7. By the start of June, all of the Vikings draft selections (with the exception of T
Matt Kalil) had been signed to long-term contracts.
Preseason
Schedule
This was the first year the Vikings used a TV/radio simulcast for their preseason games.
Adrian Peterson rushed for 199 yards, coming up nine yards short of breaking the single season record by
Eric Dickerson. This included five rushes for 36 yards on the final drive to set up the winning field goal by Blair Walsh. This game was rated #3 on the Top 20 NFL Games of 2012 on NFL.com as AP2K.[9]
Having secured the NFC's #6 seed, the Vikings traveled to Lambeau Field for a rematch with the Packers. With the two teams meeting in the playoffs for only the second time ever, Blair Walsh capped the game's opening drive with a field goal to put the Vikings 3–0 up. However, the Packers then scored 24 unanswered points to take a 24–3 lead in the 3rd quarter. The Vikings tried to rally a comeback with a touchdown to make it 24–10, but it was too little, too late as time ran out for Minnesota.
Four Minnesota Vikings players were selected for the
2013 Pro Bowl: two on offense (running back partners Adrian Peterson and Jerome Felton), one on defense (DE Jared Allen) and one special teamer (K Blair Walsh). Of these, Peterson, Felton and Walsh were selected as starters, with Allen going as a reserve.[10]
The
2012 season was the
Minnesota Vikings' 52nd in the
National Football League (NFL), as well as their second full season under head coach
Leslie Frazier. They looked to improve upon their 3–13 season the year before, and did so after defeating the
Tennessee Titans in Week 5; their win over the
Houston Texans in Week 16 made this their first winning season since
2009. The Vikings also made the playoffs for the first time since 2009 with a Week 17 win over the
Green Bay Packers to give them a 10–6 regular season record, but were defeated by the same opponents in the Wild Card playoff round the following week.
Adrian Peterson was named the league's
Most Valuable Player after rushing for 2,097 yards, just nine yards short of breaking the single-season record held by
Eric Dickerson since
1984.
As of 2023, the only player from the 2012 squad still with the Vikings is safety
Harrison Smith.
Offseason
Adrian Peterson rushed to a new career franchise record against Jacksonville in week 1, overtaking
Robert Smith's 6,818 rushing yards
Pre-draft transactions
The first major transactions of the 2012 offseason were the releases of veteran guards
Steve Hutchinson and
Anthony Herrera, and CB
Cedric Griffin on March 10, as the Vikings began rebuilding their offensive line and secondary. Three days later, the team re-signed perennial backup QB
Sage Rosenfels and DT
Letroy Guion off their unrestricted free agents list. This was followed up with the signing of the
Seattle Seahawks' unrestricted free agent TE
John Carlson on a five-year contract.
April saw very few transactions go through in anticipation of the
2012 NFL draft at the end of the month. Nevertheless, the Vikings signed LB
Marvin Mitchell and WR
Jerome Simpson, despite the fact that Simpson would miss the first three games of the season for a violation of the NFL's substance abuse policy.
^[a]Cleveland traded their first-round selection (4th overall), fourth-round selection (118th overall), fifth-round selection (139th overall), and seventh-round selection (211th overall) to move up one spot to the third overall selection and draft RB
Trent Richardson.
^[b] Minnesota traded their second-round selection (35th overall) and fourth-round selection (98th overall) to
Baltimore to move up six spots to 29th overall selection and make this pick.
^[d]Detroit traded their seventh-round selection (219th overall) and
2013 fourth-round selection (102nd overall) to Minnesota for their fifth-round selection (138th overall) and the seventh-round selection (223rd overall) that they received from
New England in the trade for
Randy Moss in 2010.
^[g]Tennessee traded their
2013 sixth-round selection (176th overall) to Minnesota for the seventh-round selection (211th overall) that they received in the first-round trade with Cleveland.[a] Minnesota later traded the pick they received from Tennessee to the Arizona Cardinals in exchange for a seventh-round pick and CB
A. J. Jefferson.
Post-draft transactions
With the 2012 Draft over, the Vikings resumed their transactions in May, signing a number of undrafted free agents to their roster, and releasing RB
Caleb King, following a short jail term. With the drafting of
Blair Walsh, veteran kicker
Ryan Longwell found himself surplus to requirements for the Vikings and he was released on May 7. By the start of June, all of the Vikings draft selections (with the exception of T
Matt Kalil) had been signed to long-term contracts.
Preseason
Schedule
This was the first year the Vikings used a TV/radio simulcast for their preseason games.
Adrian Peterson rushed for 199 yards, coming up nine yards short of breaking the single season record by
Eric Dickerson. This included five rushes for 36 yards on the final drive to set up the winning field goal by Blair Walsh. This game was rated #3 on the Top 20 NFL Games of 2012 on NFL.com as AP2K.[9]
Having secured the NFC's #6 seed, the Vikings traveled to Lambeau Field for a rematch with the Packers. With the two teams meeting in the playoffs for only the second time ever, Blair Walsh capped the game's opening drive with a field goal to put the Vikings 3–0 up. However, the Packers then scored 24 unanswered points to take a 24–3 lead in the 3rd quarter. The Vikings tried to rally a comeback with a touchdown to make it 24–10, but it was too little, too late as time ran out for Minnesota.
Four Minnesota Vikings players were selected for the
2013 Pro Bowl: two on offense (running back partners Adrian Peterson and Jerome Felton), one on defense (DE Jared Allen) and one special teamer (K Blair Walsh). Of these, Peterson, Felton and Walsh were selected as starters, with Allen going as a reserve.[10]