In 2003, it was a December loss that helped turn a 6-0 start into a missed playoff berth. In 2009, a Monday night defeat cost Brad Childress and Brett Favre a shot at home-field advantage.
Adrian Peterson missed the bus to the stadium before a blowout loss in 2012, and chaos reigned in the first of five last-minute losses for the 2013 team. A game clock malfunction led Teddy Bridgewater to throw an end-zone interception — on a pass he believed was a last-second Hail Mary — with 42 seconds left in 2014. Norv Turner resigned as offensive coordinator the day after the 2016 game, the groundwork for John DeFilippo's ouster was laid in 2018, and Stefon Diggs skipped two days of practices and meetings after the Vikings scored six points last year.
Since the dawn of the 21st century, there have been few constants as pernicious for the Vikings as a L in the state of Illinois. The Vikings' first road game of the new millennium — on Sept. 23, 2001 — was a loss at Soldier Field. When the Bears played home games at the University of Illinois in 2002 while their home stadium was under renovations, the Vikings lost there, too.
In the 18 games the Vikings have played this century in Soldier Field — a building where they'd won five in a row from 1996 to 2000 — they are 3-15.
In some ways, that makes Monday's game between the resurgent Vikings and the reeling Bears a perfect opportunity to change all that.
The concept of home-field advantage had been diminished by oddsmakers in recent years by things such as more efficient travel, improved on-field communication through headsets and online ticket exchanges that make for bipartisan crowds — not to mention the NFL's challenge system, which allows coaches to offset some of a vociferous fanbase's effect on officials. Home teams won only 52% of the time last year, down from just over 60% in 2018 and the league's lowest rate since 2006.
This year, the coronavirus pandemic has effectively wiped out home-field advantage.
Road teams are 67-65-1 this season, winning at a higher rate than at any point since the NFL expanded to 32 teams in 2002. With games either being played in empty stadiums or before a smattering of fans, road quarterbacks are able to effectively communicate and bait opposing defenses with hard counts (as the Vikings saw the Packers' Aaron Rodgers do in Week 1). Defensive linemen have also lost the split-second advantage that might come from road offensive linemen hesitating slightly to make sure they hear the snap count, further creating a comfortable environment for offenses on the road.