2010 Minnesota Vikings season

2010 Minnesota Vikings season
2010 Minnesota Vikings season
	Vikings 50th season logo
Owner	Zygi Wilf
Head coach	Leslie Frazier (interim); Brad Childress (fired on November 22; 3–7 record)
Home field	Mall of America Field at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome;; Ford Field (Week 14);; TCF Bank Stadium (Week 15)
Results
Record	6–10
Division place	4th NFC North
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
Pro Bowlers	4 RB Adrian Peterson (bench); DT Kevin Williams (withdrew); CB Antoine Winfield; LB E. J. Henderson (did not play);
AP All-Pros	RB Adrian Peterson (2nd team)
Uniform
	← 2009; Vikings seasons; 2011 →;

The 2010 season was the Minnesota Vikings' 50th in the National Football League (NFL), and the fifth and final under head coach Brad Childress. After a loss to the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship ended their 2009 season, the Vikings had hoped to defend their NFC North division title for the third year in a row and contend again for a Super Bowl championship. However, Brett Favre was unable to recover from the injuries he had sustained in the NFC Championship and turned in abysmal performances for most of the season, being forced to sit out three games due to injuries and breaking his consecutive start record at 297 games since September 1992. After the Vikings fell to a 3–7 record with a 31–3 division loss to the Green Bay Packers in week 11, Childress was fired and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier was named as his interim replacement, going 3–3 in his six games in charge before taking over the job permanently at the end of the season. The team finished 6–10 and ended up in last place in the division for the first time since 1990. The Vikings also missed the playoffs for the first time since 2007.

This season also saw the return of star wide receiver Randy Moss, as the Vikings traded a third-round draft pick to the New England Patriots in exchange for Moss and a 2012 seventh-round selection. Although it was his first time back with the Vikings since 2004, Moss was waived after only a month in Minnesota, before being claimed off waivers by the Tennessee Titans, where he played the remainder of the season before retiring at the end of the season. It was also quarterback Brett Favre's 20th and final season in the NFL; Favre had started 321 straight games from 1992 to 2010, and retired as the all-time leader in consecutive starts made by a quarterback. Favre was also the last remaining active player to win a Super Bowl in the 1990s, having led the Packers to their third Super Bowl title in 1997.

Further woes befell the team when wide receiver Percy Harvin missed two games due to persistent migraine headaches. On December 12, the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome's inflatable roof collapsed for the first time since 1986 after a heavy snowfall. As a consequence, the Vikings had to play that week's game against the Giants at Detroit's Ford Field on Monday night. Since the Metrodome's roof could not be repaired in time, the team was forced to play the Bears in Week 15 at TCF Bank Stadium for their first outdoor home game since 1981.