1987 Minnesota Vikings season

The 1987 season was the 27nd year of season play for the Minnesota Vikings and the 68th regular season of the National Football League. The Vikings finished with a record of eight wins and seven losses. The 1987 strike caused the cancellation of the September 27 game at the Kansas City Chiefs. The games played October 4, 11 and 18 were played with replacement players.

Schedule
Note: The October 18 game against Tampa Bay was originally scheduled to played in Minneapolis. The game was switched with the November 15 game due to Game 2 of the World Series. The game against the Broncos, originally scheduled for Sunday, October 25, was pushed back to Monday because the Metrodome was being used for Game 7 of the World Series.

NFC Wildcard Playoff Game
In the Saints' first playoff game in history, the Vikings dominated the game by recording 2 sacks, forcing 4 turnovers, and allowing only 149 yards.

NFC Divisional Playoff Game
Jerry Rice set a single-season record for the 49ers with 22 touchdown receptions. This was an amazing feat when you consider that he achieved this goal in only 12 regular season contests (due to the players' strike). This record was later broken by Randy Moss in 2007 when he caught 23 touchdown passes in 16 games (originally, Randy played with the Vikings from 1998-2004 and was traded back to Minnesota in 2010)

NFC Championship Game
In a defensive battle, the Redskins played a little better by limiting the Vikings to only 76 rushing yards and forcing 8 sacks. Washington scored first on a 98-yard drive that was capped by running back Kelvin Bryant's 42-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Doug Williams. However, Minnesota tied the game before halftime with quarterback Wade Wilson's 23-yard touchdown pass to Leo Lewis. In the third quarter, Redskins linebacker Mel Kaufman returned an interception 10 yards to the Minnesota 17-yard line to set up kicker Ali Haji-Sheikh's 28-yard field goal. In the final period, Vikings kicker Chuck Nelson made an 18-yard field goal to tie the game, 10-10. The Redskins then marched 70 yards to score on Williams' 7-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Gary Clark to take the lead, 17-10, with 5:06 remaining in the game. Minnesota then advanced to the Washington 6-yard line, but Wilson's fourth down pass, intended for running back Darrin Nelson in the end zone was inexplicably dropped with 52 seconds remaining and the Redskins ran out the clock.