Minnesota Vikings Use NFL London Momentum to Power Super Bowl LIX Bid

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The NFL International Series has been bringing elite American football action to London every year since 2007.

Fans of the sport travel to the capital from around the UK to experience the action first hand. Of the three NFL London games played in 2024, it’s Minnesota Vikings’ 23-17 triumph over the New York Jets that most caught the eye.

The Vikings haven’t played in the Super Bowl since 1976, so can they use their London victory as a springboard to end nearly 50 years in the doldrums?

Long Time Coming

Despite such a lengthy hiatus from the NFL’s Championship game, pundits and punters are still showing Minnesota plenty of support.

Those betting on the Super Bowl can avail themselves of odds of 16/1 on the Vikings to win, which is considerably shorter than the 100/1 that was available before the season.

The NFL odds still favour the likes of the Detroit Lions (11/4), Kansas City Chiefs (11/2) and Philadelphia Eagles (5/1), but the shortening of the Viking’s price is indicative of just how good they’ve been this season so far.

At the time of writing, Kevin O’Connell’s men have racked up nine wins from eleven games, with quarterback Sam Darnold thriving, having contributed to 21 touchdown plays so far in 2024-25.

The fleet-footed Justin Jefferson currently ranks within the top stars of the entire NFL for receiving yards gained, so there’s plenty of attacking class within the Vikings’ ranks.

London Calling

Minnesota had four consecutive wins before their trip to London to take on the Jets, and the Vikings were in no mood to take their foot off the gas at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. They rushed into a 17-0 lead courtesy of touchdowns from Andrew Van Ginkel and C.J. Ham.

New York would battle their way back into the contest at 10-17, but a couple of field goals ensured Minnesota retained their lead, before eventually running out 23-17 winners in the first game of the NFL London series in October.

They lost 16-35 to the Chicago Bears in their first outing at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, before switching to Wembley to tackle the New England Patriots; there, they would celebrate a 32-16 victory.

NFL London is such a well-supported event, with 61,000 people cramming into Tottenham’s ground for the first two games of 2024, before a mammoth 86,600 headed to Wembley Stadium for the Jaguars vs Patriots.

However, it was the Vikings that no doubt won plenty of new fans from their London excursion, so there will be plenty of support for Minnesota ahead of a long-awaited bid for the Super Bowl.