History Says Vikings May Be Domed to Fail

The Minnesota Vikings really tempted fate when they lost their final three games of the regular season. A victory in any one of them would have secured home-field advantage at the Metrodome throughout the NFC playoffs.

Instead, the Vikings must play the conference championship on the road at Giants Stadium.

Here’s an ominous statistic: No team that plays its home games in a dome has ever won a conference championship game on the road at an open-air stadium. The dome teams are 0-7. The only dome team to win a championship game on the road was the 1998 Atlanta Falcons--who beat the Vikings in the Metrodome.

Of course, that the outdoor team had home-field advantage is a reflection of their better record during the regular season and an indication that they were the better team anyway. But visiting teams have managed to win the conference championship game 10 times since 1985, which makes dome teams’ futility more striking.

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One thing that might help the Vikings end the streak: Sunday’s weather is expected to be quite tolerable, with temperatures in the 40s and no precipitation forecast.

“I think the weather is going to be good,” Giant Coach Jim Fassel said. “I think the field is in good shape. It’s going to be like any field in January in New York or cold weather; it’s going to be, to a degree, frozen.”