The Detroit Lions, the Chicago Bears, the Green Bay Packers and the Vikings have been in the same division since Minnesota was placed in the NFL West as an expansion team in 1961.
The Vikings have been a successful regular season franchise, and a tidy share of that can be traced to two games per season vs. Detroit. The Vikings are 78-39-2 all-time vs. the Lions, in contrast to 61-57-2 vs. the Bears and 55-63-3 vs. the Packers.
Bud Grant's road to the NFL Hall of Fame would have been more difficult without a 26-8-1 record vs.