Minnesota sports fans got a rare kind of Sunday: the Vikings, Timberwolves and Wild all won on the same day, only the third time that has happened since 2003.
The last time the trio pulled it off before Sunday was Dec. 14, 2025.
Before that, you have to go all the way back to Dec. 20, 2003.
It was the kind of day that hit just about every corner of the state’s fan base.
The Vikings set the tone with a 16-10 win over the Colts, coming out of the bye week and staying unbeaten at 6-0. The offense still has questions hanging over it, but the defense keeps looking like a wrecking crew. Minnesota sits alone at the top of the NFL standings now as the league’s only undefeated team.
The dominoes kept falling after that. Harrison Smith’s 40th career interception sealed the Vikings’ win, and soon after the 49ers lost to the Falcons, ending their perfect start. Then former Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold helped the Seahawks beat the Chiefs 20-3, which also snapped Kansas City’s undefeated run.
In the NBA, the Timberwolves kept rolling through a blistering start. They followed Friday night’s 115-93 win over the Magic with a 117-94 home-opening rout of the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.
That made it three straight wins by 20 points or more, and the Wolves are 3-0 to start the season. They joined a tiny club in the process, becoming just the third team ever to open with three straight 20-point victories, alongside the 1962-63 Boston Celtics and the 2004-05 Utah Jazz.
The Wild added another piece to the weekend. Quinn Hughes heard the boos all night in Vancouver, but he finished with the upper hand in a 4-2 win over the Canucks. His second-period goal was the 500th point of his NHL career.
That came a day after Minnesota had already beaten the Kraken 5-1 in Seattle. With the two weekend victories, the Wild moved to the top of the Central Division with 18 points and own the best record in the Western Conference through 13 games.
The Gophers may have delivered the biggest shock of the weekend. P.J.
Fleck’s team upset No. 15 Iowa 13-10 at Huntington Bank Stadium in a gritty, ugly game that gave Minnesota the Floyd of Rosedale for only the second time in Fleck’s tenure.
Because the Gophers had already beaten Michigan this season, they now have Paul Bunyan’s Axe, the Little Brown Jug and the Floyd of Rosedale together for the first time since 1978.
Those trophies will stay on campus for at least another month. Minnesota heads to Madison on Nov. 27 to face No. 25 Wisconsin, and the Gophers have won four of the last five games in the series, including a 17-7 victory in Minneapolis last season.
The weekend began on the ice, too. At 3M Arena at Mariucci, first-year Gophers men’s hockey coach Brett Larson guided Minnesota to a sweep of rival North Dakota, with both games ending 5-3. North Dakota entered the weekend ranked third in the country.
The only non-win came from the Loons, though even that kept the positive run going. Minnesota extended its unbeaten streak to four matches and kept its faint playoff hopes alive with three games left in the 2026 MLS season.
The Loons fired 17 shots at Houston but settled for a 0-0 draw with the Dynamo on Saturday night. That followed last Saturday’s 3-2 comeback win over St.
Louis City, a team that hadn’t lost in its previous 21 matches across all competitions.
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He finished 20 of 28 for 252 yards without a touchdown or interception, and the Giants leaned hard on the run game to finish the job with 188 rushing yards and four scores. For Vikings observers, the uncomfortable part is obvious: the move that sent McCarthy to New York for a 2027 fifth-round pick last month suddenly looks a lot more worth revisiting, even if one strong debut is only one piece of a bigger evaluation. [Read more 🡒]