The 1991 season was the Minnesota Vikings' 31st in the National Football League. They finished with an 8–8 record, improving on their 6–10 record from the previous season, and missed the playoffs for the second straight year. Head coach Jerry Burns retired at the end of the season.
Herschel Walker, going into his third year with Minnesota, went through another season of frustration and he was released following the season. In his two-and-a-half seasons with the Vikings, he failed to record a 1,000-yard season. The infamous trade that brought Walker to Minnesota never lived up to expectations and allowed the Dallas Cowboys to use two of the draft picks they received in the trade on Emmitt Smith and Darren Woodson, who became part of a dominant team that won three Super Bowls in the 1990s.
^ abcThe Vikings traded their first- and second-round selections (11th and 38th overall) and 1990 first-, second- and sixth-round selections (21st, 47th and 158th overall) to the Dallas Cowboys in exchange for the Cowboys' third-round selection (68th overall), 1990 third- and tenth-round selections (54th and 249th overall), the 1990 fifth-round selection they received from the San Diego Chargers (116th overall) and running back Herschel Walker.
^ abcThe Vikings traded their sixth-round selection (146th overall) to the Los Angeles Raiders in exchange for the Raiders' sixth- and seventh-round selections (163rd and 180th overall).