The 1999 season was the Minnesota Vikings' 39th in the National Football League. After going a near perfect 15–1 record in 1998, the Vikings began the 1999 season with high expectations of another great season. Randall Cunningham resumed duties again in 1999, but after a struggling 2–4 start to the season, he was benched and Jeff George was given the starting job as quarterback.
George finished the season with an 8–2 record, and led the Vikings into the postseason once again, with an overall team record of 10–6 failing to match their record from the 1998 season. Minnesota beat Dallas in the Wild Card Game 27–10 and faced playoff newcomer Kurt Warner and the St. Louis Rams in the Divisional Round. The game was a shootout which Minnesota led 17–14 at halftime, but the Rams outscored Minnesota 35 to 20 in the second half to win 49–37. St. Louis would then go on to win Super Bowl XXXIV against the Titans.
^[a]Washington traded their first-round selection (11th overall), third-round selection (73rd overall)[b], and second-round selection in 2000 to Minnesota in exchange for QB Brad Johnson.
^[b] Minnesota traded their second-round selection (59th overall), Washington's third-round selection (73rd overall), and their own fifth-round selection (163rd overall) to Pittsburgh to move up 15 spots to the 44th overall selection and make this pick.