of beating the Rams in frozen Metropolitan Stadium, they finally had to go to Los Angeles for the divisional round due to receiving the #3 playoff seed and being denied home advantage. Instead of bright sunshine, there were heavy rains that turned the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum into a mud bath, and the Vikings prevailed 14–7 on Monday December 26. On January 1, 1978, the Vikings played the Dallas Cowboys in their fourth NFC Championship Game in five years at Texas Stadium. Minnesota lost to the eventual Super Bowl champions, 23–6. By 1978, age was taking its toll on the Vikings, but they still took advantage of a weak division to make the playoffs with an 8–7–1 record. The team had all but run out of gas as the Rams finally defeated them 34–10 in Los Angeles. Fran Tarkenton retired at the end of the season just short of his 39th birthday. With Tommy Kramer taking over as quarterback, the Vikings fell to a 7–9 record in 1979. After that season ended, defensive end Jim Marshall, the last link to the inaugural 1961 team, retired. 1979–1985: Ups and downs The Minnesota legislature approved a new stadium in 1979, and construction of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome began in December 1979. A domed facility was chosen because of the harsh Minnesota winters and because it could be used for a much wider variety of activities than an outdoor facility. In 1980, the Vikings won the NFC Central again with a 9–7 record, clinching the division title against the Cleveland Browns in the Miracle at the Met, but lost the divisional round in Philadelphia, 31–16. On May 15, 1981, the Vikings moved into a new facility in suburban Eden Prairie that houses the team's offices, locker room, and practice fields. The complex was named "Winter Park" after Max Winter, one of the Vikings' founders, who served as the team's president from 1965 to 1987. The Vikings played their first game at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in a preseason matchup against Seattle on August 21, 1982; Minnesota prevailed 7–3. The first touchdown in the new facility was scored by tight end Joe Senser on an 11-yard pass from Tommy Kramer. The first regular-season game in the Metrodome was the 1982 opener on September 12, when the Vikings defeated Tampa Bay 17–10. Running back Rickey Young scored the first regular season touchdown in