MINNEAPOLIS -- As they've turned on the TV for the last four Super Bowls, Minnesota Vikings fans have watched, in order: Randy Moss trying to win a ring with the San Francisco 49ers, Percy Harvin stealing Super Bowl 48 in his cameo with the Seattle Seahawks, Kevin Williams falling just short of a championship with Seattle and Jared Allen renouncing some of his stats-infatuated ways to play in his lone Super Bowl with the Carolina Panthers.

There's nothing quite so juicy -- or possibly so conflicting -- for Vikings fans in this Super Bowl matchup between the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons, but keen observers of the game will notice a few Vikings connections, and even more to the college and high school programs in Minnesota. Let's take a look.

Logan Ryan is the last piece from the haul New England received in the 2013 Cordarrelle Patterson trade who still is with the Patriots. Rob Carr/Getty Images

New England Patriots:

After the Patriots traded Jamie Collins to the Cleveland Browns, cornerback Logan Ryan is the only draft pick that remains on the roster from the haul New England received in the 2013 Cordarrelle Patterson trade. But Ryan, who picked off two passes and has started 27 games the last two years, is joined at cornerback by another player with Vikings connections. Justin Coleman, who signed with the Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2015 and was released by the team at the end of training camp, has played in 20 games the last two years with the Patriots, starting three and making eight tackles this season.

Defensive line coach Brendan Daly also joined the team after two stints with the Vikings. Daly, who was the Vikings' assistant defensive line coach from 2006-08 and their defensive line coach from 2012-13, joined the Patriots as a defensive assistant in 2014 and won his first Super Bowl ring with the team that year. He's been the team's defensive line coach the last two seasons.

Wide receiver Michael Floyd is a Cretin-Derham Hall product who graduated from the same high school that produced Chris Weinke, Matt Birk and Steve Walsh (as well as Minnesota Twins manager Paul Molitor, first baseman Joe Mauer and New York Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh). Floyd joined the Patriots in December, after his drunken-driving arrest triggered his release from the Arizona Cardinals, and has caught five passes for 51 yards and a touchdown since joining the Patriots.

Atlanta Falcons

Falcons coach Dan Quinn, who was hired by the team before the 2015 season, was one of the first coaches the Vikings interviewed in 2014 as they searched for Leslie Frazier's replacement. General manager Rick Spielman talked to Quinn -- who was then the Seahawks' defensive coordinator -- and Seattle offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell during the first weekend of the playoffs. The Vikings eventually hired Mike Zimmer, and the Seahawks' march to Super Bowl 49 kept Quinn waiting for a head coaching opportunity until 2015.

His path to Super Bowl 51, though, should provide a spark of optimism for Vikings fans: After starting 5-0 and missing the playoffs last season, the Falcons became the second team since 1990 to follow up such a collapse with a playoff appearance the next year. This season, the Vikings, of course, became the sixth team to start 5-0 and miss the playoffs in the NFL's current format. They'll be trying to join the 2016 Falcons and the 2004 Vikings -- who became a wild-card team a year after going from 6-0 to out of the playoffs -- as teams that qualified for the playoffs a year after wasting an undefeated start. Vikings fans probably also wouldn't mind recreating another piece of the postseason for both of those teams: a playoff victory over the Green Bay Packers.

Quinn's defense includes two former University of Minnesota players -- defensive tackle Ra'Shede Hageman and linebacker De'Vondre Campbell, who visited with the Vikings before the 2016 draft. The Vikings also visited running back Devonta Freeman before the 2014 draft; the fourth-round pick has scored a combined 27 touchdowns the last two years, while being named to two Pro Bowl teams.