As the middle of summer comes and the dog days settle in, preparation for the next season of gridiron action begins. The 2025 NFL training camps are among us and players who don’t have a secure roster spot will have to try and fight their way onto the main roster of 53 players or settle for being a member of the “practice squad” if they’re lucky. A big part of the players on the roster are already locked in with contracts guaranteeing their spots are secure, but for everyone else it is a grind to prove themselves worthy of a coveted open roster spot. The preseason games are meant to display the talents, skills and potential for each of the players looking to make the roster as a backup or potential future starter. Some of these players are undrafted rookies looking to break the mold. But others are first-round picks with a secure contract and a degree of certainty that they will be on the opening day roster. The final cut is always the hardest one to make for the ones at the bottom of the roster chain, so they have to work twice as hard and hope something not in their control goes their way(such as injuries to a position that they are trying out for and competing in).
For me, watching training camp occur is like the beginning of a new journey for my favorite football team, the Minnesota Vikings. Even though I am located about 1500 miles away from where my team calls home, I am always pumped up to see the players wearing those purple-colored helmets with horn decals on them compete in any setting. Whether it’s a practice in the heat of July or a game in the cold of December, I love seeing the Vikings in action. I have been to seven NFL games in my life and all of them have featured the Vikings, who have provided some thrilling moments but also some tough defeats. Over these past few seasons, the Vikings have renewed themselves to be one of the more competitive uprising teams in the NFL with a new infusion of culture from a young and passionate head coach along with a wise and calculating general manager.
The roster is filled with plenty of aging veterans, but also with young talent that can boost this team for many years to come. The Vikings have the undisputed best wide receiver in the league(once again) and some good offensive pieces surrounding him as well. One of those players is a young quarterback looking to finally show the football world what he’s made of after having his rookie season robbed from him due to a devastating leg injury that sidelined him for the entire season. In spite of this player’s absence, the Vikings still did well enough to make the playoffs and win a whole lot of games. But due to an unfortunate tough luck of the draw, they had to play on the road against a team who had beaten them earlier in the season and that team knocked the Purple Powerhouse out in the Wild Card round. Now with defeat as a valuable teacher, the Vikings have rebuilt their roster by solidifying the offensive and defensive lines to be more powerful than ever before. With free agent acquisitions and their first-round draft choice, the Vikings are more tailored than ever to compete in the tough National Football Conference and go deep into the playoffs to achieve something that they have never done before: win a Super Bowl trophy. Their window is undoubtedly open and I’ll explain why in this post.
J.J McCarthy Is Healthy And Ready To Show What He’s Got As He Is The New Leader Of One Of The Most Dangerous Offensive Units In The Whole League
After having his rookie season cut short early with a meniscus tear in his first unofficial game in a preseason contest on Aug. 10, 2024, Jonathan James McCarthy is finally going to get his chance to prove that he’s one of the best young QBs in the league. McCarthy had to spend time analyzing the game through a different lens in terms of watching film from game footage provided by the guy that started in place of him for the Vikings. Sam Darnold had himself a career year in 2024, throwing plenty of TD passes while having fewer turnovers than what he had accumulated in his first five seasons as the main starting QB for a team. Darnold did so well that there were potential internal discussions about bringing him back on a multi-year deal. But there were two teams that were able to defeat the Darnold-led Vikings in the 2024 season and those two teams were the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams. The Lions defeated the Vikings twice and along with all their good luck wins gained the NFC North crown and the top seed in all the NFC with 15 wins. The Vikings, with a record of 14-3, ended up settling for the top Wild Card spot as the 5 seed in the NFC. Most people thought that the winner of the NFC South would be the lowest-seed division winner in the conference, but it ended up being the winner of the NFC West. The Rams were the 4 seed and the Vikings were supposed to go back to Los Angeles to face them, but instead the game had to be moved to Glendale, Arizona due to wildfires occurring in the L.A area in the week leading up to the Monday night football Wild Card game. In spite of the lack of home-field advantage(which is usually countered by plenty of opposing-team fans in attendance at SoFi Stadium), the Rams played for their city and used their young defenders to overwhelm the piecemeal Vikings offensive line. Darnold unfortunately was overmatched and got sacked a lot against the fierce Los Angeles defense.
Watching this disaster from the sidelines at State Farm Stadium was J.J McCarthy, who was recovered enough from his meniscus tear to walk on his own power. McCarthy has suffered defeat on that field before, as his only loss in his collegiate career starting for the Michigan Wolverines was in the 2023 Fiesta Bowl against the TCU Horned Frogs in an offensive shootout. McCarthy led the Wolverines to a perfect record the next year and a national championship over the Washington Huskies and their starting QB Michael Penix Jr, who was projected to be a first-round selection in the 2024 draft. I had expected the Vikings to draft Penix due to his athletic ability to move around the pocket and throw balls left-handed. But Penix was the fourth QB taken in the first round as the Atlanta Falcons swooped in to draft him right ahead of the Vikings, who instead choose McCarthy to be the new face of the franchise and be the guy that the team has been looking for to be the homegrown long-term passer that they haven’t had in a very long time. The success that the Vikings were able to have while J.J was on the sidelines raised questions about whether the front office was still going to invest in the young passer long-term, as he had signed a four-year deal as a first-round pick with a fifth-year option available. One of those years had passed and ended with the Vikings losing in the Wild Card round by a devastating score of 27-9 to the Rams. Now, a new league year would come and questions about who the starting QB for the Vikings would be going forward were being asked by analysts in the media and front office executives alike. The question of whether they would keep Darnold was answered when he signed a three-year deal with the Seattle Seahawks, who had traded away their starter for the past few seasons. This action created rumors that the Vikings were going to go after another more-coveted QB, specifically one that they are very familiar with. This QB turned out to be Aaron Rodgers, who had just played a full season of games after suffering an Achilles tendon tear in his first game with the New York Jets in 2023. Rodgers had led the Jets to a lowly record of 5-12 and wanted out after a regime change among the head coach and general manager, who were inclined to go in a different direction away from the 41-year old veteran passer who had seen better days in previous years with the Green Bay Packers. Potentially being in line to follow a similar path that Brett Favre followed in his career in signing with the Vikings after playing with the Jets, Rodgers was now a free agent for the first time in his career and the team that Rodgers has faced the most in his career(along with the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears) was rumored to be a potential suitor for him. The Vikings needed a viable backup plan in case McCarthy wasn’t ready for training camp or live-game action from his recovering meniscus, and there were other options out there besides Rodgers. But Rodgers was seen as the obvious choice due to how well the Vikings were improving themselves in free agency. Other teams that were interested in signing Rodgers were the Cleveland Browns, New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers, who had open slots available for a QB.
In the end, the Rodgers signing saga dragged out for a while and the Vikings acquired a backup QB in a draft-day trade in Sam Howell from Seattle, signaling that they were committed to McCarthy being the sure-fire starting QB. In spite of also releasing backup QBs Nick Mullens and Daniel Jones, the Vikings have a solid QB room led by the QB coach/associate head coach Josh McCown, who has many years of experience in playing QB in the league and is developing into a future head coach option. The other QBs that the Vikings have currently are Brett Rypien, who has served as the emergency third-QB in the past couple of seasons, and Max Brosmer, an undrafted free agent out of the University of Minnesota not far from U.S Bank Stadium. Three QBs will make the final cut and be on the active roster for the Vikings, who intend to have McCarthy as the starting QB as long as he’s healthy. There are still available options for QBs on the open market if McCarthy suffers another severe injury(which I pray does not happen for the rest of his professional career). Ryan Tannehill is available as a free agent after being inactive for the 2024 season. And a former Viking who has been a cash bandit for his entire time as a free agent could also want to return to Minnesota due to him being stabbed in the back by the team he signed with in free agency in 2024 having a young QB that they prefer to invest in. That guy is Kirk Cousins, who is in a tough situation in Atlanta while dealing with Michael Penix Jr taking over the starting QB role from him. We shall see what happens, but hopefully McCarthy will have reps in all three preseason games for the Vikings and will be set to make his official NFL debut on a Monday night season opener for the team against the Bears at Soldier Field.
The Pieces Around McCarthy: The Best Wideout In The Game, A Strong New RB-Duo And A Top-Tiered Tight End Along With Other Powerful Skill Players
With every great team, there must be great skill players in an offensive group. And the Vikings have always had great players at running back, wide receiver and tight end but rarely at the same time. However, this team has most of the right ingredients for being one of the most dangerous offensive units in the entire country. For starters, they have a wide receiver who many consider to be the best in the game when healthy in Justin Jefferson, whose legendary numbers are backed up by his classic Griddy end zone dance(with many different variations). Jefferson has the most receiving yards through a receiver’s first five seasons in NFL history and he has a chance to set the single-season receiving yards mark if he’s able to burn enough defensive backs on the intense coverages that he is under. After having Kirk Cousins and Sam Darnold be his two best QBs that he’s competed with, the receiver known as “JJ” or “Jets” will now have a QB with those same two letters(he is a Triple-J technically, with Justin’s middle name being Jamal) passing it to him for hopefully the next decade plus of seasons. Probably since his breakout year in 2021, most fans have considered Jefferson to be the top receiver in the game(if not in the top five of best receivers). Being drafted in a class deep with wideout talent, Jefferson has shone over the rest with his amazing talents with making catches in tight spaces and when he doesn’t catch the ball, he usually draws penalties against those who would dare to stop him. As long as he is healthy, Justin Jefferson is one of the most explosive players in football and his legendary status will only grow if he is lucky enough to help lead the Vikings to glorious heights.
Besides Jefferson, there is Jordan Addison, who is one of the more efficient wideouts in the game through his first two seasons in the league. Addison has benefited from intense focus by opponents on Jefferson and thus he is lethal in single coverage. With some injury woes along with some legal troubles when it comes to driving safe and sober, Addison has been a bit of a sore fingernail off the field, but on the field he is absolutely fantastic. Addison could be faced with a mandatory three-game suspension for a drunk driving incident that occurred in the 2024 offseason after he reached a plea deal with a district court judge in Los Angeles. Addison has basically admitted his guilt and will serve any punishment given by the league office onto him with grace. In the wake of a potential Addison absence, the Vikings have thankfully shored up their depth at wide receiver. They have another rising star in Jalen Nailor, who is one of the fastest receivers in the league and he had himself an outstanding year in 2024 in setting career highs in TDs, receptions, receiving yards and targets. Other notable receivers include incoming rookie Tai Felton, who has punt/kick return potential, Rondale Moore(who had one good year in Arizona earlier in his career), and veteran practice squad receiver Lucky Jackson. The other receivers will be competing for roster spots in this upcoming training camp and one of them could have a chance to be on the opening week roster due to Addison’s potential suspension.
Onto the ground game, where Aaron Jones is back after a solid first season in purple after spending seven seasons with the division foe Packers. Jones had a good season in terms of touchdowns and rushing yards, but his age is a concern when it comes to durability. For now, he remains on the team, but he will have to share some carries with a good younger rusher who had to take on a starting role for the majority of last season. Jordan Mason is now a Viking after he spent the first few seasons of his career with the San Francisco 49ers, who depended on him at the beginning of last season to put up some carries with injuries to plenty of their RBs. Mason will now serve as a good secondary rushing option to Jones, who had a good backup in Cam Akers for the majority of last season. Ty Chandler remains on the roster due to his kick return potential, but with the dynamic kickoff becoming a more complex part of the game, Chandler might not get as many returns and he could be resigned to the practice squad or cut altogether. The Vikings RBs have the benefit of having a good fullback to work with in C.J Ham, who is entering his ninth NFL season and is the longest-tenured player on the offensive side of the team. Along with the rushing potential for McCarthy, the Vikings rushing game will be improved with a rebuilt offensive line that promises to be one of the most impenetrable ones in the whole league this season.
As for the tight ends, T.J Hockenson is one of the best in the league when healthy. After recovering from offseason knee surgery for the first half of last season, Hockenson returned to be a valuable asset for Sam Darnold to take advantage of. Having the only TD in the playoff loss to the Rams, Hockenson has the ability to get open downfield and pick up first downs at an incredible rate. His blocking ability is superb as well, so McCarthy will definitely take advantage of the benefits that T.J will bring. The backup to Hockenson is Josh Oliver, who is a fantastic red zone scoring option and has a good blocking ability as well. The TE room is mostly inexperienced besides the top-two guys, with the Vikings using one of their draft picks in the recent draft on a tight end named Gavin Bartholomew, who is around the same height as Hockenson and Oliver. A couple of other rookie tight ends and a backup veteran make up the rest of the TE room. So, McCarthy has plenty of offensive pieces to work with, but probably the most important upgrade that the front office made in the offseason is shoring up the offensive and defensive lines with fresh talent through free agency and via the draft. Winning in the trenches is paramount and the Vikings haven’t had a powerful combo of O-Line and D-Line in so many years.
The Trenches Are Stronger Now: New Faces On The O-Line And D-Line Promise To Make The Vikings More Successful At Protecting The QB And Sacking Some On The Other Side
The Vikings struggled in recent years with having a strong and shored up offensive line be paired with a powerful defensive line. The O-Line was more weak in recent years than the D-Line, particularly with failed draft picks and free agent acquisitions for cheap money that have unfortunately led to bad interior protection. The tackle positions are both secured with good tackles in Christian Darrisaw(who missed the latter half of the 2024 season with a devastating leg injury) and Brian O’Neill, but the guards and center needed upgrades. The front office addressed that with the free agent acquisitions of Ryan Kelly and Will Fries, both of whom are veterans that were teammates on the Indianapolis Colts in recent years. As the new center, Kelly replaces Garrett Bradbury, who is now on the New England Patriots, and Fries will serve as the right guard in shoring up a position that has brought a lot of inconsistency for the Vikings in the past several years. With one last slot to address at the other guard position, the front office used the team’s first round draft pick to select Donovan Jackson out of the Ohio State University. Having just won a national title with the Buckeyes, Jackson will be the left guard and is a huge dude standing at 6’4” and weighing a whopping 315 lbs. Kelly is also 6-4 and weighs over 300 lbs, but the biggest new addition is the guard named Fries, who is 6’6” and weighs 305 lbs.
So, now with a strong offensive line J.J McCarthy can stay in the pocket more often and hopefully not be held back by penalties by the big uglies up front(another issue that the Vikings offense has dealt with for years). J.J can scramble when he needs to on broken or designed plays, but he won’t have to scramble as much as previous QBs on the Vikings have. Last year, Sam Darnold bailed out weak O-Line protection with his scrambling that led to amazing first downs on the ground. Now with the O-Line strong, the Vikings can protect their coveted face of the franchise at QB from the schemes and routes drawn up by defensive masterminds all around the league. Good blocking will hopefully be a hallmark of the offense and it can come from everybody, including the skill players. Blocking is definitely an underrated thing among all players these days.
On the other side of the ball, the defensive line is a bit better than the O-Line has been, but upgrades can’t hurt to implement. So, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and the front office went out and acquired a couple of big dudes to shore up the weakest part of the Brian Flores defense(the edge rusher, linebackers and secondary are very good). The Vikings acquired a couple of veterans in Jonathan Allen from the Washington Commanders after spending the first several seasons of his career with them and Javon Hargrave, who has played with a few good teams in his career so far. Both of these guys are in their 30s and raise the average age for the defense(and whole roster), but they are experienced and can penetrate through opposing offensive lines with ease. Joining big Harrison Phillips in the defensive trench, Allen and Hargrave are both welcome additions that can help aid the Vikings in defeating the teams with elite QBs that they have to face this season. Most notably, these guys were acquired in reaction to the Chicago Bears shoring up their offensive line with talented veterans and also they can help penetrate the O-Line of the Detroit Lions in trying to disrupt Jared Goff’s rhythm. The Vikings also have a couple of young dudes in the D-Line group, with rookie Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins and second year guys such as Jalen Redmond, Levi Drake-Rodriguez and Taki Taimani being available for depth reasons. So, the Vikings will be stronger in the trenches and their defense promises to be one of the best in the league in spite of some slight changes.
The Brian Flores Defense Remains Strong With Most Of The Cast Of Dangerous Defenders Back Along With A Couple Of Defensive Back Reinforcements
So, the baddest defensive coordinator in the league is back with most of the same faces from 2024. Edge rushers and linebackers who were new to the team last year are back, such as Andrew Van Ginkel, Jonathan Greenard, Blake Cashman and Dallas Turner. A couple of minor adjustments have been made to the linebacker corps, including the return of a guy who played under the Mike Zimmer Purple Reign defense. Eric Wilson has returned after spending a few seasons behind enemy lines with the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers. Wilson played for four seasons on the Vikings in his first stint, being a good middle linebacker alongside Eric Kendricks and Anthony Barr. Wilson was also good on special teams in his years and retains that facet of his repertoire, so he will be of use to the defense. A couple of young candidates to make the roster are included in the LB room as well, including Bo Richter, Gabriel Murphy, Kobe King and Chaz Chambliss. Also back from an injury-plagued season is Ivan Pace Jr, who will look to be a powerful inside linebacker in his third year in the pros.
The defensive backs are still strong in spite of losing Camryn Bynum to free agency and releasing one-year rentals Stephon Gilmore and Shaquil Griffin. A big guy back on the squad is Harrison Smith, who signed another one-year deal to return to the Vikings as the longest-tenured player on the roster. Now in his 14th season in purple, Harry the Hitman will have some great guys around him like Josh Metellus, Theo Jackson and Byron Murphy Jr. Other additions to the defensive backs unit is Mekhi Blackmon(who is back after suffering an ACL tear in training camp last year that forced the front office to go get Gilmore and Griffin), Jeff Okudah(drafted by Detroit in 2020 and has spent time with other teams), and Isaiah Rodgers, who was acquired in free agency after winning a Super Bowl ring(that he will receive in due time) with the Philadelphia Eagles. This Vikings DB unit has the potential to be among the league-leaders in interceptions and other takeaways, continuing to be coached by geniuses on the defensive side of the ball that is spearheaded by one Brian Flores, who the team is lucky to still have as the DC.
The Coaching Staff Is Mostly Intact: K’OC Is Extended, Flores & McCown Are Back To Lead This Team To Glory
So, after a coaches’ hiring cycle of uncertainty, the Vikings’ coaching staff remains mostly the same from what it was in 2024. Kevin O’Connell got a well-deserved extension(Kwesi did as well) to be extended past this season for many years to come and can hopefully be the guy to lead the Vikings to glory that they have not achieved in the entire history of the franchise. O’Connell is fortunate to have full autonomy over the offensive play-calling, with some assistance from the actual offensive coordinator in Wes Phillips and the QB coach Josh McCown, who was rumored to be a potential head coaching hire in the offseason. McCown had a couple of interviews with interested teams looking for a new head coach, but he is back with the Vikings for this next season at least. The same goes for Brian Flores, who was interviewed by a couple of teams and not hired yet again as he still has a lawsuit against the league office and a couple of teams that didn’t hire him due to unfair job interviewing practices against him and other African-American head coaching candidates. Flores is entering his third season as the defensive coordinator of the Vikings after spending three years as the head coach for the Miami Dolphins and one year as a defensive assistant on the Pittsburgh Steelers. Other notable names on the coaching staff include wide receivers coach Keenan McCardell, special teams coordinator Matt Daniels, associate head coach Mike Pettine, and defensive backs coach/passing game coordinator Daronte Jones.
This coaching staff can hopefully lead the Vikings to their second straight playoff appearance(and third in the last four seasons), achieving something that the pro football team in the Land of 10,000 Lakes has not done since 2008-09 under Brad Childress’ head coaching tenure. But the road back will not be easy, as the Vikings have to play a virtual first-place schedule(if not for the Lions stealing the division crown from us last year) against teams in tough divisions like the NFC East and AFC North while dealing with their own division foes that made the NFC North a pretty tough one last year and that could very well be the case again.
The Roadpath Back To The Playoffs: The Opponents That The Vikings Must Face And The Long Trips Required For Some Road Games, From Los Angeles To London, England, United Kingdom
The schedule for the Vikings as a 14-win team from the previous season that finished in second place is a bit harder than the schedule that they were faced with in 2024(as a third-place, nearly last place team in 2023). The men in purple will have to play against an NFC East division filled with good young QBs(save for Dak Prescott, burn) and against opponents from the other North division that they haven’t faced for the most part since 2021. Two of those opponents from the AFC North will be road games occurring across the Atlantic in countries that have either seen the Vikings play before or never. A mixture of old and young rosters will be faced by the Vikings, who have to do something that they have not done in a decade and a half year’s time in making the playoffs in consecutive seasons. So, let’s get into the schedule, from start to finish.
After three preseason games against the Houston Texans, New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans in August(the first two of those games will be at U.S Bank Stadium), the Vikings will open up their season in the Windy City against the Chicago Bears, who will have second-year QB Caleb Williams make his season debut in front of the home fans at Soldier Field. The Bears went 5-12 last season in spite of a good 4-2 start that was all destroyed by a deluge of devastating defeats, including a close one against the Vikings in Week 12 of last season. A near chokejob occurred for the Vikings, who had to win the game in OT after an onside kick catastrophe. The Vikings also defeated Chicago at home a few weeks later, adding onto what would be a ten-game losing streak for the ursine foes to the southeast of Minnesota. This season’s opening game will be the last one of opening week on Monday Night Football, where the Vikings and Bears seem to play at least one game against each other almost every year. J.J McCarthy’s professional debut is set to occur in his hometown area as he grew up in the Chicago suburb of La Grange Park, Illinois. So, there will be a lot of family members in attendance at Soldier Field for the debut of number 9.
Week 2 will be the home opener for the Vikings at the Big Bank and it will be a Sunday night game in downtown Minneapolis against the Atlanta Falcons, whom the purple powerhouse defeated big time in a December game last season on the same field. Kirk Cousins started that game for the Falcons in his return to Minnesota after deciding not to rob the Vikings’ front office of more cap space that was used on a litany of very good players. Cousins was picked off twice and sacked a few times by the mighty B-Flo defense. In this instance, Cousins is less likely to start as he lost the starting job at the end of the regular season to Michael Penix Jr, who nearly got Atlanta into the playoffs but they would be denied entry on the final day of the regular season. The fourth and fifth QBs selected in the 2024 draft will face off against each other in a matchup that will repeat itself in 2026 as well, so McCarthy and Penix will have multiple opportunities to prove which one was the better pick in head-to-head games. McCarthy has faced a team that had Penix as their QB before, as his Michigan Wolverines won the 2024 College Football Playoff Championship Game against the Washington Huskies that Penix starred for. So, this will definitely be a good game worth waiting all day for.
Week 3 begins a streak of three consecutive games against AFC North opponents, as the Vikings will play host to the Cincinnati Bengals at the Big Bank in an early-afternoon game. The Vikings have played twice against the Bengals in this decade so far, losing both times in close tight games played in Cincinnati. Joe Burrow didn’t play in the most recent game between the Vikings and Bengals due to a season-ending injury to the wrist on his right hand, as Jake Browning led Cincy to victory in an OT win over the Vikings. Ja’Marr Chase played in both of those games, as did Justin Jefferson, with both of these top-tiered receivers being college teammates with each other and Burrow at LSU. Jefferson will have home-field advantage for this matchup that’s going to be one of the more exciting early-season games between a Vikings team that gets off to good starts and a Bengals team that is typically in “cat nap” mode in the first quarter of the season. But the real schedule shocker comes in the next couple of weeks as the Vikings are set to play consecutive international games in back-to-back weeks. The NFL has decided to use the Vikings as an international marketing tool, at least in the vicinity of Europe, with their successful campaigns in four previously played games in London. Now, they will be playing in England and in Ireland, the latter of which an NFL game has never been played before.
That’s right; the Vikings are playing early-morning games(on the West Coast at least) for us in the States while it will be a mid-afternoon start in Dublin, Ireland and London, England for back-to-back weeks. The opponent for the Vikings in the first ever Ireland Game set to be played at the famous Gaelic football venue Croke Park will be the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are the “home team” for this game in the most-famous Irish town in the world. The Steelers have been under the ownership of an Irish-descended family for generations, as the late-great Dan Rooney served as a U.S ambassador to Ireland at the end of his life while being the owner that brought a couple of Lombardi trophies to Pittsburgh after inheriting the team from his father Art Rooney Sr, who turned the Steelers from a sorry franchise to one of the greatest dynasties in football history with the Steel Curtain defense and the Terry Bradshaw-led offense landing four Super Bowl titles in the 1970s. The Vikings were the team that lost to Pittsburgh when they won their first championship ever in Super Bowl IX and now the Vikings will have an Irish-sounding head coach(O’Connell) and QB(McCarthy) face off against a Steelers team that decided to hitch their ship to Aaron Rodgers for one year after a long free agency period for the once-prolific passer. Rodgers will try to make a Steelers team that has been struggling offensively since the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger a little bit better, as the past several seasons have been filled with little to no success for the team led by the longest-tenured head coach in the league Mike Tomlin, who was the defensive coordinator of the Vikings way back in the mid-2000s before succeeding Bill Cowher as head coach in 2007. The Steelers have beaten the Vikings twice in Tomlin’s time as head coach, but the Vikings have won twice against those Standard-holding black-helmet wearing tough guys, including in their first international game ever at Wembley Stadium in 2013. Now, a dozen years later, the Steelers will have their extra ninth home game occur in Dublin and the Vikings will look to keep their international record at an unbeaten mark. They have defeated Pittsburgh, the Cleveland Browns, New Orleans Saints and New York Jets in the four games that they have played in London, now they look to keep that non-U.S record perfect in Ireland. The Vikings defeated Rodgers the year prior at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with a game-sealing INT by Stephon Gilmore, hopefully it won’t be that dramatic this time. But McCarthy and the offense will have to deal with a dangerous defense featuring pass-rushers T.J Watt and Cameron Hayward along with newly-acquired star cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who was swapped for Minkah Fitzpatrick from the Dolphins. Pittsburgh also acquired a couple of additional offensive weapons for Rodgers to use in D.K Metcalf and Jonnu Smith, so the Steelers are definitely looking to improve their offensive numbers. Either way, this Ireland game will be epic and if the Vikings prevail, it will be awesome and they shall have conquered Dublin, a town that was established by actual Nordic Vikings in the Dark Ages. So, that would be a fitting result on Sun. Sept, 28, 2025.
If you thought that the Vikings would be getting off the hook with one international game, you would be wrong, as they will have to play a second straight game away from the United States when they go to play the Cleveland Browns on Sun. Oct, 5 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where they have played the last two times in London. The Vikings might as well be the most-traveled team in the NFL, but that title belongs to the Jacksonville Jaguars, who play two games a year in the city famous for Westminster Abbey, Big Bentley, and a bridge with a famous hymn associated with it. The Vikings will play another road international game against the Browns, who are trying to decide who their starting QB for this upcoming season will be. Joe Flacco is back for his second stint on the lovable losers of the AFC, but he is competing with backup Kenny Pickett and rookies Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel for the starting job. Flacco might have it on opening week, but by Week 5, it could be anyone’s guess. The Vikings will have to deal with defensive brutes such as Myles Garrett and the recently-drafted interior lineman Mason Graham and they will also see an old friend of theirs in Kevin Stefanski, who spent nearly 15 years as a part of the organization and has been the head coach of the Browns since 2020. Having defeated the Vikings at the Big Bank in 2021, Stefanski will look to defeat this Vikings squad that has another Kevin as the head man of the team. The Vikings will also look to remain perfect in London, which was once also in the grasp of actual Nordic Vikings for some time in the Medieval history of Great Britain. That game will have the same early start time as the Ireland game, so hopefully spending two weeks’ time internationally will be worth it for the Vikings, who got screwed over by Roger Goodell’s agenda to have more international games occur this season. There will be a game each in Brazil, Spain Ireland and Germany this season, with a future game in Australia set to occur in 2026, so there’s more international games coming our way. Notwithstanding that Goodell stole a chance for me, my dad and our friends who are Steelers fans to go see our favorite teams duel against each other in Pittsburgh this upcoming season and that the Vikings have not played a regular season game in Cleveland since 2009. But besides that, nothing else is wrong with these two AFC North games occurring away from the U.S.A. The Vikings stink in Pittsburgh anyways, so maybe it’s a good thing that they got chosen as the road opponent for the Steelers in Dublin. We shall see if that holds true.
After this pair of jolly games in the Isles in the north-central part of the globe, the Vikings will have a well-deserved bye week in Week 6. After the bye, they will play their third home game of the season against the defending chumps in the Philadelphia Eagles, who have most of their cast back from their second title in franchise history. Playing in Minnesota for the second time since they won their first Super Bowl title(at the Big Bank), the Eagles will look to win a road game against the Vikings, who have faced Jalen Hurts twice at Lincoln Financial Field and both games ended in tough close fashion. Hurts will still have the “Tush Push” to his advantage after a vote to ban the controversial play barely fell short by a couple of votes, so the strong defensive line might have to deal with that on short-yardage situations. The Vikings would be wise not to try that with McCarthy, who will instead look to shred the strong Philly defense that lost a couple of pieces from their Super Bowl team to free agency. One of those pieces is Isaiah Rodgers, who might start that game at cornerback and could have to cover lethal wideouts such as DeVonta Smith(more likely) and A.J Brown(who would more than likely be covered by Byron Murphy). The greater threat is on the ground, as Saquon Barkley will be entering his second season in Eagles green. Barkley had a couple of big performances against the Vikings defense in 2022 when the defense was coached by the awful coordinator known as Ed Donatell. Now with Brian Flores in charge of the D, Barkley might have a harder time running for big gains against the strong men on the defensive front for the team famous for having the Purple PeopleEaters in the 70s. That matchup will definitely be worth watching along with the Vikings’ receivers facing off against the tough Philly secondary. Vic Fangio’s defense is no joke, so this game could be low-scoring or least with both teams under 25 points for the game. This game will definitely be a litmus test for this Vikings squad. If they can defeat the defending SB champs with an essentially rookie QB, that will get the media talking. But they will have to make a quick transition, win or lose, to another Week 8 game on short rest.
That Week 8 contest will be occurring on the road again and in the same location that last year’s Week 8 game was held. SoFi Stadium will once again be invaded by a large amount of fans in purple jerseys as the Vikings shall play for the second straight year in Inglewood, Calif. In 2024, they faced the Los Angeles Rams, who skidded by with a few big offensive scores and missed opportunities by the Vikings’ offense in the red zone. But the one play that is seared into fans’ minds after that game was the controversial face-mask non-call by Rams LB Byron Young in the end zone on Sam Darnold, who clearly saw that he was sacked by his grabbed facemask. Even Young thought he committed the personal foul that was not called by referee Tra Blake, who is no longer a referee in the NFL. Blake screwed the Vikings over and even though they would have had to score a TD and two-point conversion to tie the game, the game ended on a stupid safety that had the NFC team in L.A win 30-20. Now, this return to SoFi game will also occur on a Thursday night in late October, but the opponent will not be the Rams. It could have been, if both teams finished in the same position in their divisions last year. Instead, it will be the Los Angeles Chargers that the Vikings shall face. The Vikings have had more success with beating the Bolts in L.A than the Rams, as the former San Diego franchise defeated the Vikings on the road in their most recent matchup in 2023. Justin Herbert is playing under an enthusiastic head coach who got busted for overseeing a sign-stealing scandal at his previous job as the head coach of the college program that J.J McCarthy helped lead to a national title in the 2023 season. The culprit that oversaw the controversy is Jim Harbaugh, who is in his second season as head coach of the Chargers. After leading the Bolts to the playoffs in his first year(with a one-and-done exit on the road as the 5 seed just like the Vikings), Harbaugh looks to lead a hungry young team that just parted ways with its last player who was on the roster in the final season of their time further south in San Diego in Joey Bosa, who signed a deal with the Buffalo Bills in the offseason. With mostly young pieces around Herbert and a defense with Khalil Mack as the centerpiece, the Chargers are a worthy opponent and they will be wearing their color rush throwback uniforms to their playing time in the 1990s and early 2000s as they will induct Rodney Harrison into their Hall of Fame at halftime of the game. McCarthy will look to defeat his old college coach as the Vikings seek to win for a third time against the Bolts in Los Angeles, where they definitely do not belong. I’ve already been to one game at SoFi and seen the Vikings beat the Chargers in a game that I attended back in 2019(an epic 39-10 blowout at the soccer stadium in Carson they were playing at before SoFi was completed), so I will not be attending this game. It will be odd to watch a game on TV that the Vikings are playing at the closest NFL venue to where I live, but it’s better to save the cash and time for a venue with a better traffic situation than this supposed jewel in Inglewood.
The Vikings will have a mini-bye in preparing to play a high-stakes game midseason against the Detroit Lions, who stand in the way of this team’s ambitions of taking back the NFC North. The Lions’ schedule is just as rough as the Vikings’ one is, as they will have to play against the Green Bay Packers, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs on the road while having home games versus the Bears, Browns and Tampa Bay Buccaneers before facing the Vikings at Ford Field in downtown Detroit. This game is huge as the Vikings have not won a single time in the Motor City since Gamblin’ Dan Campbell took over as head coach and Jared Goff became the QB. Also the Lions will be getting Aidan Hutchinson back from the broken fibula that he suffered in an October game last season right before the first matchup between them and the Vikings occurred. So, this will be a must-win game to determine who could potentially be in first place of this division at the halfway mark of the season. The Lions have won five straight games against the Vikings, including two tough outcomes in Weeks 7 and 18 last season. The NFC North division crown was decided in Detroit last year as the final regular season game that featured a 31-9 victory for the Lions over the Vikings, who will be seeking vengeance as they now have J.J McCarthy to challenge the supremacy of the blue kitty cats whose roar is seeking to reach heights never reached before. The Lions will have their bye week occur in Week 8, so they will be well-rested for this battle as well. Let’s hope the Vikings can go into the Den and come out with a win this time.
That game against Detroit kicks off a November schedule featuring five games(most football-filled time of the year, right?), which includes home matchups against the Baltimore Ravens(Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry and a Marlon Humphrey-led defense featuring old foe Jaire Alexander) and the Chicago Bears and road battles against the Green Bay Packers(a November day game at Lambeau Field isn’t the worst thing in the world) and Seattle Seahawks. The latter road game will be against Sam Darnold(assuming he is healthy) and a Seahawks team that has Cooper Kupp added onto it. Barely missing the playoffs due to tough luck tiebreakers that had them barely not win the NFC West over the Rams, Seattle now has Darnold as its guy after moving on from Geno Smith, who was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders and the returned-out-of-retirement Pete Carroll, and they hope he can get them to the playoffs in a tight division that is more mediocre. Darnold helped lead the Vikings to a big victory in Week 16 of last season in Seattle at Lumen Field, leading a clutch drive that ended with an amazing deep bomb TD to Jefferson for the game-winning score. Now he will have to face off versus the same defense that he practiced against and the young QB that was sidelined for the entire season in 2024 in J.J McCarthy, who will look to prove that he is the better guy for the Vikings long-term. This battle in Seattle will definitely be worth watching and the Vikings can hopefully prevail over the Seahawks again, even if they have to sack and pick off Darnold in the third game they will ever play against Scramblin’ Sam.
Heading into December, the Vikings will have another three games in a row stretch against teams from another division. Whereas the AFC North shall face the Vikings in Weeks 3-5, the NFC East will have a trio of games against the purple team around the timing of the most wonderful time of the year nationwide. The Vikings will play host to the Washington Commanders on Dec. 7 in a big Week 14 home game against the team that ended up going to the NFC Championship Game last year with their rookie QB in Jayden Daniels, who definitely proved himself the star player from last year’s draft class. McCarthy will have a chance to see how he measures up against Daniels as both will face against the defensive schemes of the opponent. McCarthy will have to face the scheme brought by the defensive-minded Dan Quinn while Daniels will have to contend with the Brian Flores defense. With a good offensive group now featuring Deebo Samuel, a not-so-happy Terry McLaurin and former Viking K.J Osborn, the Commanders have a strong group of skill players along with a solid offensive line that the defensive line led by former Washington star Jonathan Allen will have to contend with in order to break through and get to Daniels, whose scrambling abilities are just as good as any other QB in the league. So, that game will be a high-stakes one and a potential playoff preview if things are looking good for both of these teams.
The other two NFC East games in December are going to be on the road, as the Vikings will travel to the Lone Star State to face the Dallas Cowboys, who are now under new leadership after letting old foe Mike McCarthy go. Brian Schottenheimer is in charge now of the on-field operations for the Cowboys, who still have Dak Prescott as their QB and have CeeDee Lamb now paired with former Steelers wideout George Pickens. This new wideout duo looks to work wonders for Dallas, which missed the postseason last year to extend their Super Bowl and NFC Title game drought to 29 seasons. Big number thirty looms large for the Cowboys, who will be playing a critical late season game against the Vikings on Sunday night football(the game could always be flexed out if both teams are mediocre and there’s a better matchup on tap in the morning/afternoon window of the week). The Vikings’ McCarthy will have to play under the bright lights again for the fourth time stateside and he’ll have to deal with dangerous defenders such as Micah Parsons, Solomon Thomas and Trevon Diggs. This will also be Justin Jefferson’s first time playing a game in the heart of Texas in his pro career, as the Cowboys won three straight games from 2020-22 at the Big Bank against the Vikings, who now look to return the favor in their first game at JerryWorld since 2019, when they won a closely-contested Sunday night game in November of that year. After that big game, the Vikings will play a cold outdoor game in the frozen tundra of the Meadowlands against the New York Football Giants, who were beaten by the Vikings in opening week of 2024. This could be a battle between McCarthy and a rookie QB in Jaxson Dart, who could take over as the starter over the pair of veteran journeymen that he is currently competing with in Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston. As a last place team in a high pressure market, the Giants are under pressure to do good. Head coach Brian Daboll and GM Joe Schoen are on the hot seat and if they don’t deliver an improved record this season, they could both be gone. Heck, they might both be fired before this Week 16 game at MetLife Stadium occurs. The G-Men will have some hope in them as they have a powerful new toy on defense in linebacker Abdul Carter, who led his Penn State Nittany Lions to the CFP Semifinals last year. Along with offensive pieces such as the wideout duo of Malik Nabers and Darius Slayton, New York’s NFC team could pose a slight threat to the Vikings, who need to win this game ahead of an even bigger one occurring four days later back in the comfort of their warm palace in downtown Minneapolis.
The Vikings will be playing on Christmas Day this season, continuing an NFL trend of taking over the holiday that the NBA has been most prominent on over the years. The Vikings will play a “Skolmas” home game against the Detroit Lions and will wear their Winter Warriors uniforms in the second game of a three-game Yuletide tripleheader. Christmas thankfully falls on a Thursday this year, so it’s less absurd than the Wednesday duo of games last year. This game against the Lions will be a huge game that could determine who could be the king of the NFC North this year, so it might have intense stakes. Hopefully the Vikings’ nice play can get past Detroit’s naughty tendencies of going for it on fourth down and they will have a happy holiday ending for all of Skol Nation to see on Skolmas Day. The game will have an afternoon start time around 1:30 pm PT/3:30 pm CT and it will be broadcast on Netflix, which will hopefully not have their streamed broadcast service collapse with all the fans who want to view this thrilling game. Safe to say the Christmas games this year will be more awesome than the games last year, which should never be forgotten because they were as bad as coal that kids receive in their stockings for bad behavior.
Finally, the season finale will be a Border Bash game against the Green Bay Packers after a mini-bye that leads into the New Year of 2026. This game might have massive playoff implications, or it might not due to the Vikings hopefully having the division and dome-field advantage in the NFC wrapped up. The Packers obviously have their main cast of Jordan Love and his no-name receivers, along with Josh Jacobs and a slightly stout offensive line. The defense for the smelly cheese mongers remains mostly the same, with them cutting the liability known as Jaire Alexander in the offseason. So, that season finale will definitely be worthy of viewing, as it is the first time in a decade that a Packers-Vikings game will occur in the final week of the regular season. The NFL finally had the sense knocked into them on that one and it could be another Sunday night season finale game if the stakes are high enough.
So, the regular season schedule for the Vikings has been explored. As they begin training for another treacherous season of games, the Minnesota Vikings will hopefully be more ready than ever to face the path ahead and they could have an amazing season that shall be remembered in the books as one of the most triumphant ones in franchise history. The media may be against us and the teams that we will face might doubt us as well. But as long as the Vikings remain true to their strengths and address any weakness on their roster, they will be one of the most powerful teams in the NFL this year. A young rookie QB paired with the best receiver in the league along with other offensive pieces, a rebuilt offensive line and a top-tiered defense with some important upgrades(and a special teams unit that will hopefully have very little to no screwups during the season) can be one of the most lethal teams ever. They are literally playing with house money and can beat any team they play against with good-enough execution and clutch play in the gritty moments of a game. The Vikings are coming back stronger than ever and they are on a mission to prove that they belong in the top echelon of contenders in the league this season and for many years to come. Skol, until the end for this amazing squad, which will hopefully be around my 26th birthday in Santa Clara, Calif on a podium of glorious celebration.
Kent Bewley's News Story Collection 