The Minnesota Vikings Are Right Where They Need to Be
It’s been a tumultuous three weeks to begin the 2025 NFL season for Minnesota Vikings fans.
The year brought with it all sorts of excitement as the franchise turned the keys over to J.J. McCarthy as Minnesota hoped to build off a 14-3 2024 campaign that, at times, was dominant.
Then, as often happens in Minnesota, the season began, and so did a roller coaster ride of chaos, doubt, and, of course, injuries.
Even still, through three weeks, the Vikings find themselves right where they need to be heading into their trip to Europe.
Think about it for a second. Let’s say we were told the following things in May:
- Christian Darrisaw would miss the first two games and his backup Justin Skule would suffer concussion.
- McCarthy would get hurt (and look relatively poor in seven of the eight quarters he was on the field).
- Jordan Addison would be served a three-game suspension.
- Aaron Jones and Blake Cashman would land on IR.
- Harrison Smith would miss two games because of a mystery illness or something of the like.
- Justin Jefferson and T.J. Hockenson would each be held to five or fewer receptions in every game.
- Adam Thielen (though it would have been confusing to hear in May that he would be the team’s hypothetical WR2) would be nowhere to be found.
- Various other players like Ryan Kelly, Jeff Okudah, and Andrew Van Ginkel would each miss one game.
What would have been your answer to what the Vikings record would be? 0-3? 1-2 at best? I for one certainly wouldn’t have guessed the Vikings would be 2-1 with the sixth-most points scored and ninth-fewest points allowed, but that’s exactly where this team is at.
Of course, those numbers are a bit inflated because of the 48-10 win over the Bengals, but that is a testament to how good this team can be when everything is in sync. The scary part is that win came with Carson Wentz as the starting quarterback, and without names like Addison, Cashman, and Jones on the field.
The team has had unexpected names step up in big ways to find success.
Isaiah Rodgers had a historic Sunday against Cincinnati. Zavier Scott has been a pleasant boost out of the backfield. Eric Wilson has stepped up as a starting caliber linebacker in Cashman’s absence. Levi Drake Rodriguez leads the team with three tackles for loss.
And the best part of it all, despite the injury turmoil, the Vikings are tied for first in the NFC North after the Packers suffered a brutal loss to the Cleveland Browns this past weekend.
Of course, there is still a long way to go, and Minnesota’s schedule gets very brutal following their bye week with matchups against the Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Chargers, Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions (x2), and Green Bay Packers (x2).
But still, the Vikings have done exactly what they needed to do to not dig themselves into a hole through three weeks, and now, as they start to get healthy, the best times may yet be in front of us.
Editor’s Note: Statistics for this article were found via Pro Football Reference.
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