Vikings Have NFL’s Top Revenge Game
For folks relishing revenge, the Minnesota Vikings have it on the menu in 2025.
As far as “revenge” goes, the Vikings evidently have the NFL’s top matchup in 2025.
On November 30th, the purple team will travel to Seattle for a date with Sam Darnold’s Seahawks, and according to The Athletic, that contest is the league’s top revenge game of 2025.
Top Revenge Game? Minnesota at Seattle
The Athletic‘s Mike Jones was still tippin’ this week, sizing up the NFL’s schedule release, and for the best revenge game, Seattle-Minnesota got the nod.
Jones wrote, “Best revenge game: Sam Darnold and Seahawks vs. Vikings, Week 13. The Vikings took a chance on Darnold last fall, and he rewarded them by resurrecting his career and delivering an MVP-caliber campaign, helping Minnesota post its best record since 1998.”
“But the Vikings let him walk in free agency to hitch their wagon to J.J. McCarthy, their 2024 first-round pick who missed last season with a torn meniscus. Now the quarterback of the Seahawks, Darnold will face his former team and try to remind the Vikings of what could have been.”
And in Week 13, if either team is any good, that’s right around the time the playoff scene would take shape.
Darnold v. McCarthy
Why revenge? Well, it’s quite simple: the Vikings will showcase J.J. McCarthy at QB1, while the Seahawks now employ Sam Darnold, who quarterbacked Minnesota to a 14-3 record last season before a bizarre faceplant in the year’s final two games.
McCarthy and Darnold actually vied for the QB1 post in Minnesota last year, a battle that ended prematurely when McCarthy tore his meniscus in a now-infamous preseason game against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Minnesota basically chose McCarthy over Darnold this offseason, as Darnold grabbed $100.5 million over three years to lead Seattle.
Now, the two former coworkers will do battle in Washington.
Re-Run of Last Year’s Thriller
To add more suspense, Minnesota, led by Darnold, toppled Seattle in a thriller last year — one of the Vikings’ final good moments of the 2024 campaign.
Darnold connected with phenom wide receiver Justin Jefferson in the 4th Quarter that December afternoon, defeating the Geno Smith-led Seattle squad by a score of 27-24. Nobody knew at the time that Darnold would sign in Seattle four months later, that Smith would be traded to the Raiders, and McCarthy’s injury recovery would encounter no hiccups.
But here we are.
Similar to 2024 with Kirk Cousins v. Sam Darnold
Also in the 2024 season, Minnesota hosted former quarterback Kirk Cousins for a tryst at U.S. Bank Stadium some six months after Cousins departed the Twin Cities for the Atlanta Falcons. Minnesota prevailed in a beatdown 42-21.
Cousins, of course, led the Vikings for six years to Darnold’s one, but to some degree, Minnesota will embrace “revenge games” in back-to-back seasons.
Last year’s turned out pretty well.
A Brutal Power Ranking for Seattle
The Vikings’ chances of defeating the Seahawks are debatable. But one outfit recently ranked the Seahawks as the NFL’s ninth-worst team, believe it or not.
Pro Football Network explained, “The Seattle Seahawks underwent as much turnover as nearly any team this NFL offseason. After trading away Geno Smith and DK Metcalf (along with a host of veteran defensive releases), the Seahawks are betting big on Darnold and Mike Macdonald to keep a younger team in contention.”
“Seattle made a smart first-round pick in Grey Zabel, who should help improve last year’s 30th-ranked offensive line by PFSN’s metrics. Elijah Arroyo also helps Darnold as a seam weapon, adding a vertical element to complement Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp.”
Minnesota checked in at No. 13 on the same list, nine spots higher than Seattle.
PFN added, “Still, Seattle’s offense feels a little incomplete without a true X receiver. Jalen Milroe is as interesting as any QB prospect beyond Cam Ward, but is unlikely to contribute much to the 2025 team. The Seahawks did take a big step forward on defense last year, finishing sixth in PFSN’s metrics. Much of the young core is back in place after Macdonald found the right personnel levers to push following the team’s Week 10 bye.”
“On its own, that unit should keep the Seahawks competitive. But unless Darnold shows he can thrive outside of the Kevin O’Connell ecosystem, Seattle could be hard-pressed to improve on last year’s 10-7 record.”
The NFL’s “top revenge game” is 195 days away.
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