The Big Vikings Questions for the Second Half of the Season
With a 4-4 record, the Minnesota Vikings are right in the chase for the NFC North and Wildcard playoff contention, saving their season last weekend with a dub at the Detroit Lions. The win kept hope alive after a terrible Week 9 loss in Los Angeles. Now, as the team embarks on the second half of the season, some storylines exist to frame the final nine games.
As the 2025 season hits its midpoint, these are the big questions hovering over the Minnesota Vikings — from quarterback play to playoff hopes.
These are the chief questions for the 2025 Vikings, with about two months left in the campaign.
Main Vikings Storylines for Weeks 10-18
It’s the big-ticket stuff in Minnesota’s orbit.
1. Will the Defense Start Forcing Turnovers Again?
Minnesota ranks 14th in takeaways this season, noticeably failing to grab interceptions at last season’s pace. In 2024, the Vikings nabbed 24 total interceptions. Nearing the season’s midpoint, they have just four so far this go-round.
And last season, Brian Flores‘ unit ranked second in takeaways. That’s a 12-spot slip. The key to a winning streak, which Minnesota may need to fight back into the playoff hunt, might be the turnovers returning at the typical Floresian clip.
2. Does the Rushing Offense Have Enough Juice for Consistency?
Every offseason, the Vikings announce they want to run the ball more often and do so more efficiently.
Several months later on each occasion, the rushing offense ranks near the bottom of the NFL, sometimes flirting with middling placement. Last weekend, Minnesota rushed for 142 yards as a team, coinciding with Aaron Jones’ return to the lineup and a mostly healthy offensive line.
Can an efficient rushing offense be the new normal? It’s vital with a young quarterback, who probably shouldn’t be asked to throw the rock 40 times every week.
3. Which NFC Playoff Hopeful Will Tail Off and Pave a Way for the Vikings?
Nine teams have winning records in the NFC through nine weeks:
- Carolina Panthers
- Chicago Bears
- Detroit Lions
- Green Bay Packers
- Philadelphia Eagles
- San Francisco 49ers
- Seattle Seahawks
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Los Angeles Rams
The Vikings are 4-4. The purple team needs three teams to get the hell out of the way for Minnesota to snag a Wildcard seed, if one assumes the Lions or Packers will win the NFC North.
The Panthers and Bears are easy targets, but which third and final team will drop off enough for the Vikings to slither into the postseason dance? After Carolina and Chicago, at least one team on the list above must falter.
NFL.com‘s Eric Edholm called Seattle the best team in the NFL this week and explained, “In the last edition of the Power Rankings, I dropped the Seahawks following their bye, looking to reward some teams that had done well in Week 8. Boy, that blew up in my face. Spanking the Commanders something fierce reminded me of what I first saw in Seattle when I had it cracking the top three not long ago: a really dangerous football team when the ‘Hawks are playing at their best.”
“And their best could still be in front of them, with the acquisition of WR Rashid Shaheed and with a lot of younger players manning big roles, especially on defense. They can also get healthier on that side of the ball, which makes Sunday night’s dominance all the more impressive. Seattle’s defense really only has been stressed once this season — in the Week 5 loss vs. Tampa Bay — and Sam Darnold looked pretty great Sunday following some so-so play before the bye.”
4. Will J.J. McCarthy’s Development Coincide with a Playoff Appearance?
Think back to how J.J. McCarthy played in Week 9 against the Lions — that’s the blueprint. That version of him is what Minnesota needs every single week.
He made the big throws, stayed away from the back-breaking mistakes, and came through in clutch spots against one of the NFC’s toughest teams. He’s also sitting at six touchdowns over his last three outings, and if you asked Vikings fans, “Do 34 touchdowns for McCarthy float your boat?” — every last one of them would approve and be elated.
The key is simple: McCarthy can’t revert to his Week 2 version, not even once, if the Vikings want to finish 6-3 or better and keep their playoff hopes alive.
From there, it’s about letting everything else fall into place — the defense finding a late-season groove, McCarthy’s Michigan-reared clutch gene carrying into the 4th quarter, and the team seeing just how far that combination can take it.
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