Ranking the Biggest Disappointments for the Vikings This Season
The Minnesota Vikings have eight days to fundamentally fix a flawed operation after a humbling experience in Los Angeles, losing to the Chargers by 27 points.
The Minnesota Vikings have about half the season left, and so far, a handful of players have disappointed along the way. Here’s the group.
With about 60% of the season remaining, the outlook is grim, and these players have disappointed the most along the way. They’re ranked ascendingly (No. 1 = most disappointing).
The Top Vikings Disappointments So Far in 2025
Players who have not lived up to expectations through seven games.
5. Ivan Pace Jr. (LB)
Pace Jr. has one good game on his 2025 resume — versus the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 3. Aside from that contest, where virtually every Vikings player teed off on Jake Browning’s team, Pace Jr. has struggled, compiling a 45.5 Pro Football Focus grade after seven games.
The coaching staff even benched him in Week 7 in favor of Eric Wilson. Pace Jr. later regained his starting job this week and didn’t learn much of a lesson from the bench relegation, according to the numbers and grades.
NFL players are generally supposed to step up in Year No. 3, but Pace Jr. has regressed, at least for the time being.
4. Carson Wentz (QB)
Wentz enrolled in Kevin O’Connell University at the end of the summer, hoping to carry on the legacy of mostly failed passers standing off the page with O’Connell’s tutelage.
The plan has not worked.
In addition to being pummeled by opposing defenders, Wentz fails to see open pass-catchers and holds the ball too long in the pocket. His performance is so unfortunate that some have questioned O’Connell’s playcalling — even if Wentz’s decision-making and hesitations are the culprits.
Wentz had a chance to keep Minnesota afloat during J.J. McCarthy’s absence, but overall, he has flopped.
The Athletic‘s Alec Lewis wrote about Wentz and the Vikings’ offense after their Week 8 spanking, “Minnesota has not had good quarterback play. McCarthy, who is in line to return next week against the Lions, struggled in the first two games. Wentz replaced him, and the issues continued to be the same.”
“He wasn’t accurate. He held the ball. He took too many sacks. By the end, he was getting hammered in the pocket, scrunching his face, and throwing his helmet on the sidelines. His protection didn’t help. Right tackle Brian O’Neill didn’t play. He returned last weekend from a sprained MCL and said after the game his knee locked up multiple times. Left tackle Christian Darrisaw started but exited early, a theme throughout this season.”
Wentz will likely return to a QB2 role as early as Week 9.
“The Vikings’ center was Blake Brandel, who began the season as the team’s third-string option at the position. Perhaps the most telling aspect of the offensive dud was the fact the Chargers had been torched leading into the game. Specifically, the Chargers’ run defense ranked 30th in success rate; the Vikings ran the ball only nine times for 18 carries,” Lewis added.
“As bad as it has been, the seeds of offensive inconsistency showed themselves in training camp. Coach Kevin O’Connell reiterated his belief in the unit, but the day-to-day problems were evident to anyone in attendance.”
3. Javon Hargrave (DT)
Hargrave cannot stop the run. Plain and simple. Clear as day.
He excelled against the run as a younger man with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the league has passed him by, and nowadays, he’s best suited as a situational 3rd Down pass rusher.
Javon Hargrave,
2025 PFF Grades:
vs. Pass & Run:
Pass Rush: 70.3
Run Defense: 39.8
Unless Hargrave has a spurt of run defense growing somewhere in his body, he will likely be traded before the November 4th deadline or released during the offseason.
2. Jeff Okudah (CB)
Okudah’s PFF score is a hideously bad 38.5 after eight weeks. His passer-rating-against? 118.7.
When he checks onto the field, quarterbacks nod at their buddies and point at Okudah. Then, they attack him. The plan works, and voila, Minnesota’s defense gets torched.
Meanwhile, Okudah has now suffered two concussions this season, and he may not return to the lineup anytime soon. Dwight McGlothern is in line to take Okudah’s spot. He may not give it back.
1. Adam Thielen (WR)
Thielen has 5 catches for 47 yards and no touchdowns — in 7 games. He doesn’t have much time left in his career, and with the middle of the season approaching, he’s at a crossroads. Thielen can surge and leave Minnesota and the NFL on a high note — or wind down a career note common for thousands of past NFLers. Quietly.
Minnesota acquired Thielen from the Carolina Panthers in a trade centered around a 4th-Round pick. So far, the coolest thing about the tweet was the phone notification: the nostalgia. Of course, that’s not enough to make the trade worth it.
Thielen was supposed to be the Vikings’ WR2 for a few weeks while Jordan Addison was suspended. Instead, he’s posting a stat line closer to a WR6, and that’s generous.
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