How the Vikings Can Still Turn It Around in 2025
A substantial faction of Minnesota Vikings fans left all hope in their living rooms on Thursday night, as the team clumsily lost to the Los Angeles Chargers by 27 points. Many have called for the head coach and general manager to be fired, a sadly predictable reaction in the Digital Age when a football team loses a couple of games in a row.
The Minnesota Vikings are in a precarious spot at 3-4, but thankfully, 60% of the season remains, and the club can still turn it around. Here’s how.
But here’s why there’s hope. Truth be told, it’s not that hard to find.
Need Vikings Hopium? Here It Is.
It’s not a lost cause for Minnesota to turn it around.
Get the Starting Offensive Tackles onto the Field. They Matter.
Some readers will call it an excuse, and that is fine. Minnesota did not have its starting left tackle or starting right tackle on the field for 90% of the game against the Chargers. There is no other way to describe this: Starting. Offensive. Tackles. Matter.
Most teams cannot galavant through a primetime football game without their starting left tackle, starting right tackle, and starting quarterback, while hoping to come out clean on the other side. Other teams may not get beaten by 27 points, but few can circumvent those long odds.
Kevin O’Connell provided a quasi-positive update regarding Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill on Friday, sounding like the pair may be available for the next game in Detroit.
Star Tribune‘s Emily Leiker on Darrisaw after Chargers-Vikings: “Vikings left tackle Christian Darrisaw made it through only two offensive series in Thursday night’s 37-10 loss to the Chargers at SoFi Stadium, where a year ago he suffered a season-ending knee injury that’s still limiting him. Upon his exit, the Vikings moved Justin Skule from right tackle, where he’d been filling in for the inactive Brian O’Neill, to Darrisaw’s spot. Walter Rouse came in at right tackle. Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell commended Darrisaw for playing at all on the quick-turn week.”
“Darrisaw was ruled active for the game 90 minutes before kickoff after being listed as questionable Wednesday. He went through a pregame workout in front of several members of staff, including offensive line coach Chris Kuper, offensive coordinator Wes Phillips and Vice President of Player Health and Performance Tyler Williams. Darrisaw’s exit left the Vikings back with only two starters playing on the line: rookie left guard Donovan Jackson and right guard Will Fries, the only member of the starting five to play every game this season.”
Time of Possession Must Be Flipped. It Will Help the Defense.
Did you check the statistics for the Week 7 loss at Los Angeles? The Chargers possessed the ball for 40 minutes. The Vikings checked in at 20.
Football games are not winnable with that time of possession split. They’re just not.
When a defense is on the field for 40 minutes, it wears down, and the worst tendencies bubble to the surface. If Minnesota can bring its offensive tackles and starting quarterback into the mix, the idea is to create sustainable offensive drives, reducing the defense’s time on the field.
As recently as one week ago, Vikings fans were applauding the purple team’s 1st Half defense against the Eagles for keeping the club within striking distance. The defense isn’t fundamentally rotten; the personnel isn’t poor.
Brian Flores‘ unit just needs to bounce back and be asked to do its job without a 40-20 TOP split.
It’s a … Two Game Losing Streak
Minnesota has lost two games in a row. Two games.
The way the world is reacting has parallels to a seven-game losing streak. Vikings fans are as frustrated after Week 8 as Tennessee Titans fans. It shouldn’t be that way.
Of course, the Lions won’t offer an easy contest, but “all” Minnesota has to do is win a game or two to get back on track. A 3-4 record stinks and isn’t a good omen for future performance, but it’s also not an utter death sentence.
O’Connell deserves a chance to end the two-game skid, as some fans are already screaming about this termination.
J.J. McCarthy Must Inject Life into the Enterprise
The setup may not be ideal — no 22-year-old quarterback with two games of NFL experience should be asked to save a season. But McCarthy has no choice, at least per what the team is sending his direction.
The crescendo that will decide whether the Vikings’ season remains relevant —whether a Wildcard playoff chase hangs in the balance or a losing record one wants to see — is in McCarthy’s hands. Like Jaxson Dart in New York a few weeks ago, Minnesota’s coaching staff will ask McCarthy for an injection of youthful energy.
While the Giants aren’t utterly cooking in with Dart at the helm, their season is no longer rudderless.
The Vikings will ask the same of McCarthy. He has the chance to be the almighty hero who saves the season.
He just has to play competently, avoid a parade of 3-and-Outs, and score some touchdowns in the redzone. The rest will fall into place.
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