The Minnesota Vikings host the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in a game that may sort out the NFC’s power struggle early in the season. Going into Week 7, there are 10 teams with two or fewer losses in the conference, indicating that it’s anybody’s for the taking.
After going 3-2 amid a barrage of injuries in the first five weeks, the vibes should be high going into Sunday’s game. But Vikings fans are fueled by their usual pessimism, wondering if they should simulate the rest of the 2025 season like a Madden franchise.
Vikings fans have their reasons for being down on this year’s team. But with everything going on, Sunday feels like the start of a new season and an opportunity to make a run in a crowded division race.
You can’t blame the Vikings for feeling a sense of deja vu. After weeks of speculation that J.J. McCarthy could be ready to go for Sunday’s game, it appears that Carson Wentz will make the start despite a shoulder injury. Reports of the Vikings hiding behind the injury have invoked the names of previous draft busts like Tarvaris Jackson and Christian Ponder.
The current landscape appears to be a season where the Vikings are “in the hunt” with somewhere between 9 and 10 wins.
For a fanbase that lives the tagline “Just one before I die,” another season of clawing their way into the playoffs only to get blasted into the sun doesn’t add a layer of excitement. Starting Wentz over McCarthy also doesn’t feel like the right move because he’s started for six different teams over the past six seasons.
Those vibes make it feel like the Vikings have been transported back to the mid-‘90s, when Dennis Green was trying to get the most out of an aging Warren Moon. However, it feels worse when your team is coming off a 14-win season.
While the Vikings ultimately became one of the best teams in the conference last season, it wasn’t the smooth ride that their record suggested. The Vikings started 5-0 and had a shot at home-field advantage in the playoffs by the end of the year. Still, a four-game hiccup produced a similar feeling of dread.
The Vikings dropped a close game to the Detroit Lions at home and followed it up a few days later with a loss to the Los Angeles Rams. The second loss felt like a bigger blow after the Vikings lost Christian Darrisaw to a multi-ligament knee injury, and a lackluster win over the Indianapolis Colts the following week didn’t inspire much confidence.
That led to the turning point of the season. Sam Darnold had one of his worst games in Minnesota, launching three interceptions and failing to lead the Vikings to a touchdown in a 12-7 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. But while the Colts and Jaguars games weren’t designed for the Walker Art Center, the main thing was that they won.
At that point, the Vikings just kept winning. They enjoyed the benefits of a third-place schedule, and they gained confidence along the way. A December win over the Green Bay Packers felt like the gateway to something special, but reality soon slapped the Vikings in the face with back-to-back losses to Detroit and the Rams.
If you squint hard enough, you can see the same blueprint for this year’s team. The Vikings didn’t look great over their first five games. However, like the 2024 version, they weren’t a finished product, even with their 5-0 start.
The Vikings played their last two games without most of their offensive line, but Brian O’Neill and Donovan Jackson could be back as early as this week. Darrisaw continues to progress from his knee injury, and Blake Brandel could be a suitable replacement after they lost Ryan Kelly to a concussion.
Minnesota’s defense also has reasons for optimism. The run defense is concerning, given the Vikings’ opponents are averaging 4.5 yards per carry. However, if they shave half a yard off that total, they would be a top-10 team against the run. The returns of Blake Cashman and Andrew Van Ginkel should help in that regard and boost a defense that ranks fifth in scoring (19.4 ppg) and second in passing yards per game (157.6).
Then there’s that nasty quarterback dilemma. Many fans seem annoyed about who will start on Sunday, but it feels like people have lost their focus. While many had Super Bowl aspirations on this team, the real goal should have been to see if McCarthy could develop week after week. His injury threw a wrench into that process, but it doesn’t mean he couldn’t wind up contributing – especially if Wentz continues his “don’t crash the plane” objective he’s had over the past few weeks.
But let’s go back to those Super Bowl aspirations. They may not feel like they’re still there after 3-2, but like last year’s team, they can change that narrative if they just keep winning. The Eagles were in the same spot this time last year, and they went on to win 16 of their final 17 games and, ultimately, the Super Bowl.
In that case, Minnesota’s goal should be to keep winning games, no matter how low the vibes are while doing it. If they can do that, the hype will return, and the Vikings could be back on track for a special year.