There’s a lot of hype going into the 2025 season for the Minnesota Vikings.
They have a young quarterback who’s getting his first season under center after being injured last season. The team also has a revamped offensive line, the potential of having the league’s best wide receiver duo, and a defense led by Brian Flores, who was considered for head coaching jobs after last season’s success.
All these storylines are positive, but one undeniable fact looms large: They have one of the toughest schedules in the NFL.
Vikings fans should know whether this team is a true contender after the Week 7 matchup against the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles. Below are some highlights to watch for in the first six games.
They’ll be on national TV
Four of Minnesota’s first six games will be in primetime. The first seven weeks include a Monday night game against the Chicago Bears to start the season. Minnesota has a Sunday night game in Week 2, must contain Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 3, and then play two overseas games in Weeks 4 and 5. Then they get the defending champions following their Week 6 bye.
NFL fans will see a lot of J.J. McCarthy, the new offensive line, and Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison. They’ll also see Flores’ defensive scheme at work against some of the league’s best offenses.
NFL.com predicts the Vikings will win about nine games this season, and the betting lines have their over/under at 8.5. How this shakes out will be heavily contingent on those first seven weeks.
How soon will the team be in form?
The key will be to focus more on how the Vikings look rather than any individual game’s outcome. Of course who wins matters in a league with a mere 17 games in the regular season, but how they got there might matter more in these early contests.
Say the Vikings run up the score on every team, including the Eagles, and start 6-0. They will be considered a contender.
They’ll also look like a contender if they pick up six ugly wins. Conversely, a sub-.500 start may indicate they have regressed after winning 14 games last year.
They’ll likely end up in the middle ground, and people must use the eye test. If the Vikings play gritty, hard-fought games every week, most people will consider them a force to be reckoned with headed towards the postseason. But even if they start 4-2, some fans and analysts will be skeptical if a couple of the wins are ugly.
The First Five Games
Each of the first five games has its own unique set of challenges before the bye week.
In Week 1, Minnesota will travel to Soldier Field to face a Chicago Bears squad with a rejuvenated energy. With a young, talented team and new, offensive-minded head coach, Ben Johnson, the Bears are not the pushover squad they used to be.
Week 2 seems like a toss-up against the Atlanta Falcons. Even if Kirk Cousins is still with Atlanta after the June 1 deadline, the team is most likely to go with Michael Penix Jr. at quarterback instead. This game will be featured on Sunday Night Football, so the whole football world will see McCarthy and what the Vikings have to offer.
Week 3 finds the Cincinnati Bengals coming to town, in what should be a hard-fought game. Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, and the rest of that dynamic offense will have to hang tough and outsmart Flores and the Vikings defense, which will almost certainly send one-of-a-kind defensive packages that should lead to an instant classic.
Going overseas for two weeks will present unique challenges
In Weeks 4 and 5, the Vikings will become the first team to play back-to-back games in different countries.
The Vikings have a strong overseas fanbase. Still, we don’t know how much that will factor into the game, given that the Pittsburgh Steelers are hosting the game in Dublin and the Cleveland Browns are hosting the one in London.
In Dublin, Kevin O’Connell will face off against Mike Tomlin, who has coached the Steelers since 2007. The Steelers still have many questions at the quarterback position. Will Aaron Rodgers join, or will they be stuck with Mason Rudolph?
The week before the bye, the Browns will host a game at Tottenham Stadium. The Browns are still the Browns. Although they’ve had losing seasons in three of the past four years, they were an 11-win team two years ago. This could be a trap game before the bye week if Minnesota isn’t diligent.
After two weeks in Europe, the Vikings are going on bye before what could be the most important of these first six matchups.
The Eagle Effect
Fans might also consider the last of those first six games, hosting the Eagles, to be the key to defining their season.
If the Vikings find themselves on the wrong end of a hard-fought game, some might just consider that the better team won. Most fans would probably just be happy to stay competitive with such a dominant team during a stretch that will show the framework of this 2025 team.
The key is not to get blown out.
Yes, there will be growing pains, injuries, and heartbreak early in the season. That should come as no surprise to the Vikings or their dedicated fans. How they bounce back from early-season setbacks and navigate a treacherous stretch of the schedule will define the 2025 squad.