In 2018, the Minnesota Vikings moved on from Case Keenum after a magical run to the NFC Conference Championship the year before. Despite his success, Case Keenum had a clear ceiling that the Vikings felt they would not be overcome if they were to make a Super Bowl run. As a result, they went out and paid a premium cost for Kirk Cousins in the hopes that he would be the one to lead a talented roster to the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, the 2018 season was a brutal disappointment, with the team not even making the playoffs to match the success of the prior year. You can take whatever you want away from that experience, but the reality is that it was a Vikings organization that tried something new and didn’t immediately reap the rewards of that experimentation.
The 2025 season and the 2018 season, thus far, have a lot in common. Bringing in a new quarterback to captain a talented team has resulted in underwhelming results, but it was once again a bold act of experimentation for the Vikings to choose the unknown over the incumbent Sam Darnold. They now sit at 4-6. Whether or not the season is completely lost, this team will need to show us some things throughout the rest of the season to give us, and themselves, confidence going forward. This is a brief list of the things that I will be personally looking for as the rest of the season plays out.
Continued O-Line Cohesion
Many have referred to this season as an “all-in” season with the numerous short-term investments in the trenches, but the Vikings’ O-Line, barring something unexpected, should stay relatively stable from this season to the next. The rookie guard Donovan Jackson is coming into his own, Christian Darrisaw is still a formidable tackle, and Will Fries seems to be getting more and more familiar with the offense. Ryan Kelly’s health is always a concern, but this offensive line is starting to look more and more like the line we envisioned before the season began. For that reason, it’ll be important to see how they meld as a unit and whether or not this could be a line that protects the Vikings’ quarterback for years to come.
Kevin O’Connell Adjusting His Scheme
Player development has been a big topic of discussion lately (and one that I’m going to talk about in just a bit), but coach development is something that is discussed less often. Andy Reid coached for 20 years before winning a Super Bowl. This kind of thing doesn’t happen overnight. Coaches improve, regress, and are figured out, but the key constant is that they are always changing. With Kevin O’Connell, the reigning AP Coach of the Year, I want to see a similar growth in week-to-week matchups. His notorious pass-happy scheme has been very effective at times, but there also needs to be a balance of the running game that just hasn’t been there since he’s taken over as head coach. Nobody is questioning that Kevin O’Connell is a solid playcaller, but Vikings fans are eager to see him reach that Kyle Shanahan or Sean McVay level of truly top-tier playcallers. He’s not there yet, but he has a chance to change that by adjusting properly throughout the rest of the 2025 season.
Growth from Key Players
J.J. McCarthy needs to play better; that much is obvious, so I decided to discuss a few players that we need to see improvement with instead of just singling the second-year quarterback out. Still, starting with J.J. McCarthy, everything needs to improve if he wants to earn the trust of both the locker room and the fanbase. He’s struggled with accuracy over the first five games of his career, and that’s not an anomaly for young quarterbacks. The problem is the egregious misses, which are especially frustrating when much of his decision-making has been quite good. Everything runs through the quarterback, so prioritizing McCarthy’s growth is key as the Vikings take on the next seven games.
Dallas Turner was receiving the bust label earlier this year, but the 22-year-old edge rusher has really come on in the last few games. His athleticism was never a concern, and now that he seems to be getting more comfortable with Brian Flores’ scheme, he’s definitely a player to keep an eye on for the rest of the season. The aforementioned Donovan Jackson is another player to pay attention to, as his youth and talent are huge to the growth of the offensive line. Last but not least is Jalen Redmond, the 26-year-old defensive end who has flashed throughout the season. If he continues to disrupt offensive lines like he’s been doing, Redmond is going to earn himself a nice paycheck and a spot as a foundational piece on the Vikings’ defense.
What's Next?
There’s still a lot of football left to be played, and a lot of improvement to be seen. Even if the playoffs are unlikely, watching for growth in both the personnel and coaching staff is still an exciting incentive to tuning in on Sundays (at least for me). The Vikings take on the Packers at Lambeau this Sunday, so keep a keen eye out for big changes in both coaching scheme and player productivity.
