The Vikings’ 2025 season wasn’t supposed to unfold like this.
Entering Week 14, Minnesota is 4–8 and in the basement of the competitive NFC North by a mile. It has been a disappointing ride through the 17-game schedule for a franchise that went 14–3 last season and was one win away from claiming the NFC’s No. 1 seed.
There were question marks entering the year for sure, mostly around J.J. McCarthy’s ability to take over as the team’s starting quarterback. That hasn’t gone well, to put it lightly, but McCarthy is not the only factor in Minnesota’s struggles.
On Monday, one day after an embarrassing 26–0 loss to the Seahawks at Lumen Field, veteran wide receiver and hometown hero Adam Thielen requested to be released, marking the end of his second stint with the Vikings after 12 games. Thielen was supposed to be a steady target for McCarthy and provide veteran leadership in the receiver room; instead, he played just 29% of the offensive snaps and caught eight passes for 69 yards with three drops.
The trade for Thielen in August now goes down as just another move by general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah that has aged poorly in a season of seemingly never-ending bad news.
With that in mind, here are three big mistakes that set the Vikings back:
Letting Sam Darnold head to Seattle
Of course Darnold was topping this list.
Darnold turned his career around last season with the Vikings, guiding them to 14 wins and finally establishing himself as a quality NFL starting quarterback after wearing the label of first-round bust for years. He set career highs in just about every meaningful category last season throwing to star receiver Justin Jefferson in coach Kevin O’Connell’s offense, but after signing a three-year deal with the Seahawks in free agency, Darnold arguably has been even better out in the Pacific Northwest.
In 12 games, Darnold has thrown for 2,913 yards with 19 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He has cut his sack rate—something that has haunted him throughout his entire career—in half from last season and is leading the NFL in yards per pass attempt (9.0).
Minnesota did try to bring Darnold back for 2025 on a contract NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero called a “pretty similar offer” to the three-year, $100.5 million deal that includes a few opt outs that he ended up signing with Seattle. But Minnesota wasn’t willing to go longer than a one-year commitment due to its belief in McCarthy.
The Vikings got a close-up view of Darnold on Sunday during their ugly 26–0 loss to the Seahawks. Darnold didn’t exactly put on a show, throwing for 128 yards on 14-of-26 passing, but he did enough to conduct Seattle’s offense down the field for its ninth win. Meanwhile, undrafted rookie Max Brosmer threw four interceptions and looked completely overmatched in his first career start.
Which brings us to ...
Failing to prepare a better backup plan for J.J. McCarthy
Through six NFL games, McCarthy’s career is off to a horrendous start. McCarthy owns the fifth-worst passer rating (57.9) and the worst interception rate (6.3%) for any NFL quarterback through his first six starts since 2000. The Vikings have gone 2–4 in his starts, but even in the two wins, McCarthy has struggled.
Aside from his woes between the hashes, McCarthy is also having a hard time staying on the field. He missed his entire 2024 rookie season due to two knee surgeries, and he has been sidelined for six games in ‘25 with an ankle injury and a concussion.
The Vikings had a chance to bring back Darnold, retain Daniel Jones (who signed with Minnesota last season after being cut by the Giants) or bring in veteran Aaron Rodgers. Although they offered contracts to Darnold and Jones, both opted to sign elsewhere, and the Rodgers-to-Minnesota hype never got off the ground.
Sam Howell was McCarthy’s backup in training camp, but he played so poorly the Vikings traded him to Philadelphia for basically nothing. The Vikings then signed Carson Wentz off the street. Wentz was hard to watch, but he did get Jefferson involved and won two games as the starting QB before undergoing season-ending surgery. With Wentz out, Brosmer took over as McCarthy’s backup and, well, his first start was historically bad. Brosmer threw four interceptions and the Vikings were shut out for the first time since 2007.
Even though O’Connell was able to “fix” Darnold, and quarterbacks like Josh Dobbs and even Nick Mullens have found success in his system, McCarthy struggling in his first year as a starter was always a real possibility. For an offense with this much talent—Jefferson and Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson and left tackle Christian Darrisaw—Wentz was not close to being a good enough backup plan, much less Brosmer.
Shaky track record in recent drafts
The Vikings might be littered with stars on both sides of the ball, but depth has been an issue, especially with a laundry list of injuries they’ve faced in 2025.
Take a look at the Vikings’ 2025 draft class:
- Donovan Jackson, G, Ohio State (Round 1, Pick 24)
- Tai Felton, WR, Maryland (Round 3, Pick 102)
- Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, DL, Georgia (Round 5, Pick 139)
- Kobe King, LB, Penn State (Round 6, Pick 201)
- Gavin Bartholomew, TE, Pittsburgh (Round 6, Pick 202)
Jackson has been a solid addition to the Vikings’ offensive line. In nine games, he has given up two sacks and ranks 39th among 81 qualified offensive guards in PFF’s overall grades (61.3). He’s far from Darrisaw’s talent level on the outside, but he’s been an improvement from last year’s unit.
The rest of the class isn’t contributing much at all. Felton, a receiver selected in the third round, has made his biggest impact as a gunner in the punt game. Ingram-Dawkins hasn’t done much while playing 22% of the defensive snaps, King has played all of three snaps and Bartholomew remains on the PUP list.
Zoom out further, and Adofo-Mensah’s big swings in drafts don’t look good, either. McCarthy could very well develop into a startable NFL quarterback, but right now he does not look the part. The Vikings’ other 2024 first-round pick, Dallas Turner, has fallen well short of expectations in Brian Flores’s defense.
Addison was a good choice in the first round of 2023, but only one other member of that six-player draft class—safety Jay Ward—remains with the organization this season.
Sure, McCarthy should wear most of the blame for the Vikings’ struggles this season. But he’s far from being the roster’s only issue.
More NFL on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Three Bad Decisions That Sank the Vikings’ Chances to Contend in 2025.
