Pick a play, any play, in any game, in all the games and all the quarters, in this Minnesota season that grows gloomier by the week. The Vikings in 2025 cannot be described as a “work in progress.” That would require progress. And those moments, dozens spread across 11 contests to select from, add up to an obvious conclusion: Minnesota is a mess.
Like in Week 11, at home against Chicago, in one simple but not determinative sequence: The Vikings, despite their offensive line’s high pressure rate (37.7 percent, fifth-worst in the NFL), get Aaron Jones moving. A renewed ground game yields immediate defensive adjustments from the Bears. McCarthy turns those into two crisp passes that whistle toward intended targets. Minnesota puts a promising drive together—exactly how decision-makers expected this and future seasons to unfold. But on a third-and-3, nearing midfield, pass aimed at arguably the single-best receiver in pro football, McCarthy rams another attempt so high, with such velocity, it zips over Justin Jefferson’s head. It zooms past the sideline before striking the barrier below the stands, like a missile hitting miles beyond its intended target.
