Take with as much salt as you need
The ink has just barely dried on all of the coverage of the 2024 NFL season, and already people are trying to make their mark by calling their shots about 2025. At least one of those sources. . .and I’m sure there will be more as we move through the offseason. . .seems to believe that our Minnesota Vikings are going to see a significant drop-off next season.
Over at CBS Sports, Jeff Kerr has a list of five teams that he feels are poised for a drop-off next season, and the purple are right up at the top of the list.
The biggest surprise in the NFL last season appears to be primed for a drop-off. While Minnesota did win 14 games last season, the Vikings lost their final two games by a combined 40 points. This includes the wild-card playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams, who had a negative point differential last season.
Minnesota needs to figure out the quarterback situation, as Sam Darnold is a free agent and J.J. McCarthy is waiting in the wings as the team’s first-round pick from a season ago. If the Vikings go with McCarthy, hard to fathom he’ll help this team win 14 games in Year 1 as a starter coming off a torn meniscus.
There’s talent on this Minnesota team, but the NFC North has strong teams in it and the conference has too many teams that can win double-digit games. This is the team poised for a drop-off, even if it’s a slight one.
I suppose that Kerr makes some decent points here. But it’s worth noting that he doesn’t have the Detroit Lions on the list, which I guess means that they’ll be right up there winning 15 games again in 2025 or something.
(Probably not.)
I know it might not be easy to envision the Vikings having success right away with J.J. McCarthy behind center. It was just as hard to envision them winning 14 games in 2024 with a quarterback who had already been cast off by three other teams, but that’s what Minnesota did this past season. The Vikings will also benefit from a full season of T.J. Hockenson, a (hopefully) upgraded offensive line, and several other infusions of talent from the significant amount of money they’ll have to spend in free agency this offseason.
The Vikings will probably be at the top of a lot of the lists of teams everyone thinks will take a step back in 2025. Then again, a lot of those same people thought the Vikings would be competing for the #1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, so perhaps they could hold off on their predictions of doom and gloom until they actually see what happens on the field.