All Things 2025 Minnesota Vikings In-Season Thread

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Pretty good for the young rookie, especially since not only has he been banged up here and there over the season, but it seems the guys who are playing on either side of him are changing every damn game. Great draft pick so far

 



Too early in the week to push the panic button but this is largely some shitty news, possibly 3 of the 5 starting OL out. I would guess for one or two of them it's maintenance days or something.

 


Ogie Ogilthorpe said:
Too early in the week to push the panic button but this is largely some shitty news, possibly 3 of the 5 starting OL out. I would guess for one or two of them it's maintenance days or something.

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I don't expect Darrisaw to play again this year. The knee has never gotten right. Just shut it down.
 

Pretty good article from Alec Lewis at The Athletic about what we might see in the offseason for roster moves. Interesting nugget about Tai Felton, which may not be popular with those that want to think it was a wasted pick, but it's what I've been hearing since late summer

"When the Vikings drafted Tai Felton this spring, they hoped his trajectory would go exactly like this. Confined to a special teams gunner position as a rookie. Buried on the depth chart behind three elite players in Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and Jalen Nailor. The team believed time and work alongside receivers coach Keenan McCardell would be his best path toward long-term production.

It has gone exactly to script.

By all accounts, Felton has assimilated well into a receiver room with high expectations. Nailor is projected to become a highly sought-after free agent this offseason."

It will kinda suck to lose Nailor, but Felton appears poised to step in
 

And a few nuggets regarding the DL. The Vikings certainly appear to have found some diamonds in the rough with guys like Levi Drake Rodriguez, Jalen Redmond and despite him being dinged up most of the year, they were really liking what Elijah Williams was bringing to the table. I agree they need at least another piece to go with this crowd.

"One of the more predictable offseason moves will be cutting defensive tackle Javon Hargrave. The reasoning? It’s a combination of age, production and financial savings. Hargrave will turn 33 in February. He has flashed in spurts as a pass rusher, but his 3.5 sacks have been underwhelming. And the Vikings can create $11 million in room for 2026 by parting ways with him.

Jalen Redmond’s ascent, Levi Drake Rodriguez’s improvement and Elijah Williams’ promise allow for some wiggle room. But the Vikings still desperately need another fearsome defender on the interior."

Jonathan Allen's contract sounds a bit more inflexible than Hargrave's, but Allen is 2 years younger so keeping him wouldn't be terrible either
 

GophersInIowa said:
Having JJM play well helps the team in the future much more than picking a little bit later. I'm fine if they win some games if it mean he's playing better.
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Well, so far against two terrible defenses he has played better.

Washington flatly gave up and did not want to keep playing after the first quarter. Game over in 2:45?? Good grief.

Cowboy game was genuinely fun to watch. I can't help but smile any time the Vikings beat the Cowboys.

McCarthy still throws mostly fastballs, but he does seem to be trying to put some touch on the ball now and then.

There's a reason that normally sure handed catches suddenly this season seem to have a bunch of drops. He throws the ball too hard.
 



The massive, plain and day blunder by KOC was .... why didn't you do this wholesale simplifying and quick release scheme that very clearly has been installed the last two weeks, back in Sept???

Not saying it would've worked out any better ... but at least it makes sense to pare down the offense like this for a (defacto) rookie QB.
 

upnorthkid said:
we'll have to see here as he plays better defenses. dallas has given up the 2nd most points in the league and has the leagues worst pass defense. Washington the 4th worst.

that said, much much better and more decisive last 2 games. they need to fix his mechanics for consistency in the offseason, but encouraging signs.
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I had to check, just because.... I think the "JJM played good against a couple of shitty defenses" has been way, way overplayed honestly. No, those aren't great defenses in Wash and Dallas, but he compared pretty favorably against other QBs against those two teams this year. Far, far from the worst performances; against Washington, he put up the 5th best QB rating of all QBs against Washington this year.

The kid has played 8 games of NFL football, with a makeshift OL for almost all of it. He's 3-1 on the road with wins AT Dallas, Detroit, and Chicago.
 

GopherGrit said:
Well, so far against two terrible defenses he has played better.
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WAS is a disaster but the QB still needs to make plays. He did.

DAL was at home battling for their Playoff lives. JJM made winning plays.
GopherGrit said:
McCarthy still throws mostly fastballs, but he does seem to be trying to put some touch on the ball now and then.
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JJM has had some very nice layered throws lately that required a lot of touch. It's certainly something he needs to continue working on, though.
GopherGrit said:
There's a reason that normally sure handed catches suddenly this season seem to have a bunch of drops. He throws the ball too hard.
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WR's are paid to catch the balls...even the hard ones. My guess is once JJM gains more composure and learns to manage his adrenaline, we will see a higher completion %.

I'm still not sold that JJM will prove to be our long-term answer at QB but I sure do hope we see him continue to show signs of development these last three (3) games.
 





GopherGrit said:
The massive, plain and day blunder by KOC was .... why didn't you do this wholesale simplifying and quick release scheme that very clearly has been installed the last two weeks, back in Sept???
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He’s likely just a mere mortal like the rest of us, and unlike you Oz🥸
GopherGrit said:
Not saying it would've worked out any better ... but at least it makes sense to pare down the offense like this for a (defacto) rookie QB.
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Slim Tubby said:
WAS is a disaster but the QB still needs to make plays. He did.

DAL was at home battling for their Playoff lives. JJM made winning plays.

JJM has had some very nice layered throws lately that required a lot of touch. It's certainly something he needs to continue working on, though.

WR's are paid to catch the balls...even the hard ones. My guess is once JJM gains more composure and learns to manage his adrenaline, we will see a higher completion %.

I'm still not sold that JJM will prove to be our long-term answer at QB but I sure do hope we see him continue to show signs of development these last three (3) games.
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It's much easier to make winning plays by throwing short, quick passes to your star playmakers against bad defenses. He has made a few great throws, certainly.

When a top 2 superstar is dropping your balls, when he wasn't dropping before ... nope, you lose that argument. He throws the ball too hard.

End of the day think we're mostly on same page, I'd like to continued improvement.


Then I'd like to see them bring in someone like Mac Jones, or even Dan Jones if Indy gets scared off by the injury, to come in here and try to beat him out for the 2026 starting job. If they can.
 

What I'd really love more than anything for this season is for the Vikings to be the team that kept both the Lions and Packers out of the playoffs.

Think that's possible if Packers lose out, Lions lose next two, and Cowboys win out (mainly depends on beating Chargers this week).

Fly in the ointment of that would be if Bears lie down last week of the season, with division sown up and no way to improve seed. Then again it's a massive rivalry and would think they'd hate to be the team that let the Packers into the playoffs.
 
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Spaulding!No! said:
Christian Darrisaw was placed on POS.
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ONeil probably won't play either.

Interesting because we have a (defacto) rookie QB who's still trying to prove himself not a bust, even if he's pretending he's not trying, with a sub-standard OL.

And then you have the Giants who don't want to win a game the rest of the year, yet the players on the field still want to try hard to put out good tape to either make the team next year or get picked up by someone else.
 

kg21 said:
It was bad for Brosmer, but I think that took some pressure off McCarthy. He saw someone else do worse.
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Just thinking back to that makes me chuckle.

I know this place was homer-hole max because he was a one year mercenary for the Gophers, winning 7 regular season games ... but man that performance sure did shut everyone up.

LOL Gardsy "don't let him see the field!" ... LOL!

Would be wild if it essentially saved McCarthy's career here.
 

howeda7 said:
I don't expect Darrisaw to play again this year. The knee has never gotten right. Just shut it down.
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I'll take a wild crack at this one, stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Knee effusion. Basically the knee capsule produces too much synovial fluid, causes your joint to be swollen which limits range of motion and causes pain and discomfort.

My wild guess is that he has been battling swelling in his surgically repaired knee, all year. The repaired ligaments are structurally fine and healed, but his body isn't buying it, and is causing his knee to swell up every time he tried to get going again.


IF this was true, then it was likely the wrong decision to play through it. Yet another mistake in a year chock full of them.

But I don't know jack squat, could be completely wrong.
 

The Gary, Indiana Bears


My guess is this is like Vikings threatening to move to Blaine, Bloomington, or Eagan
 

GopherGrit said:
It's much easier to make winning plays by throwing short, quick passes to your star playmakers against bad defenses. He has made a few great throws, certainly.

When a top 2 superstar is dropping your balls, when he wasn't dropping before ... nope, you lose that argument. He throws the ball too hard.

End of the day think we're mostly on same page, I'd like to continued improvement.


Then I'd like to see them bring in someone like Mac Jones, or even Dan Jones if Indy gets scared off by the injury, to come in here and try to beat him out for the 2026 starting job. If they can.
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I don't think Daniel Jones will be much of a help to anyone in 2026.
 


GopherGrit said:
The Gary, Indiana Bears


My guess is this is like Vikings threatening to move to Blaine, Bloomington, or Eagan
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No it's not like that. The Vikings never explored options to play their Home games in Hudson, WI.
 

Ope3 said:
No it's not like that. The Vikings never explored options to play their Home games in Hudson, WI.
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They would never have needed to as Wisconsin would never bend over backwards to want the Vikings to cross the river, as Indiana is ready to do for the Bears. So no, you are wrong.

The actual point anyway, as I believe you understand, is that they don't actually want to leave the main Chicago area ... they're trying to force a better deal.
 

GopherGrit said:
They would never have needed to as Wisconsin would never bend over backwards to want the Vikings to cross the river, as Indiana is ready to do for the Bears. So no, you are wrong.

The actual point anyway, as I believe you understand, is that they don't actually want to leave the main Chicago area ... they're trying to force a better deal.
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Exploring options to play in a different state to me makes it radically non-comparable, even if it is the same media market.
 

Ope3 said:
Exploring options to play in a different state to me makes it radically non-comparable, even if it is the same media market.
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Nonsense 🙄

Has nothing to do with the main point anyway, so please stop trolling it. I won't be biting further
 



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