Are we all just living in a simulation where the same events happen over and over again, but with only slight alterations each time?
Because it sure feels like it to me.
I can’t be the only one who’s noticed a pattern with the Minnesota Vikings over the past several years. I’m not talking about the stereotypical “Vikings choke when it matters most” shtick that everyone is familiar with. It’s this weird, every-other-year phenomenon where this team is surprisingly good one year and wildly disappointing following it. This has been going on for about a decade now.
In 2015, Teddy Bridgewater was an efficient game manager as a rookie in a run-first offense headlined by Adrian Peterson, who was still playing at an All-Pro level at age 30. Paired with a young but stingy Mike Zimmer-led defense, the Vikings finished the season with an 11-5 record and won the division title at Lambeau Field against the reigning NFC North champs.
No one expected the Vikings to win the division with a rookie quarterback and a second-year head coach in a division with prime Aaron Rodgers, but they did, and it was a pleasant surprise.
That positive momentum could have kick-started a period of sustained success for the Vikings. But the following year, Bridgewater suffered a non-contact knee injury during training camp. Rick Spielman traded a first-round pick for Sam Bradford in an attempt to salvage what would have been a lost season with Sean Hill under center. Still, Minnesota finished 8-8 and missed the playoffs.
Here’s where you start to notice a pattern emerging. The Vikings reached the NFC Championship game in 2017 with an elite defense and Case Keenum at quarterback, despite Vegas setting Minnesota’s over-under at 8.5 wins. That offseason, they signed Kirk Cousins to a record-breaking, fully guaranteed contract and were among the most hyped-up teams by the national media. Then 2018 rolls around, and they disappoint again with an 8-7-1 record as they fail to make the playoffs.
Guess what? The same exact thing happened yet again. In 2019, the Vikings made the playoffs with a 10-6 record, and in 2020, they finished 7-9 and missed the postseason. One year, the team makes the playoffs after having low expectations; the next year, they get hyped up only to fall short of lofty preseason expectations set by the successful season they had the year before.
It’s like clockwork.
The 2021 season was an outlier because of an aging roster with low expectations and a coach who overstayed his welcome, but it wouldn’t take long for the pattern to re-emerge under Kevin O’Connell. In 2022, the team won 13 games and made the playoffs with a first-year head coach. However, a year later, they missed the playoffs after Cousins tore his Achilles midseason.
Once again, the pattern has materialized. If 2024 was the year Minnesota exceeded expectations, with journeyman Sam Darnold leading the team to 14 wins, then 2025 has the makings of yet another disappointing year.
Honestly, it’s just so freaking exhausting. Not just because I expected the 2025 Vikings to be more competitive than they actually were. Rather, I’ve seen this movie before; I know how it ends, and I’m tired of watching the same sequence play out over and over again. I miss when the Vikings were actually chaotic and unpredictable. What was once unpredictable has become stale.
I know what some of you are thinking: You’re being too pessimistic. The Vikings are still in the playoff picture at 4-5, and all it takes is a couple of division wins and we’re right back in the mix in a tightly contested NFC North!
Oddly enough, I fully expect the Vikings to win most of their divisional matchups this season. Minnesota tends to play with an extra level of focus and determination against its most hated rivals. Where disappointing Vikings teams of the past have struggled is taking care of business against teams that don’t strike the same level of fear or urgency, especially at home. When the Vikings missed the playoffs in 2023, they had a curious 2-6 home record but were 5-4 on the road.
The Vikings are 1-3 at U.S. Bank Stadium this season but somehow are 3-2 on the road, including two international games. That’s a sign that this team is more prepared when they are in an uncomfortable environment. Another barometer I use to determine whether or not a team is good is how they handle the “easy” games. Do they play with the same level of focus and determination as they do on the road, or does the team go through the motions?
I just get the sense that Kevin O’Connell has to give an epic speech every other week to re-engage his team. Good teams don’t need bi-weekly wake-up calls. They treat inferior opponents and easy games with the same intensity they do in big games. We are halfway through the season, and at some point, you are what your record says you are. Right now, the 2025 Vikings are a bipolar, bi-weekly team that has been stuck on a seemingly never-ending bi-annual rollercoaster for the past decade.
