Last summer, the excitement was palpable for fans of the Minnesota Vikings. After winning 14 games the year prior, the Vikings were expected to compete for an elusive Super Bowl appearance. Their franchise quarterback, J.J. McCarthy, was set to take over as the team’s starter, and the vibes during the offseason program made it feel like the Vikings were in for a magical year.
Then the games began. The Vikings stumbled to a 4-8 start and finished the season on a five-game winning streak that even the team signaled may have been a fluke. The quarterback position was a revolving door, and Kevin O’Connell’s reputation as a quarterback whisperer took a massive hit.
As the Vikings prepare for the 2026 season, they’ll tell you that things are different. But while there are several big changes from last year’s team, it may not matter if they didn’t learn anything from their 2025 disaster.
The evidence goes back to the beginning of the offseason. The Vikings had to know they needed to make changes after starting 4-8 and missing the playoffs. The first move was firing general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
Adofo-Mensah’s poor decision-making and tendency to fall into The Matrix with his door closed may have sealed his fate. Still, he may have been Minnesota’s biggest scapegoat as it went into the offseason.
The search for a new general manager was one of the more intriguing in recent memory. Rob Brzezinski took over in an interim role, and O’Connell and defensive coordinator Brian Flores ran the offseason. They brought in the players they thought would get the Vikings back to a championship level.
Once the draft concluded, the Vikings searched the NFL for a full-time general manager and landed on Nolan Teasley. He could be a great GM and has the endorsement of many in his brotherhood of front-office executives. But his background seemed a little too convenient — he was the assistant general manager of the Seattle Seahawks.
After being introduced in June, fans are still wondering how Teasley will fare with his new team and whether the Vikings hired him because he built a solid infrastructure around Sam Darnold. But that’s nothing compared to what has happened at the quarterback position.
In a season filled with ankle and hand injuries, an infamous meme, and one third-string quarterback who became a cult hero, McCarthy’s first year as a starter followed the arc of Harvey Dent.
Chucking deep shots behind a leaky offensive line could be the football equivalent of getting half his face blown off. Still, O’Connell vowed to get back to his aggressive ways after watering down the offense over the final five weeks of the season.
That led to Kyler Murray’s arrival in Minnesota. O’Connell and his staff have tried to pitch this as a competition. However, bringing in a former No. 1-overall pick suggests Murray could win the job if he just reports to training camp on time. Murray’s past also is a wild card. Still, the Vikings don’t seem concerned, boasting that they have created the most competitive quarterback room ever assembled.
Putting Teasley in charge and Murray at quarterback could be two moves that take the Vikings from being a nine-win team to a 14-win team. But they’re also concerning if O’Connell believes he was right all along.
Sure, the Vikings will get around to running the ball – especially with the additions of offensive line coach Keith Carter and assistant head coach Frank Smith. They may even have an explosive element with the addition of Demond Claiborne, whose speed Aaron Jones compared to Detroit Lions star Jahmyr Gibbs.
Claiborne’s immediate impact is something a fantasy football analyst might slobber over. But it could also be a pipe dream, considering Claiborne fumbled 5 times on 179 carries and struggled in pass protection during his final year at Wake Forest.
Ty Chandler and DeWayne McBride were two backs who learned that speed means nothing if you can’t block or hang on to the football, and Claiborne could be on a similar path if he’s not a quick learner.
We haven’t even touched on the fact that O’Connell will start shaking and sweating on his first third-and-one next season, attempting to resist the urge to call a trick play called “Justin Jefferson’s down there somewhere,” which will probably end in a five-yard loss or a memeable interception.
If you think that’s harsh, that’s just talking about the running game. There are other scenarios the Vikings are counting on that could blow up in their face:
- Christian Darrisaw’s knee feels great one year removed from a multiligament injury. But if it acts up again, he could last as long as Conor McGregor’s return to the octagon.
- Minnesota’s defensive line received an injection of youth during the draft. But Caleb Banks’s foot problem could put to rest any discussion about him being the next Chris Jones.
- While Flores seems destined to blow the conch shell to summon Harrison Smith, there’s another scenario in which he’s too deep in the Smoky Mountains to hear it.
This may sound like the nihilist night terrors of a Vikings fan, fearing the worst possible outcome before it even happens. But it’s probably valid, considering the Vikings believe things will be different with a new quarterback and that they’ll become the midwestern version of the Seahawks.
Then again, Minnesota’s best seasons have come when expectations have been at a low. But none of that will matter if they don’t learn from some of the other things that torpedoed a promising season a year ago.
