Daily Norseman
Get ready for a primetime beast of a schedule
The NFL has released its 2025-26 schedule and has chosen to highlight the Minnesota Vikings with seven primetime/stand-alone games this season, the second-most of any team. In his most recent press conference, Vikings’ quarterback J.J. McCarthy said he feels most comfortable when the lights are brightest and the stage is the biggest, so he’ll get plenty of opportunities under those conditions during the regular season, including four of his first five games.
Every game in the NFL can be considered a tough matchup as the ‘any given Sunday’ mantra often holds true. But objectively this is a much tougher schedule for the Vikings than last year. Mainly that’s because they’re playing the AFC North instead of the AFC South and the NFC East instead of a weaker NFC West last year. Seven of the Vikings’ 14 wins last season came against divisions they don’t play this year.
There just aren’t a lot of “easy” games on the Vikings’ schedule. The Browns in London and the Giants on the road in December are the only two non-division games against teams unlikely to contend for the playoffs this year. It’s better to face weaker teams on the road and save home field advantage for tougher matchups, so having both of those games technically road games is fortunate for the Vikings.
The other thing for the Vikings is that while their schedule is tougher than last season, the same is true for every team in the NFC North. The Lions face the Commanders, Eagles, Bengals, Ravens, and Chiefs on the road outdoors, for example.
The betting market suggests a 9-win season for the Vikings at the moment.
Looking overall at the Vikings’ schedule below, the easy part of the schedule comes before their week six bye. The Vikings have a legitimate shot at being 5-0 going into their bye week and could be favored to win all of those games. The Bengals stand out as the most difficult of the pre-bye-week games, and the only game against a team with a top quarterback.
The Vikings have the advantage in both games overseas, as these are “home” games for the Steelers and Browns, but at a neutral site which favors the Vikings over normal road games, which could’ve been cold weather games in December in both cases.
But the four games after the week six bye week are easily the toughest stretch of the Vikings’ schedule. Three legitimate Super Bowl contenders in the Eagles, Lions, and Ravens and another playoff contender in the LA Chargers. If the Vikings can win all four of those games, they would prove they can win it all.
But the Vikings’ schedule doesn’t really get much easier after week ten either. The Bears at home and the Giants on the road are the two easier games, but even the Bears is still a division game and likely to be close and hard fought. The Packers, at Seattle, Washington and Dallas...
