Daily Norseman
Vikings projected to have one of NFL’s five hardest schedules in 2025
Looking ahead to the schedule and giving a way too early prediction, I can see the games going down like this ...
10-7 record.
What do you think the record will be?
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Vikings Get Bad News Ahead of 2025 NFL Schedule Announcement
The car is fully tuned for J.J. McCarthy to take it for his first joyride and see how far he can go.
Five teams the Vikings face this season ranked in the top 10p-10 in total pressures last season. The Steelers, Eagles, Browns and Cowboys finished last season with the top-four pass-rushing grades by Pro Football Focus (PFF), respectively.
The onus will be on the Vikings’ supporting cast to keep McCarthy clean as he develops and catches up to the speed of the NFL.
Vikings projected to have one of NFL’s five hardest schedules in 2025
Here’s a look at Minnesota’s opponents, sorted by Vegas win total. (The Vikings’ total is 8.5). They’re playing against the NFC East, the AFC North, and second-place teams from the NFC South, NFC West, and AFC West.
Eagles (home): 11.5
Ravens (home): 11.5
Lions (home and away): 10.5
Packers (home and away): 9.5
Commanders (home): 9.5
Bengals (home): 9.5
Chargers (away): 9.5
Bears (home and away): 8.5
Steelers (away): 8.5
Falcons (home): 7.5
Seahawks (away): 7.5
Cowboys (away): 7.5
Browns (away): 5.5
Giants (away): 5.5
One interesting aspect of the Vikings’ schedule is that outside of the annual divisional games, their home slate looks a lot tougher than their road slate. The glass-half-full view of that quirk is that playing tougher opponents like the Eagles and Ravens at home gives Kevin O’Connell’s team a better chance to pull off the upset, and trips to play teams like the Browns and Giants present opportunities for road wins. The glass-half-empty view is that they may not have any slam-dunk home games against bad teams (not that there are ever any guaranteed wins in the NFL).
*One reason not to be too concerned about this strength of schedule ranking? The exact same thing was true heading into last season. This time last year, the Vikings also had the fifth-toughest SOS in the league, using Vegas win totals. Then a bunch of teams on their schedule — the 49ers, Jets, Falcons, Jaguars, Titans, Bears, and Giants — underperformed their preseason totals. Other than the Falcons (-1.5), each of those teams finished at least 3.5 wins under their projection. The Vikings went 8-0 against that group and recorded 14 total...
