To Win a Super Bowl, The Vikings Will Need a Very Rare Reality to Occur
Yes, yes, I know: the naysayers and doom-and-gloom purple prophets will instinctively scoff at any mention of the Vikings taking the Super Bowl. There is a widespread expectation of inevitable failure that follows the franchise.
Lay that (perhaps justifiable) skepticism to the side for a moment.
Minnesota is moving into the 2025 season with the intention of allowing J.J. McCarthy to function as the QB1. Of course, the kid still needs to prove capable of thriving in that role, but he has been impressing Minnesota’s top decision makers. Minnesota’s leadership is looking at the 2025 season as one where winning a Lombardi is realistic and they’re doing so with the hope of turning to their sophomore passer at the game’s most important position. Can the strategy actually work?
The Vikings, The Super Bowl, & The QB Plan
Credit to Pro Football Network for offering a piece that fills in the gaps.
Back in 2024, PFN approached the topic due to Brock Purdy — at that time, a sophomore quarterback — leading his 49ers into the Super Bowl: “Purdy will become just the eighth quarterback to start in the Super Bowl in his second year — and the second in the past three years.”
Consider the broader context: “The list of quarterbacks to have started a Super Bowl in their second year contains two Hall of Famers and at least two likely future Hall of Famers. Those seven names are Dan Marino (1984), Kurt Warner (1999), Tom Brady (2001), Ben Roethlisberger (2005), Colin Kaepernick (2012), Russell Wilson (2013), and Joe Burrow (2021).”
Boil things down to just the quarterbacks to have won the Super Bowl in their second season: “Four of the seven second-year quarterbacks to start a Super Bowl in their second season managed to lift the Lombardi Trophy. Those four are Warner, Brady, Roethlisberger, and Wilson.”
One could also toss Carson Went into the mix, but the major caveat there is that the quarterback didn’t play in the Super Bowl. In fact, he wasn’t part of the playoff push at all, instead seeing Nick Foles go nuts while leading Philly to the Lombardi. The PFN take: “One other quarterback whose team went to the Super Bowl in his second campaign was Carson Wentz. However, Wentz is somewhat of an asterisk here because he had started 13 games before his season ended due to injury. Technically, he helped his team to a Super Bowl in his second season, but he didn’t finish it.”
People who follow the Vikings, of course, won’t need to be reminded about the Wentz/Foles tidbit. After all, it was that Eagles team that dismantled Minnesota’s elite 2017 defense. Still fresh in the collective mind of Vikings fans.
The curveball with McCarthy, of course, is that he’s coming off a missed rookie season. Seeing a year that resembled what Jayden Daniels did or even Bo Nix would definitely inspire more confidence since there’s at least a short track record of individual/team success (especially for Daniels, who was sensational).
Now, how do we know that the Minnesota Vikings actually believe they can compete for it all? Easy. Just look at how they spent their precious cap space. Kwesi Adofo-Mensah was very aggressive in free agency, pursuing established veterans for major money, deals that don’t happen unless the team is serious about going for it all.
And, for whatever it’s worth, the team does have several things going for it:
- The reigning NFL Coach of the Year in Kevin O’Connell
- A sophisticated tactician at DC in Brian Flores
- Skill on offense that’s second-to-none in the NFL
- A collection of pass rushers who will inspire fear in opposing QBs/OCs
- A revamped rushing attack with Aaron Jones & Jordan Mason
- An o-line and d-line with the potential to be very good
Can all of these things add up to help J.J. McCarthy lead the team to where it has never gone before? Possible. Yes, possible, even if the odds are against Minnesota.
Next up for Minnesota is the 2025 NFL Draft, an event that occurs from April 24th to 26th. Afterwards, the Vikings can dip into their more than $17 million in cap space to bring the roster a bit further along.
J.J. McCarthy, the No. 10 selection in the 2024 NFL Draft who has yet to throw a regular season pass, is being entrusted with a heavy burden, so Minnesota would be wise to offer him ample support. Seeing McCarthy win it all in February of 2026 would mean that something historic took place.
Editor’s Note: Information from Over the Cap helped with this piece.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on social media (Bluesky & Twitter). If you feel so inclined, subscribe to his Substack, The Vikings Gazette, for more great Vikings content.