Vikings Storylines for Each 2025 Game: Weeks 1-5
There are many storylines you can point to to keep an eye on on any given Sunday during the NFL’s regular season, and the Vikings are no different.
There are many, but let’s focus on the main storylines (at least, as of mid-May) for each of Minnesota’s regular season matchups in the year of 2025.
Week 1 – Vikings @ Bears – McCarthy vs. Williams in Primetime
This should be a preview of the next two decades: J.J. McCarthy vs. Caleb Williams. If both teams are lucky, they will be facing off against each other until the mid-2040s. The Vikings and Bears are having their annual meeting on Monday Night Football a little earlier this time, as we are used to seeing these two face off on ESPN, but usually it’s not until around November at the earliest.
Instead, this year, the Vikings and Bears will meet at Soldier Field in Chicago before the temperature really has a chance to plummet. For that reason, McCarthy, in his debut, will be un-hindered by the elements and can get his career started by defeating Ben Johnson and Williams and their new-era Chicago Bears Football Club.
Week 2 – Falcons @ Vikings – McCarthy vs. Penix Jr. in Primetime
You can go a couple of different ways with this one; not only is it a matchup between young QBs whose franchises hope they’re the answer for at least the next 15 years, but it is also a rematch of the 2024 CFP National Championship.
McCarthy and his Michigan Wolverines defeated Michael Penix Jr. and the Washington Huskies in the “natty” by a score of 34-13, mostly due to Michigan’s stifling defense and RB Blake Corum’s 21 carries for 134 yards and 2 4th-quarter rushing touchdowns. McCarthy wasn’t asked to do much in that game, completing only 10 passes on 18 attempts for 140 yards. Penix Jr. went 27/51 for 255 yards, 1 TD, and 2 INTs.
Week 3 – Bengals @ Vikings – Top WR Duos Face Off
Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison vs. Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Batman and Robin vs. Batman and Robin. The Hardy Boyz vs. Edge and Christian. Name any big-time two-on-two heavyweight bout, and this is the equivalent in NFL WR terms.
Former LSU teammates Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase have become the two best WRs in the NFL, and it’s probably not even a competition as we go into 2025. They will lead their respective squads onto the turf of U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in what should be a high-flying contest, to say the least.
Weeks 4 and 5 – Vikings vs. Steelers and Browns- An International Back-to-Back of Rematches
The first of the Vikings’ international back-to-back, the Vikings and Steelers will face off overseas for the first time since 2013, when Matt Cassel’s Vikings defeated Ben Roethlisberger’s Steelers. For the second half of the back-to-back, the Vikings will face off against the Cleveland Browns overseas for the first time since 2017, when Case Keenum’s Vikings defeated DeShone Kizer’s Browns.
The Vikings volunteered for the international double-dipping for good reason; they have a strong fanbase in Western Europe (the games will be played in Dublin and London respectively), and doing so gets them out of two true road games, much to the dismay of ironically crying Packers fans, who were a little less vocal about the benefit when they got out of going to Philadelphia of all places last year when they played the Eagles in Brazil.
