Nov 3, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson (18) leaves the field after the game against the Indianapolis Colts at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-Imagn Images
The number of primetime games that the Vikings will play in the year of 2025 is an interesting beacon of conversation. It begs the question of how much stock the NFL will put into a team led by a pseudo-rookie that’s never played a snap of real NFL football and coming off a major knee injury in order to give them multiple slots during the times that the most eyes are on the product?
You couldn’t really blame the league for being a bit hesitant to allocate a healthy amount of primetime games to these Vikings, but the roster could be just stacked enough beyond the question mark of J.J. McCarthy to make the NFL feel like they should give Minnesota some run on the national stages of ESPN and NBC.
Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell interacts with Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford (9) after their playoff game at State Farm Stadium on Jan. 13, 2025, in Glendale.
It’s hard to include Prime Video with those networks, as we all know the product we get on Thursday nights during the regular season is consistently horrid and borderline unwatchable.
Going back in time, the Vikings rolled into 2024 before the schedule release, with McCarthy likely going into the season as a backup and Sam Darnold as the starter. The NFL wasn’t huge on believing that Minnesota football would do too well for their ratings, thus giving the Vikings only two primetime games that year (not including the London game against the New York Jets).
As of the 2024 schedule release, the Vikings were only slated to play the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday Night Football in Week 8 and their traditional Monday Night Football showdown against the divisional foe Chicago Bears in Week 15.
Nov 3, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings linebacker Jonathan Greenard (58) sacks Indianapolis Colts quarterback Joe Flacco (15) during the fourth quarter at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
Obviously, the Vikings got two additional regular season primetime games, when their Week 9 game against the Indianapolis Colts got flexed to Sunday Night Football with an original start time of noon on the same day, and the pivotal Week 18 matchup with the Detroit Lions for the NFC North and NFC’s top seed hung in the balance was moved to Sunday Night when it was previously “TBD”.
So, upon extensive analysis of the Vikings’ confirmed list of opponents for the 2025 season, here are my predictions for their primetime games for the season as we approach the official 2025 NFL schedule release in a few short weeks.
Week 8 @ Bears, Monday Night Football, Soldier Field
Jan 22, 2025; Lake Forest, IL, USA; Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson answers questions during an introductory press conference at PNC Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images
The Vikings’ first primetime game of 2025 will also be their first game against the Ben Johnson-led Chicago Bears. This game falls in line with tradition, as it seems like every year the Vikings and Bears meet on a Monday Night on ESPN in a truly boring and sleep-inducing exhibition.
This season could be the point of change in that narrative, as Johnson will surely catapult the Bears offense up the rankings pretty quickly, and this matchup could be an actually entertaining game of football that the NFL masses could look forward to after a long day at work during the worst day of the week.
Week 12 vs. Commanders, Thursday Night Football, U.S. Bank Stadium
Oct 13, 2024; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Ravens defensive end Yannick Ngakoue (91) pulls down Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) by his jersey for a sack during the second half at M&T Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images
This is a low-risk, high-reward maneuver for the NFL. If the Vikings are bad up to this point of the year, then Jayden Daniels will still pull ratings. It’s more likely that both of these teams will be solid and firmly in the playoff race, and Week 12 is when we really start paying attention to who is where within their conference.
The high reward comes into play if McCarthy and Daniels are tearing it up in 2025. The marketability is very high with two very young QBs that could likely be the future of their respective franchises for the next 15-20 years, and giving them this spot to let everyone know in a potentially epic matchup is a short-term and long-term win for the NFL.
