![](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1747308968_599_83084626007-usatsi-25192057.jpg\"\/)
![\"play\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/icon-play-alt-white.svg.svg+xml\"){kind=icon}
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
QB Sam Darnold reflects on his impressive 2024 season with the Vikings<\/p>\n
Seahawks QB Sam Darnold talks about his impressive 2024 season with the Minnesota Vikings.<\/p>\n
Sports Seriously<\/p>\n
The Minnesota Vikings<\/a> are set to make NFL history in 2025, now slated to become the first team to play international games<\/a> in consecutive weeks but in different countries.<\/p>\n But before you conclude the league has unfairly set Minnesota\u2019s season ablaze like a funereal Viking longship with a penal scheduling quirk, realize that there is plenty of upside at stake for a franchise still in pursuit of its first championship since entering the NFL in 1961.<\/p>\n Multiple people with intimate knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports that the Vikes sought the opportunity to participate in the league\u2019s first regular-season game in Ireland \u2013 against the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> on September 28 \u2013 followed by a matchup with the Cleveland Browns<\/a> in London on October 5. (Both kickoffs will occur at 9:30 a.m. ET.) The people were granted anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation as the NFL\u2019s 2025 schedule continues to slowly unfurl<\/a> ahead of Wednesday night\u2019s official reveal.<\/p>\n \u201cThe two-game trip,\u201d Minnesota coach Kevin O\u2019Connell said Tuesday in a conference call with Irish media members, \u201cgives us an unbelievable opportunity to take our team on the road, get away from a lot of the day-to-day things that may be pulling players in any other direction.\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Connell also admitted it\u2019s preferable to face the Steelers at Dublin\u2019s Croke Park rather than Pittsburgh\u2019s Acrisure Stadium. The Vikings will be the designated road team against the Browns, too, so they don\u2019t lose a home game in this arrangement, either.<\/p>\n POWER RANKINGS: Where all 32 NFL teams stand after the draft<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cFrom a football side of it, both opponents that we’ll play,\u201d said O\u2019Connell, \u201chave very high-quality home atmospheres in their home stadiums here in the United States. So to get to play them not at their home stadium \u2013 tough division, the AFC North tends to be year-in and year-out \u2026 we found that to be a potential bonus for our football team, as well as getting the opportunity to have a trip together where we can continue to build our team, our camaraderie.\u201d<\/p>\n The flight from Minneapolis to the United Kingdom is comparable to a trip from Seattle to Miami \u2013 long but hardly unprecedented in the NFL. It\u2019s also become rather commonplace for clubs playing back-to-back road games on the East or West Coasts of the U.S. to remain there for a week rather than take a cross-country flight home and back again between games.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was kind of a joint decision in conjunction with the NFL,\u201d O\u2019Connell later told members of London\u2019s media corps. \u201cThe way I looked at it is from a standpoint of it being a positive opportunity \u2013 from both a football side and a business side for our organization. We\u2019re very proud of our organization.\u201d<\/p>\n The world stage also beckons All-Pro wideout Justin Jefferson, whose crossover appeal has continued to grow as he makes inroads into the fashion world and leverages media opportunities with international soccer stars, a path blazed to some degree by Odell Beckham Jr. a decade earlier.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do have some star power. Justin Jefferson, if (international) fans don\u2019t know about him yet, they certainly will very soon,\u201d said O\u2019Connell.<\/p>\n \u201cGetting the opportunity to see the best wide receiver \u2013 on the planet in my opinion \u2013 is a great start to getting to know the Minnesota Vikings.\u201d<\/p>\n The Vikings, while serving as the designated home team, beat the New York Jets 23-17 in London last year to cap a 5-0 start to what became an unexpectedly strong 14-3 regular season. Overall, they are 4-0 in international games and have the most NFL victories abroad since 2005. They’re 4-0 in preseason games they\u2019ve played internationally, too. The Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a> have played consecutive games in London before but didn’t have to switch countries like the Vikes will.<\/p>\n It doesn’t hurt, either, that O’Connell and J.J. McCarthy, Minnesota’s new starting quarterback after missing his 2024 rookie campaign with a preseason knee injury, have Irish roots.<\/p>\n \u201cOur experiences in London have always been memorable, so to return in 2025 as the first team to play in back-to-back international games in different countries was something we could not pass up,\u201d Vikings owner and team president Mark Wilf said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cUK fans have a history of showing up and embracing the Minnesota Vikings, creating what often feels like a homefield environment, and we are hopeful that is what we see again in 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n