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The division title comes down to one game! If I would have told you before the season began that the Vikings would be 14-2 and playing for the division title in the final game of the season, you would have told me to put the pipe down, ease up, pass it bro. Nevertheless, here we are after enjoying (most of us) a fantastic regular season! Sure we now want to win the division and get to the NFC Championship Game and possibly even the Super Bowl. Some of the most negative fans will be bitter if they do not reach those goals. But we are in the gravy right now. Playing with house money. The pressure is on the Lions. The Vikings have over achieved this season. There is nothing to be ashamed about. What they do to get better will be interesting and career defining for Kwesi Adofo Mensah.
I will say that the Vikings offense is going to have to be on point to beat the Lions. I see the Lions offense scoring at least 24 points. They are too good. The Vikings are going to need to score 30 plus points to have a chance. I believe they can do it too. It might be time for the Lions to have a let down.
Minnesota Vikings News and Links
Is Vikings-Lions finale the greatest matchup in NFL regular-season history?
The NFL caught a huge break when the Vikings held on to beat the Green Bay Packers in Week 17. That ensured the Vikings’ Week 18 game at the Lions would be for the NFC North title and the No. 1 seed in the conference. It had to be the easiest flex decision in the history of the league. The NFL moved the game to Sunday night, and there’s sure to be a playoff-level audience for it.
There aren’t many regular season matchups ever that can compare to what we’re going to see. Start with this: The matchup will feature the most combined wins for any regular-season game in NFL history.
The winner of Sunday night’s game will become just the ninth team in NFL history to finish a regular season with 15 or more wins. The loser will have the most wins of any wild-card team in history. The record was held by the 1999 Tennessee Titans, who had 13 wins. Even with the 17th game having been added to the schedule in 2021, that history being made by both teams is remarkable. It’s even harder to believe they happen to meet each other in the last game of the season.
It’s unprecedented for two teams with records this good to meet so late in the season. The fact that they’re divisional rivals and happened to be scheduled against each other for the final game of the regular season makes it a perfect storm.
The last time two teams met in the regular-season finale with the No. 1 seed on the line was 1993 between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants, an overtime Cowboys win that became famous for Emmitt Smith putting up 229 yards on 42 touches despite a separated shoulder.
The matchup isn’t just fascinating because of the records for each team. The stakes for the game are rare. One team gets a division title, the No. 1 seed and a week off. The losing team has its Super Bowl path get much tougher.
The difference between the No. 1 seed and the No. 5 seed, which the losing team will drop to, is immense. The No. 1 seed will be the only team in the conference with a bye and will be two home wins from a Super Bowl. The No. 5 seed will have to go on the road in wild-card weekend, likely against an explosive Tampa Bay Buccaneers team, then perhaps have to play the Eagles (currently 13-3) in the divisional round before a road matchup against the No. 1 seeded NFC North champ.
For a pair of teams that have never won a Super Bowl between them — the Lions have famously never even been to one — what happens on Sunday night could ultimately be the difference between a quick playoff exit and a historic run to the Super Bowl.
On top of it all, these two teams have already played one of the best games of this season. Back in Week 7, the Lions gave away a 28-17 fourth quarter lead, but drove downfield trailing 29-28 and kicked a game-winning field goal with 15 seconds left to get a key 31-29 win. That’s one of two Vikings losses all season.
Here are all of the possible playoff scenarios for the Vikings
How it would be the Rams
The Rams have clinched the NFC West and can claim the No. 3 seed by beating the Seahawks at home on Sunday. If the Rams lose to Seattle, they can still clinch the No. 3 seed if the Buccaneers lose at home to the Saints.
If the Rams lose to the Seahawks and the Buccaneers beat the Saints, the Bucs would be the No. 3 seed and the Rams would fall to No. 4 and host the Vikings or Lions on Wild Card Weekend.
How it would be the Buccaneers or Falcons
If the Rams beat the Seahawks and the Bucs beat the Saints, the Bucs will be the No. 4 seed.
The only other possible outcome is that Atlanta beats Carolina and Tampa Bay loses to the Saints. In that scenario, the Falcons would clinch the NFC South and the No. 4 seed.
If the Vikings get the No. 1 seed…
As the No. 1, the Vikings would host the lowest remaining seed in the Divisional Round.
The wild-card round would feature Washington or Green Bay at Philadelphia, Washington or Green Bay at Los Angeles or Tampa Bay, and Detroit at Tampa Bay, Los Angeles or Atlanta. The lowest remaining seed after those games would travel to Minneapolis in the second round.
Kevin O’Connell on Significance of Week 18, Impacts of Sam Darnold & Jordan Addison vs. Packers
O’Connell’s tried-and-true 1-0 approach has stoked the flames for the biggest test of the year: A shot for Minnesota to avenge one of its two losses this season and earn the only bye in the NFC Playoffs.
“In the back of our minds, we knew we had to win a lot of football games to keep pace with a team that really has been, if not the best, one of the top two teams in the league for most of the year,” O’Connell said. “I’m not sure how unique, as far as the historical precedent. I just know they’re a damn good team.”
The winner-takes-the-division game at Detroit on Sunday Night Football will mark the fifth divisional tilt in the past 25 seasons to feature teams with 11-plus wins each. The last such meeting happened recently – try less than one full spin of the Earth ago (we’re sorry for the snark, it’s Week 18 and we’re pumped!) when the Vikings topped the Packers.
The Lions (13-2) are wrapping Week 17 at San Francisco (6-9) on Monday Night Football.
Yeah, the uniqueness element is off the charts. And the implications are enormous.
“I don’t want to undersell it, but at the same time this is just a football game this week, and we’re going to do it and throw everything we’ve got at it and play 60 minutes and maybe then some to go try to win the division. But at the same time, there’s still the tournament that we’re all in this for,” O’Connell said. “It’s definitely something that I’m thinking about from a standpoint of how to mentally prepare our team and physically prepare our team – because the season does not end Sunday, regardless of the outcome.”
3. Phenomenal protection
O’Connell said it’s probably not been talked about enough.
That is how well Minnesota’s offensive line has played since losing Christian Darrisaw.
On Sunday against a unit that entered with one fewer sack on the season (43) than the Vikings vaunted defense, Darnold was sacked once – it happened with 19 seconds left in the first half. Otherwise, he was able to maneuver in a clean pocket, sometimes converting throws on his third and fourth progressions.
“That was one thing that jumped out watching the tape last night and then with the staff this morning,” O’Connell told reporters. “I thought the protection was phenomenal against a really good active front.”
The Packers mustered only a handful of hits on Darnold over his 43 attempts.
Solid protection extended to competitive run-game blocking, as well.
O’Connell sounded off on the impact: “Even on a night where maybe our yards per carry wasn’t huge, wasn’t a big number, just the attempts and kind of being able to stay balanced enough that it wasn’t just a pure chuck-it-60-times kind of game – and there’s going to be some games like that with how you match up, and things like that – but to still be able to stay balanced enough, I thought, was critical.”
Sam Darnold soaks in ‘pretty special’ locker room scene after Vikings thwart Packers
“I didn’t know what to do with my hands in that situation — so, Ricky Bobby style,” Darnold joked, referencing the 2006 film Talladega Nights, via the team’s website. “It was an interesting moment, but a fun moment, to be embraced by your teammates like that.
“That was pretty special.”
Darnold was pretty special on Sunday afternoon. The quarterback generated a career-high 377 passing yards with three touchdowns and one interception. It marked his sixth game with three-plus pass TDs in 2024; he had four such games in his six previous seasons.
The 27-year-old quarterback has tortured defenses, showing the ability to avoid pressure and make the right reads. When Justin Jefferson was slowed early Sunday, Darnold spread the ball around, finding Jalen Nailor (5/81/1), Jordan Addison (6/68/1) or T.J. Hockenson (5/68) until the top receiver broke loose for a game-high 92 yards on eight catches. Darnold hit eight different targets against Green Bay.
“I’m so happy for Sam,” Jones said. “Outside of these walls, nobody really believed in him, nobody really gave him a chance, but he’s proven everybody wrong, and I’m just so happy for him.”
“Just to see how he’s ultimately been able to maximize everything about his opportunity, our football team loves him for it,” coach Kevin O’Connell said. “I’ve had an absolute blast coaching him.”
“We can be aggressive, but he’s still going to be a great decision-maker,” O’Connell said. “He’s playing quarterback at a very, very high level.”
Vikings’ Aaron Jones Calls Out Critics: They Said We’d Win 6 Games and Finish Last
Minnesota Vikings running back Aaron Jones is savoring how much the team has defied its preseason expectations.
“Nobody really believed in us,” he said to The MMQB’s Albert Breer. “They were saying you’re going to win six games and finish last in the division. Everything we did was done in the dark, but it was never dark in that facility. It was always fun to come to work. We always believed in each other. [Head coach Kevin O’Connell] told us we would be right where we are right now.”
Jones joked he believes O’Connell “can see the future if you ask me.”
Russini’s what I’m hearing: Vikings want Darnold back in 2025, Watson’s new deal, Brady’s big role
First, let’s declare Darnold the “Story of the Year”
“$10 million for Sam Darnold?!” That’s the text I got from an NFL general manager when the Minnesota Vikings signed Darnold in March, after Kirk Cousins left for the Atlanta Falcons. Fast-forward nine months, and Darnold is having the best season of his career, leading the Vikings to a 13-2 record. They spent a first-round pick on J.J. McCarthy last spring and Darnold is in for a big payday in March. Despite that, after conversations with a team source, one thing is clear: The Vikings want Darnold back in Minnesota for 2025.
While the original plan was for McCarthy to slowly develop into the starting quarterback while Darnold was there to hold the rookie’s place, McCarthy’s injury changed things. Now, the Vikings have a problem — Darnold has been almost too good (not in a bad way, but in a “this is now complicated” way). McCarthy hasn’t played since August, and realistically he won’t be fully in the mix until spring at the earliest. He’s around the building and with the team constantly but he hasn’t been medically cleared.
Schefter: ‘We know how’ Vikings will handle Sam Darnold’s future in Minnesota
“They haven’t talked but the price is rising every single day,” Schefter said during Monday’s episode of the Get Up show. “What would some team be willing to give up to get Sam Darnold? The Vikings obviously want to wait and see how the season plays out, but we see how it’s playing out: They’re playing Sunday night for the No. 1 seed against the Detroit Lions; winner wins the NFC North; winner gets the No. 1 seed; winner gets a bye. There is a lot on the line, and Sam Darnold has played at an elite level this year. So it’s left the Vikings in a situation where, I don’t know if you say how are they going to handle it, because I think we know how they are going to handle it: They have to keep Sam Darnold.”
Vikings snap counts and notable PFF grades from win over Packers
Top 5 PFF grades on offense (min. 20 snaps)
1. Nailor — 78.6
2. Risner — 75.9
3. Jefferson — 75.8
4. Robinson — 74.1
5. Addison — 72.5
All three of the Vikings’ wide receivers cracked the top five after combining for 242 yards and two touchdowns. Nailor caught all five of his targets for a career-high in receptions and a season-high 81 yards, highlighted by the game’s first touchdown. T.J. Hockenson, who had 68 yards of his own, was right behind them in terms of PFF grade. So was Darnold, who was the man distributing the ball. It was an incredible game on the stat sheet for Darnold, but he did throw an interception and had a couple other balls that weren’t the most accurate, which dinged his grade a bit.
Also, how good have Risner and Robinson been? Those two stepped in for Ed Ingram and Christian Darrisaw (for different reasons) in the middle of the season and have helped stabilize the Vikings’ offensive line. Risner has recorded a pass blocking grade above 70 in three consecutive weeks and four of the last five.
Top 5 PFF grades on defense (min. 20 snaps)
1. Phillips — 80.5
2. Cashman — 79.5
3. Greenard —71.1
4. Bynum — 68.2
5. Smith — 65.8
Van Ginkel just narrowly missed this list. Cashman is quietly having a Pro Bowl-caliber season as one of the better middle linebackers in the NFL. The Vikings are 13-0 when he’s in the lineup. Greenard had 8 pressures, his second-highest total in a game this season, and he’s second in the league with 77 of them in 2024. This defense has been an outstanding mesh of newcomers like those two and holdovers like Phillips, Bynum, Smith, Metellus, and Murphy.
Lower grades in this game went to Tillery, Gilmore, Griffin, Pace, and Bullard.
Vikings should add Daniel Jones to the active roster
The other angle when it comes to the idea of a competitive rebuild is consistently taking low-cost opportunities to add to the roster. They did so when quarterback Daniel Jones was signed to the practice squad. It was a big win for what the Vikings are doing, and shows that Jones has bought into what they are doing.
Now that we are about to enter the final game, a decision needs to be made about Jones being added to the active roster. If they do before Sunday’s game, he would be eligible for the compensatory pick formula.
Most analysts would tell you that Jones is a better quarterback than the current third quarterback in Brett Rypien which could end up mattering in the Vikings’ decision. O’Connell was asked about the possibility of signing Jones and gave a glowing answer about the quarterback room.
“Yeah, we’re gonna, you know, we’re gonna have some dialog about that. As far as the timing of it, Daniel’s been quietly behind the scenes, putting in some phenomenal work, and probably, as I told him the other day, more excited now than even as excited as I was to get him in here day one, just by what he’s shown us already. And so that’s definitely something we’re gonna talk about. I feel so fortunate to have, with JJ, really back full speed in those meetings. I mean, you walk in there, you got five NFL quarterbacks sitting there and, you know, and Josh, sometimes, if I blink and look at him, you can probably say, six. I’m not going to give Grant that kind of love. But I’m sure Josh can still sling it.”
‘Last team I would want to play in the NFC’: Chris Long has ‘man crush’ on Vikings
“Your team is f***** awesome,” former NFL defensive lineman Chris Long said to Vikings fans on his Green Light podcast Sunday. “I’ve never thought they were frauds this year. This was a game that I thought Green Bay would play better and I thought Green Bay could win this game, and they didn’t.”
“Maybe the Christian Watson injury loomed larger than we thought. Like, if they can’t stretch the field with his speed the same way, Love’s not going to see it. I think it’s more of a product of Brian Flores and a master class by this pass rush by the defensive play caller,” Long said.
“I would say, right now, it’s the last team I would want to play in the NFC,” Long continued. “Minnesota’s playing as good as anybody in the NFC right now and [the Packers game] was the biggest test, to me, because they were dealing with a team that really wanted to prove they could win a big game going into the playoffs.”
“This team, top to bottom, I can’t give them enough credit. Brian Flores is a f***** G, dude. I played for him, I love the guy, I hope he gets to be a head coach again in this league. His players love him. The players in Miami, they don’t like anybody. They didn’t like Vic Fangio like Brian Flores. Guess what, they both left and they’re both great,” Long added. “Just a tour de force by Minnesota. Wild story, man. Wild story.”
Long noted the outstanding play of first year Vikings edge rushers Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel, as well as free agent cornerback Stephon Gilmore. He called the Vikings “as complete as any team in the NFL.”
“Not to mention nailing the quarterback and seeming to have drafted a quarterback that makes the decision harder than it should be. Sam Darnold’s your guy right now and I don’t know what I’d have to see in the playoffs for him not to be my guy,” said Long. “I got a f***** man crush on an entire organization. They continue to impress.”
NFL Rumors: Kevin O’Connell Vikings Contract Extension ‘Could Happen Soon’
Amid a surprisingly successful season, Kevin O’Connell is reportedly in line for a contract extension.
Per The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, an extension for the third-year head coach “could happen soon.” O’Connell, who the Vikings hired ahead of the 2022 season, is under contract through the end of next season and would likely field plenty of offers should Minnesota forgo extending him.
The story behind ‘Straight Cash, Homie’
When the Minnesota Vikings first opened TCO Performance Center in 2018, KARE-11 web content creator Dana Thiede went to the new facility to do a story on its debut. While he was working inside the truck, KARE social media manager Bea Chang came running up excitedly with a random Vikings fan by her side.
“There he is!” she told the fan, while pointing at Thiede. “That’s the guy who made your shirt possible.”
The fan, who had driven all the way from Ohio to see TCOPC and take in a Vikings practice, had a shirt with three words on it: “Straight Cash, Homie.”
Thiede took a photo with the fan and told him about how he was responsible for Randy Moss’s famous catchphrase.
“Everyone’s standing around and all the sudden I looked at [Monica] and I say, ‘you know he’s not going to come out this door, right? He’s not coming out this door,’ Thiede told Purple Insider over the phone. “It’s not rocket science. How could Randy get out of the building? The loading dock. Duh!”
Thiede and Hanson walked down the ramp that led up to the locker room door and went around to the loading dock, which was maybe 100 feet away.
“It was the edge of the afternoon and it’s really bright and there’s lots of shadows and all of the sudden I’m looking up at the dock and the door opens and here comes a very tall, thin man with a the hood drawn around his head,” Thiede said. I looked at [Monica] and said, ‘here we go!’ She rolled it.”
As Moss approached his truck, Thiede called out to Moss. Here was the exchange:
THIEDE: “Write the check yet, Randy?”
MOSS: “When you’re rich, you don’t write checks.”
THIEDE: “How do you pay, man?”
MOSS: Huh?
THIEDE: “If you don’t write checks, how do you pay these guys?”
MOSS: “Straight cash, homie.”
Boom. Iconic. But why ask Moss the question that way?
“One thing I learned about Randy is that you didn’t deal with him the same way you dealt with other people,” Thiede said. “You were playful and had fun because he couldn’t stop himself. He was a fun guy. God, he was a fun guy to cover. I always found in the interactions that I had with him, he always responded a lot differently and was a lot more engaging when you had fun with him. That was the intent.”
Yore Mock
Trade Recap
Minnesota Receives:
2025: Round 2, Pick 38
2025: Round 3, Pick 95
New York Receives:
2025: Round 1, Pick 30
…
Minnesota Receives:
2025: Round 4, Pick 104
2025: Round 5, Pick 139
Tennessee Receives:
2025: Round 3, Pick 95
…
Minnesota Receives:
2025: Round 4, Pick 112
2025: Round 6, Pick 186
San Francisco Receives:
2025: Round 4, Pick 104
…
Minnesota Receives:
2025: Round 6, Pick 177
2025: Round 6, Pick 215
Cleveland Receives:
2025: Round 5, Pick 165
…
38. Nick Emmanwori S South Carolina 6’3” 227
97. Dylan Sampson RB Tennessee 5’11” 201
112. Jared Ivey EDGE Mississippi 6’6” 285
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Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images
139. Tyler Cooper IOL Minnesota 6’6” 310
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Photo by Ric Tapia/Getty Images
140. O’Donnell Fortune CB South Carolina 6’1” 185
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Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
177. Jack Bech WR TCU 6’2” 215
186. Eli Stowers TE Vanderbilt 6’4” 235
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Photo by Carly Mackler/Getty Images
215. Jordan Phillips DL Maryland 6’3” 320
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Photo by Roger Wimmer/ISI Photos/Getty Images
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