Minnesota Vikings Season Opener and 2025 NFL Season Preview. #SKOL

THE NFL IS BACK! YOUR MINNESOTA VIKINGS ARE BACK! LET'S GO!

It's like deja vu all over again! The Vikings are being overlooked and the Packers are somehow the Super Bowl favorites...for no reason, yet again. I have a much different view of the Vikings than what you might be reading elsewhere, so let's dive into this. The Vikings massively improved on both Offense and Defense and continue to employ one of the best Coaching Staff's in the NFL. We will also go through my NFL Standings Predictions and the Vikings/Bears Week 1 matchup!

OFFENSE:

• JJ McCarthy will be the Vikings' starting QB in 2025. Some people in Minnesota are already crowning him the next franchise QB, but let's just pump our friggin' horses and see him play first. He has won at every level, but so has every QB in the NFL except for like Jay Cutler, Anthony Richardson, and Christian Ponder. What I will say is Kevin O'Connell has proven to be a master QB coach and I think JJ has that dog in him…he’s got that “IT” factor that we haven’t seen in a Vikings QB since Favre. JJ McCarthy is in great hands and will have a hell of a coaching staff and roster around him to be successful. Let's go, JJ!

• Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason the chance to be one of the best RB duos in the NFL. The Vikings need to COMMIT TO THE RUN! When JJ McCarthy was at Michigan, they had an excellent running game and nasty defense...the Vikings are building a very similar team in Minnesota.

• The Interior Offensive Line has been completely rebuilt. Darrisaw and O'Neil are still the outside pillars, but now they have Jackson, Fries, and Kelly in the middle. If this line can stay semi-healthy, they will be muy bueno.

• Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Adam Thielen, TJ Hockenson (I don't think TJ likes playing football, but he's good), Josh Oliver, Jalen Nailor, Tai Felton. Love this crew.

• I expect this offense to be elite. I really don't understand why people are overlooking the Vikings. Maybe it's JJ McCarthy? But do media members think he's worse than Dobbs, Mullens, and Hall? Because KOC was able to get all of those guys to play competant ball. Curtis and Darnold? KOC helped those 2 reach their peaks.

• Birdman's Blog will be right again. I promise. Last year I predicted the Viking to win 13 games when everyone else was saying 6 or 7 wins... we won 14 games. I also predicted Kevin O'Connell to win Coach of the Year last year... he went ahead and won that shit.

DEFENSE:

• This Vikings defense just got better, and they were very good last year. Greenard, Van Ginkel, and Turner will be chaos creators.

• Interior Defensive Line was the one question mark last year. The Vikings replaced Harrison Phillips with Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen. This is a massive upgrade that will make it extrememly hard for teams to run or pass the ball.

• The Cornerback room only has 4 guys currently. I would expect the Vikings to try to re-sign Stephon Gilmore or Shaq Griffin. Otherwise, they will be fine. Brian Flores is the DC.

• Linebacker group is nice and includes Blake Cashman, Ivan Pace Jr, Kobe King, and Eric Wilson.

• Finally, the Vikings have one of the best Safety rooms in the entire NFL. Harrison Smith, Josh Metellus, Theo Jackson, and Jay Ward will be flying around all season long!

• This defense has a chance to be a top 5 defense.

SPECIAL TEAMS:

• Will Reichard has been a solid kicker that brings a combination of power and consistency to the kicking position the Vikings haven't had in a long time. He dealt with some injuries last season, so I would like to see some more growth and consistency from him this season.

COACHING:

• "Kevin O'Connell has proven to be a solid Head Coach and will continue to improve. I wouldn't be surprised if he wins Coach of the Year in 2024." - I made this prediction in last year's preview...this is why you follow and read Birdman's Blog. I know my shit.

• DC Brian Flores returns, meaning this defense will likely finish as a Top 5 defense in 2025 with the upgrades they made to his personnel.

WHAT WILL HOLD THE VIKINGS BACK:

• Even if JJ McCarthy isn't very good, this team could still make a deep run. This roster is stacked and the only thing that could hold them back is probably injuries. This team does not have many glaring holes. I expect us to win the Super Bowl or go down fighting, late in the playoffs.

GB Packers:

• Let's just talk really quick about the Packers. If you have been following the media, ESPN, or betting odds, you might be seeing the Packers as "Super Bowl favorites" and "Jordan Love is going to win MVP!" I am here to tell you that it's not going to happen.

• The Packers aren't going to win the Super Bowl, let alone even make the playoffs. Jordan Love is not going to win the MVP. That is one of the most ridiculous takes I have been seeing this year. He's not a good QB. He's cross-eyed and panics under any kind of pressure. People saying this nonsense are just looking at his stats and not actually watching the guy play. It's what Curtis Cousins did for so many years... trick people who only box score watched and looked at end of season stats.

• The Micah Parsons trade is fine, but I don't think it makes the Packers "better." Losing Kenny Clark now opens up other offenses to run at will up the middle! Plus, every team in the NFC North has amazing OT's to block a guy like Parsons.

• Finally, a big reason the Packers will not make the playoffs is their final month of games. They finish at Denver, at Chicago, vs Baltimore, at Minnesota. They will be lucky to come out of that stretch at 1-3. Get this Packers preseason nonsense out of here!

NFL STANDINGS PREDICTIONS:

• NFC NORTH

  1. Minnesota Vikings - Super Bowl contender. 11-13 wins this season. - Playoffs

  2. Detroit Lions - Super Bowl contender. 11-13 wins this season. - Playoffs

  3. Green Bay Packers - Love is their QB, will MISS the playoffs. 8-10 wins this season.

  4. Chicago Bears - Improved a little bit. 7-9 wins this season.

• NFC EAST

  1. Philadelphia Eagles - Playoffs

  2. Washington Commanders - Playoffs

  3. Dallas Cowboys

  4. New York Giants

• NFC WEST

  1. San Francisco 49ers - Playoffs

  2. Los Angeles Rams - Playoffs

  3. Seattle Seahawks

  4. Arizona Cardinals

• NFC SOUTH

  1. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Playoffs

  2. Carolina Panthers

  3. Atlanta Falcons

  4. New Orleans Saints - worst team in the NFL

• AFC EAST

  1. Buffalo Bills - Playoffs

  2. New England Patriots

  3. Miami Dolphins

  4. New York Jets - second worst team in the NFL

• AFC WEST

  1. Kansas City Chiefs - Playoffs

  2. Denver Broncos - Playoffs

  3. Los Angeles Chargers - Playoffs

  4. Las Vegas Raiders

• AFC NORTH

  1. Baltimore Ravens - Playoffs

  2. Cincinnati Bengals - Playoffs

  3. Pittsburgh Steelers

  4. Cleveland Browns

• AFC SOUTH

  1. Houston Texans - Playoffs

  2. Jacksonville Jaguars

  3. Indianapolis Colts

  4. Tennessee Titans

VIKINGS @ BEARS WEEK1:

• The Minnesota Vikings kick the season off in Chicago against an improved Bears team. Games in Chicago are always difficult, and I expect the same in this one. JJ McCarthy grew up 30 miles from Soldier Field, how fitting is it that he gets to make his first NFL start in his childhood backyard!? Both the Vikings and Bears made massive improvements this offseason. The Bears also hired Lions OC Ben Johnson to be their Head Coach. Ben Johnson, as a playcaller in Detroit, has really been the only coach in the last 3 years to have success against Brian Flores' defenses. Of course the Bears aren't the Lions, but it's still a nice tidbit to be aware of. I predict this to be a sloppy game on sloppy field conditions, with the Vikings coming out with a 23-20 victory to kick off the JJ McCarthy Era! The Vikings have the better defense and much better weapons on offense. The Bears have improved, but not enough to match the Vikings or Lions yet.

#SKOL #GoVikings