Five takeaways from Minnesota Vikings' 2025 regular-season schedule

The Minnesota Vikings' 2025 regular-season schedule has officially arrived. Let's dive into five takeaways.

Lots of national TV games

The Vikings have a whopping seven nationally-televised games this year. They'll play twice on Sunday night, once on Monday night, twice on Thursdays (including a Christmas Day game against the Detroit Lions) and twice in international games. Those matchups will be broadcast on networks like ESPN, NBC, NFL Network, Prime Video and Netflix.

Seven national games might seem like a lot for a team with a preseason Vegas win total of just 8.5, but the Vikings have plenty of juicy storylines this year. Leading the way, of course, is former 10th overall pick and Michigan national champion J.J. McCarthy taking over for Sam Darnold as the starting quarterback of a team that won 14 games last year. The Vikings also have a superstar in Justin Jefferson, the reigning NFL Coach of the Year in Kevin O'Connell and an extremely talented roster on both sides of the ball. They're a fascinating team heading into this season because if McCarthy is good, they could be a legitimate Super Bowl contender. He's going to be tested in front of national audiences all year.

Starting with a bang

Of the Vikings' seven national TV games, four are true "primetime" night games — and two of those happen in the first two weeks of the season. McCarthy's first NFL start will come on Monday night at Soldier Field in Chicago, not far from his hometown of La Grange Park, Ill. That'll be a fun way to wrap up Week 1 of the NFL season, considering it'll also be Ben Johnson's first game as Bears head coach. Then, on a slightly short week, the Vikings will welcome Michael Penix Jr. (and maybe Kirk Cousins?) and the Atlanta Falcons to U.S. Bank Stadium for Sunday Night Football. Back-to-back primetime games is quite the way to introduce McCarthy to the country.

Another early bye after international trip

The most notable and unusual part of the Vikings' schedule is their two-week trip to Dublin and London, which is the first of its kind in NFL history. We've already covered that quite a bit since it was announced. It comes with real competitive advantages, but that doesn't necessarily mean the players are going to like it. As anticipated, the Vikings will have a Week 6 bye after returning from what could be a trip of over 10 days. It's the second year in a row their bye falls in Week 6 and follows a London game.

That means, once again, the Vikings will play games in 12 consecutive weeks to end the season. However, they'll at least have a couple mini byes after Thursday games in Week 8 and Week 17. Staying healthy will obviously be crucial for the Vikings all year, but particularly in the second half.

Toughest stretch comes from Week 7-10

The Vikings will hope to be at least 3-2 or 4-1 as they go into the bye week, because things get really difficult on the other side. On Oct. 19, they'll host the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles at U.S. Bank Stadium. That's followed by a trip west on a short week to play Jim Harbaugh's Los Angeles Chargers in L.A. Then they go to Detroit to face the Lions (who have beaten them five times in a row) before coming home to face Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens. Those four teams went a combined 52-16 in the regular season last year. Even managing two wins in that stretch would be pretty impressive.

Ending with a bang, too

After some division games in mid-November and a stretch of four road games in five weeks stretching into mid-December, the Vikings' schedule ends with a couple games that could have huge playoff implications. First, they'll host the Lions on Christmas Day on a short week. Then, with some extra time to prepare, they'll wrap up the regular season in Minneapolis against Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers on Jan. 4. If McCarthy plays well and the Vikings are a contender, there could be a ton on the line in those last two games against NFC North rivals.