Schedule rumor: Vikings opening 2025 season against NFC North rival?

Are J.J. McCarthy and the Vikings going to open the 2025 NFL season against an NFC North rival? That was mentioned recently as a possibility byThe Athletic's Alec Lewis. He's been pretty tapped-in with Vikings scoops this offseason, so it's worth keeping in mind ahead of next week's schedule release.

"I was thinking about this, having some conversations the last couple days, (McCarthy) might get tested from the get-go," he said on The Alec Lewis Show. "It might be one of those three teams in this division from the very beginning, J.J. McCarthy's first game, this new-look offensive line's first game."

It would make for quite the debut for McCarthy if the opponent is either Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers, Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions, or Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears. McCarthy is from the Chicago area and starred in college not far from Detroit, so a road game against either of those teams would add an extra storyline for the Vikings' 22-year-old quarterback. Lewis did say "might be," so this shouldn't be taken as anything more than a rumored possibility.

The Vikings last opened up against a division opponent when the hosted the Packers in 2022, which was Kevin O'Connell's first game as head coach. They also hosted Green Bay for the opener (in a nearly-empty U.S. Bank Stadium) in 2020. Before that, they hadn't played a division opponent in Week 1 since 2013, when they began their season in Detroit. They opened the year at Lambeau Field in 2008 and 2003, and they haven't faced the Bears in Week 1 since 2002 at Soldier Field.

In total, across 64 seasons, the Vikings have played those three teams 18 times in Week 1 games. They're 9-9 in those matchups (4-4 against GB, 3-2 against DET, 2-3 against CHI).

The 2025 NFL schedule will be revealed next Wednesday, May 14.

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