The Minnesota Vikings finished the 2024 season with a 14-3 record and made the playoffs for the second in time in three years. It was a wildly successful season for a team that a lot of people – myself included – thought would miss the playoffs heading into the season. But to the surprise of everyone – they started out 5-0 which included Ed wins over the 49ers, the Texans, and the Packers in Lambeau before beating the Jets in week 5. They lost their first two games off the bye to the Lions and Rams to fall to 5-2, before winning 9 straight games to improve to 14-2 – only to face the Lions in week 18 for – not just the division – but the number one seed too. Unfortunately for Minnesota – the Lions absolutely dismantled them to the tune of 31-9 score and that set up Minnesota for a wild card round game against the Rams. As we know – Minnesota lost in the wild card round to the Rams with a score of 27-9 and for a team that went 14-0 against every team not named the Lions and Rams – their season was over at the snap of a finger. And the Vikings knew they had a lot of work ahead of them heading into the offseason. And here we are – a little over two months after the playoff loss to the Rams – and the Minnesota Vikings are doing everything right. And in today’s video we’re going to break down how we got here, all of the moves they’ve made, and why this team is ready to take a big step in 2025. Now let’s begin.
And we are starting today’s video by discussing what the Vikings had to improve on entering the 2025 offseason and that was the offensive line. And more specifically – the interior offensive line. There were a lot of fun moments for the Vikings throughout the 2024 season – whether it was Justin Jefferson’s 97 yard touchdown against the 49ers, or beating the Texans by 27 points, or sweeping the division rival Packers – but when it came hell or high water against the elite of elite teams – the Vikings failed – and pretty spectacularly as they were outscored 58-18 in the final two games against the Lions and Rams. Garrett Bradbury was the teams first round pick back in 2019 and Bradbury’s problem since entering the league – was – he was never a good player. He was always average at best. And that’s fine when you are playing teams that do not have a dominant interior defensive line because you can get away with it. But when you play the Jalen Carter’s and the Dexter Lawrence’s of the world – who Garrett struggled with big time in the season opener – and to be fair – mostly everyone struggles with Dexter Lawrence – the point is – you have to upgrade your interior offensive line. 2022 2nd round pick Ed Ingram has been one of the most frustrating players to watch over the past few years whether it was him allowing 11 sacks back in 2022, or him stepping on Kirk Cousins foot several times during the first two years of his career – both Garrett Bradbury and Ed Ingram had to go especially with a young quarterback coming in in JJ McCarthy.
The worst thing a quarterback can have is interior pressure in their face – and repeatedly. And especially for a young quarterback like JJ McCarthy who has yet to play in a regular season game. So the Vikings went out and signed two interior offensive lineman from the Colts in center Ryan Kelly and right guard Will Fries. Ryan Kelly has played in just 24 of 34 possible regular season games over the last two years and there have been some durability concerns – and some Colts fans even thought there was a possibility Kelly would retire at the end of the 2024 season. But when healthy – Ryan Kelly is a really good player and to put a statistical comparison of Ryan Kelly to Garrett Bradbury from a pass protecting standpoint – well over the last two years – Ryan Kelly has 858 pass blocking snaps and has allowed 18 pressures – where as in 2024 alone – Garrett Bradbury had 730 pass blocking snaps and allowed 38 pressures. So Kelly had over 125 more pass blocking snaps than Bradbury – yet allowed less than half the pressures. There’s a similar comparison between Will Fries and Ed Ingram who was recently traded to the Texans – but one of the biggest points of emphasis not just for the Minnesota Vikings – but even a team like the Bears – is – as simple as this thought is – everyone watched the Super Bowl. Not just fans, but every front office member across the NFL.
And one of the big takeaways from front offices across the NFL was – we have to protect our quarterback. And I also credit the Bears for bringing in guys like Jonah Jackson, Drew Dallman, and Joe Thuney over the past few weeks. Another benefit to bringing in both Ryan Kelly and Will Fries for the Vikings is – it will help out the run game in a big way and that’s something the Vikings desperately needed. Aaron Jones had a really good year for the Vikings last year as he had over 1,500 yards from scrimmage – but the Vikings were not efficiently running the football the way they intend to as they finished 26th in yards per carry in 2024. And whether the quarterback is JJ McCarthy – a player who has not started an NFL game yet – or a multiple time league MVP – a good run game is a quarterback best friend. And not only did they bring back Aaron Jones – but they also traded for former 49ers running back Jordan Mason in what I thought was a tremendous move by Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo – Mensah
Another reason why the Vikings are doing everything right is as simple as this thought process is – you have to strike while the iron’s hot. And the Vikings are coming off of a 14-3 season and in the first week and change of free agency – significantly improved the roster. And this is especially critical because I don’t think it’s crazy to say – the NFC North collectively – is the best division in football. They had 3 11+ win teams last year and I think you can certainly make a case for the NFC west and maybe even the AFC west – but the point is – the NFC north is absolutely loaded. And before the Packers lost their week 18 game to the Bears – the combined records of everyone they lost to in 2024 – was 72-13 as they were swept by both the Lions and Vikings – and of course lost to the Eagles in their season opener down in Brazil. And I know the Packers lost in the wild card round to the Eagles in a game they turned the ball over 4 times and only put up 10 points – but does anyone look at this team and think to themselves on any given Sunday – that we are absolutely going to roll the Green Bay Packers and that they simply do not stand a chance. No. Josh Jacobs just had a season where he had over 1,600 total yards and 16 total touchdowns and I know they have some questions at receiver, as well as corner, and even edge – but this is still a very good football team.
And for reference – they finished 8th in offensive points per game in 2024 – and 6th in defensive points per game allowed in 2024. One of the biggest differences between the 2023 and the 2024 Packers was switching from Joe Barry to Jeff Hafley at defensive coordinator – and the results spokes for themselves. And they’re not going anywhere. Nor is Detroit who of course just won 15 games and had one of the most dominant regular seasons we’ve seen over the past couple of years. I understand and acknowledge that Detroit lost both Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn this offseason – but they didn’t lost anybody from the roster to the point where you question if they’re going to be able to get back to the playoffs. Now 15 wins in back to back seasons would be difficult for anybody – but this roster is loaded as hell and they’re going to be getting a bunch of guys back defensively. I’ve said this before but this roster is so loaded it reminds me of the early 2000’s Miami Hurricanes where you just name players and the list goes on because of how many good players the Lions have. And for Minnesota to try to win the NFC North and ultimately go to the Super Bowl for the first time in over 40 years – the Lions aren’t going to say “here we’ll take it easy on you”. No. It’s very much get on our level and compete with us or get out of the way. And credit to the Lions because they’re 4-0 against the Vikings in the last two years. Now the Bears are coming off of a year in which they went just 5-12 and had a lot of things go wrong. Whether it was the Hail Mary against Washington, getting blown out by Arizona the following week, or only putting up 3 points against New England the week after that – it was a tough season for the Bears with seemingly no end. Throw in the Thanksgiving day game debacle against the Lions, and getting blown out by the Vikings on Monday night football later in the year and you get the point. Now I know the cliche for the Bears over the past couple of years has been that they are off-season champs. And I’m not going to act like I was innocent within that because I was really excited to see Caleb Williams throw passes to guys like DJ Moore, Rome Odunze, and Keenan Allen and was – and still am – excited for their future. And like we said earlier – they addressed the interior offensive line in a big way which was critical for them – and they also brought in Ben Johnson to be the teams next head coach. I don’t think it will be a one year turnaround for the Bears – but to act like they are not going to be a formidable opponent in 2025 – isn’t something I can get behind. They’re a solid up and coming team – and I think their future is bright too. And this all plays into why teams in the NFC north have to capitalize. Because if they don’t – you will get run over.
The Vikings future is incredibly bright and I hope you enjoyed the breakdown in today’s article. The video below goes into more detail as to why the future is bright and in terms of everything the Vikings are doing as an organization. I hope you enjoyed and hope you have a great rest of your day!
