Through the first nine weeks of the 2025 NFL season, the Minnesota Vikings sit at 4-4.
It has been a bit of a roller coaster ride over the course of the first half of the season, but even still, the Vikings find themselves right in the mix for a playoff spot. Here are three storylines that helped define the first half of Minnesota’s season despite not really being on anyone’s radar heading into Week 1.
Interior Defensive Line Stars Struggle
The biggest storyline from Minnesota’s offseason was the money spent to shore up the interior of their defensive line. They inked Jonathan Allen to a three-year deal worth $51 million as well as Javon Hargrave to a two-year deal worth $30 million.
However, it’s been a quiet start to the season for both of these players. Allen has just three tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks over the first eight games while Hargrave has four tackles for loss and three sacks. Two of those sacks came in Week 1 against the Chicago Bears, and the other came in Week 9 against the Detroit Lions.
There was some sense coming into the year that maybe the duo would take some time to get rolling after suffering injuries during the 2024 season, and we seem to be in the thick of that. Luckily, both players snapped out of it against the Lions as they combined for six QB pressures and four QB hits on Jared Goff.
Another surprise on the defensive line has been the emergence of Jalen Redmond, who has started seven games and already has tied a career-high in tackles for loss (6) and set a new career high in sacks (4).
Ivan Pace’s Disappearance
Back in 2023, Ivan Pace burst onto the scene as one of the most impressive undrafted free agent acquisitions of the entire year. Not only did he make Minnesota’s final roster before the season began, but he also started 11 games and totaled over 100 total tackles.
2024 brought similar success in Brian Flores’ defensive scheme. Despite missing six games due to injury last year, Pace totaled 72 tackles, seven tackles for loss, and three sacks.
However, 2025 has been a different story. After starting the first five games of the season, Pace has begun to disappear from defensive rotations. He was flat-out benched in Week 7 against the Philadelphia Eagles and didn’t play a single defensive snap. Since then, he has totaled just 17 and 13 defensive snaps in the past two weeks after not having played fewer than 40 defensive snaps from Weeks 1-5.
Part of the reason for this diminished role has been some outstanding play from a familiar face, Eric Wilson. After spending 2017-2020 with the Vikings following signing with the team as a UDFA, he left in 2021 only to return this season.
So far, it’s arguably been the best season of Wilson’s career as he has started seven games and recorded seven tackles for loss, a career-high 3.5 sacks, and a pair of forced fumbles. According to PFF, his 15 QB pressures this year are already a career-high as well.
We’ll see if this could be spelling the end of the Ivan Pace honeymoon phase in Minnesota, but Wilson’s play has been spectacular enough to give the Vikings a viable option at linebacker.
The QB Revolving Door
Coming into the season, the QB position was supposed to be pretty set in stone for the Minnesota Vikings. J.J. McCarthy would be the starter, Carson Wentz would be the backup, and Max Brosmer would be the experimental development guy at QB3.
That plan quickly was thrown out the door due to McCarthy’s high ankle sprain, though. The QB was forced to miss five games, resulting in Wentz coming into the starting lineup while ultimately suffering his own season-ending shoulder injury.
Now, McCarthy is back in the starting lineup after leading the Vikings to a win over the Detroit Lions this past weekend. Hopefully, that is a sign of more good things to come with the young QB, and the position begins to stabilize in the coming weeks.
Editor’s Note: Statistics for this article were found via Pro Football Focus and Pro Football Reference.
