This Damn Schedule

I wasn’t a fan of the Minnesota Vikings schedule when it was released in the spring. It’s easy to not like a schedule that includes an international game. The Vikings had two of those, back to back. The NFL’s schedule hacks sent the Vikings overseas for a two-week stay. There was a game in Dublin and a game in London. Not only were the Vikings sent out of the country for two weeks, they had to travel between countries during the trip. They had to deal with weekly roster maintenance from afar. Between the games, the Vikings needed an insurance offensive lineman was needed. It was a significant ordeal getting that offensive lineman to the UK. Any new player needed a passport and significant travel just to get to the team. That isn’t normal operation. It was a difficult two-week stay. There’s a routine to a NFL season and this trip completely disrupted that routine. The Vikings were the victim in the NFL’s dream of having a team play in two different countries in consecutive weeks. Why would the league even have that dream, let alone, act on it? Yes, it was easy to not like the Vikings schedule in the spring. I like it even less eight weeks into it. 

Here’s that schedule.

Minnesota Vikings 2025 Schedule

Week	Day	Date	Opponent	Time (PT)
1	Monday	Sept. 8	@Chicago Bears	5:15 PM
2	Sunday	Sept. 14	Atlanta Falcons	5:20 PM
3	Sunday	Sept. 21	Cincinnati Bengals	10:00 AM
4	Sunday	Sept. 28	@Pittsburgh Steelers (Dublin)	6:30 AM
5	Sunday	Oct. 5	@Cleveland Browns (London)	6:30 AM
6	Sunday	Oct. 12	BYE
7	Sunday	Oct. 19	Philadelphia Eagles	10:00 AM
8	Thursday	Oct. 23	@Los Angeles Chargers	5:15 PM
9	Sunday	Nov. 2	@Detroit Lions	10:00 AM
10	Sunday	Nov. 9	Baltimore Ravens	10:00 AM
11	Sunday	Nov. 16	Chicago Bears	10:00 AM
12	Sunday	Nov. 23	@Green Bay Packers	10:00 AM
13	Sunday	Nov. 30	@Seattle Seahawks	1:05 PM
14	Sunday	Dec. 7	Washington Commanders	10:00 AM
15	Sunday	Dec. 14	@Dallas Cowboys	5:20 PM
16	Sunday	Dec. 21	@New York Giants	10:00 AM
17	Thursday	Dec. 25	Detroit Lions	1:30 PM
18	TBD	TBD	Green Bay Packers	TBD

There was a time when I was a big fan of prime time games for the Vikings. For a fan from California, it was a guaranteed viewing. As a Sunday Ticket subscriber since the turn of the century, every game is a guaranteed viewing. Waiting the entire day for a Vikings game isn’t always a fun deal. It just feels like I’m waiting so damn long for the game. By the time it kicks off, I’m already wiped out. With that in mind, waiting until Monday night for the season-opener against the Chicago Bears was excruciating. Following that with a Week 2 Sunday night game was more of the same. I wasn’t a fan of the long waits for prime time games before this season. I was even less of a fan after Week 2. Week 3 was such a relief. The Vikings hosted the Cincinnati Bengals with a 10:00 am start time. Glorious! It was made even better when the Vikings played their best game of the season. Their reward? A two-week, overseas business trip for the Weeks 4 & 5 games. Week 6 is way too early for a bye but it was necessary after the ridiculous international trip.

As bad as the two prime time games and overseas games were, the Vikings post-bye schedule may have been even worse. I’ll always have a problem with the league forcing teams to play international games. I have an even bigger problem with Thursday games. Three days is not enough time for teams to recover from the previous game to play the next game. The league can post all of the massaged injury data they want, three days is not enough time for proper recovery. It isn’t enough time for players with no injury issues. It definitely isn’t enough time for teams managing various injuries. That was especially evident last week when the Vikings had to spend one of their three recovery days traveling halfway across the country to play the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 8. Vikings left tackle Christian Darrisaw has been navigating this season while managing his return from the ACL injury that ended his 2024 season. He’s been on a snap count for the games he’s played. With only two days and a travel day to recover from the Week 7 game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Darrisaw played only nine snaps against the Chargers. Vikings right tackle Brian O’Neill has been managing a knee injury he suffered in the London game. With only two days and a travel day to recover from the Eagles game, O’Neill didn’t play against the Chargers. If the game was played on Sunday, both tackles likely would’ve been available for a full game. Seeing as Carson Wentz spent much of the game running from a modest Chargers defensive front, Darrisaw and O’Neill on the sidelines put the Vikings at a significant competitive disadvantage. It was all because the league sees the dollars from another prime time game as more important than the health of the players. 

A Summary of the Vikings 2025 schedule, so far:

Week 1: @Chicago Bears - Monday Night - Sucks

Week 2: Atlanta Falcons - Sunday Night - Sucks

Week 3: Cincinnati Bengals - 10:00 am start - Lovely

Week 4: @Pittsburgh Steelers - in Dublin - Sucks

Week 5: @Cleveland Browns - in London - Sucks

Week 6: Bye - Too early, but necessary

Week 7: Philadelphia Eagles - 10:00 am start - Lovely

Week 8: @Los Angeles Chargers - Thursday Night - Sucks

The eight-week, seven-game tally: 5 Sucks

With this shitty schedule, it’s no surprise the season is in the balance with a 3-4 record. The Vikings aren’t 3-4 because of their shitty schedule. The Vikings are 3-4 because they haven’t played well. They could easily be 1-6. They are fortunate they aren’t 1-6. Injuries to the offensive line has probably been a bigger issue than the shitty schedule. Those injuries were a significant reason the quarterback plan with J.J. McCarthy was disrupted with his ankle injury. The ideal situation had the young quarterback hitting his stride about this time in the season. That ideal was tossed when he was injured in Week 2. Now, it’s as if he’s starting all over in Week 9. 

The schedule is rough the rest of the way but the scheduling is much better. All but two of the remaining ten games are Sunday morning or afternoon games. There’s the Week 15 Sunday night game against the Dallas Cowboys and the Week 17 Thursday (Christmas Day) game against the Detroit Lions. Thanks to the NFL’s schedule hacks, that second short week starts with a Week 14 game @New York Giants. At least the return flight to Minnesota won’t take one of those three vital recovery days. The Vikings remaining 10 games are tough due to the teams they play. It isn’t made even more difficult by the scheduling. Fortunately, the scheduling difficulties came in the first seven games and those are behind them.