Minnesota Vikings Week 18 Superlatives

The Minnesota Vikings closed their 2025 season with a 16-3 domination of the Green Bay Packers. It really wasn’t that close. The Packers never once threatened to make it a game. Like many teams around the league, the Packers were pansies and played the Week 18 regular season like it was a preseason game. It was a pathetic look for the league. Here are some of the Vikings players that made this win over a big division rival possible. 

Offensive Player of the Game

Justin Jefferson, WR

Many of the Vikings frustrations throughout this frustrating season have been reflected in Justin Jefferson. Statistically and emotionally. For a player so capable of impacting and taking over games, it’s been a rough season. Despite those difficulties, he only needed 53 yards against the Packers to reach 1000 yards. He got 101. 

Defensive Player of the Game

Dallas Turner, OLB

A year ago, many fans and pundits were babbling about putting Dallas Turner in the bust bucket. They aren’t babbling about that now. Turner often looked like the player that he was drafted to be. Dominant. He had two sacks against the Packers. The first forced a fumble. 

Special Teams Player of the Game

Will Reichard, K

It can be argued that Will Reichard has been the Vikings Most Valuable Player this season. He’s been consistently great all season. He’s only missed two field goal attempts on the season. One of those misses hit a camera wire. The second might’ve done so. He was perfect on extra point attempts on the season. Against the Packers, he made all three field goals and the single extra point. 

Vikings - Packers

If a Minnesota Vikings season has to come to an end, it’s nice to end it with a domination of the Green Bay Packers. The final score was 16-3. The Packers closed the game with a meaningless field goal. It was meaningless in that it ultimately didn’t matter. I suppose it was meaningful for the Packers as it allowed them to avoid a shutout. 

The Vikings finished the season with a five-game win streak. The Packers are riding into the playoffs on a three-game losing streak. Good time for a lie down. 

As was the case with many of the league’s Week 18 games, the Packers essentially sat out this game. It’s pathetic that so many teams are turning the final week of the regular season into a preseason game. The league has a problem and the Packers are a part of it. Very nice. I guess it’s still a sweet thing to see the Vikings dominate the Packers. 

The highlight of this game was seeing Justin Jefferson get 100 receiving yards for the game and especially get 1000 receiving yards for the season. This has been a very difficult season. Much of the difficulties are reflected in Jefferson’s season statistically and emotionally. With all of the issues that the team encountered, it’s actually remarkable that the Vikings had a winning 9-8 record and Jefferson finished with 1048 yards. 

As for the game, the Vikings managed only 16 points. It could’ve/should’ve been so much more. They settled for three field goals. Of course those could’ve/should’ve been touchdowns. The Packers defense put up marginal resistance. They couldn’t stop Jefferson. They couldn’t tackle Jordan Mason. Jefferson was basically through when he hit 100 yards. He played three quarters. Mason only had 14 carries. The offense took a hit when J.J. McCarthy left the game after a single pass in the second half. A hairline fracture on his right hand kept him out of the Christmas Day win over the Detroit Lions. Many pundits and fans didn’t think that he should be playing in this “meaningless” Week 18 game. I’m glad they aren’t making that decision. Every opportunity McCarthy had to play this season was worth something. I don’t get how anyone would think otherwise. Before he left the game, McCarthy was playing well. He had a couple throws and a couple decisions that he might like back. Other than those instances, he played well. With 182 passing yards in essentially a half of football, he was looking to throw for well over 300 yards. The Vikings were looking to score many more than 16 points. It appeared that his hand issues returned after throwing 23 passes. Every opportunity McCarthy has to see an NFL defense, even a Packers defense simply going through the motions, has value. In my opinion, he took advantage of his final opportunity of the 2025 season. I can’t wait for his 2026 season. 

The Vikings defense was great. Again. Even acknowledging they were facing QB3 Clayton Tune, they were great. The Vikings defense has been great for well over a month. It’s surprising that this strong defensive run has been done with Jonathan Greenard and Joshua Metellus sidelined with injuries. The duo are team leaders on and off the field. In Greenard’s place, Dallas Turner has been dynamite. He sacked Tune twice. On the first sack, he forced a fumble. Unfortunately, the Packers recovered. With sack yardage factored into the passing numbers, the Packers passed for -7 yards. They gained only 121 total yards. It was a dominating performance from the Vikings defense. It would’ve been nice if it’d remained a shutout. 

It’s always a sad deal to see a Minnesota Vikings season end. There was a particular sting to this one as Harrison Smith and C.J. Ham were removed from the game with great applause and congratulations from teammates and fans. I’ve been reluctant to accept it but it feels like this was the last game of the great Vikings career of Smith. If it’s Ham’s last game, it’s nice that he got a touchdown.

Even with the frustrations of this season, it’s tough to see it end. I suppose the five-game winning streak pushes the belief that this season could’ve been so much different. They finished a half game out of the playoffs. A couple breaks here or there and the Vikings are a playoff team. They were 4-2 in the NFC North. They were 7-5 in the NFC. Those are better records than several of the playoff teams. It’s been a frustrating season and it’s frustrating to see it end. 

Up next is the offseason. 

Green Bay Packers All - Time My - Time Team

In advance of Minnesota Vikings games, I’ve been selecting an All-Time team of that week’s opponent. The Vikings play division rivals twice. To avoid doing something that I’ve already done here’s something different. This is an All-Time Green Bay Packers team made up of players that played during my time as a Vikings fan. 

Offense

Quarterback

Aaron Rodgers

Running Back

Ahman Green

Fullback

William Henderson

Wide Receivers

Sterling Sharpe

James Lofton

Davante Adams

Tight End

Paul Coffman

Offensive Tackles

David Bakhtiari

Bryan Bulaga 

Offensive Guards

Gale Gillingham

Josh Sitton

Center

Frank Winters

Defense

Defensive Ends

Reggie White

Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila

Defensive Tackles

Mike Daniels

Kenny Clark

Linebackers

Clay Matthews

Johnny Holland

Fred Carr

Cornerbacks

Charles Woodson

Jaire Alexander

Safeties

LeRoy Butler

Nick Collins

Special Teams

Kicker 

Ryan Longwell

Punter

Craig Hentrich 

Kick Returner

Randall Cobb

Is He Playing Day? Day 2

The Minnesota Vikings host the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. It’s the final game of a disappointing season for the Vikings. The Packers are headed to the playoffs. The Vikings are on a four-game win streak. The Packers have lost three straight. The Vikings are aiming for a fifth consecutive win. The Packers are starting Clayton Tune at quarterback. The Vikings appear to be the only team looking to win on Sunday. The Packers are apparently content with riding into the playoffs on the high of four consecutive losses. Nice.

The question of the week for the Vikings has been the playing status of quarterback J.J. McCarthy. He missed last week’s Christmas Day game against the Detroit Lions with a hairline fracture in his throwing hand. “Is he playing?” It’s been moving in the “playing” direction since he checked his grip strength with trainers on Tuesday. It continued moving in the “playing” direction on Wednesday when was a limited participant in the first practice of the week. Yesterday, he was listed as a full participant. Oh, he’s playing. That’s good news for plenty of reasons. One of the most significant is that receiver Justin Jefferson needs 53 yards to hit 1000 yards on the season. 53 is much more attainable with McCarthy throwing the ball than Max Brosmer. As with the team as a whole, this has been a difficult season for Jefferson. With the availability issues at quarterback and the revolving door of offensive linemen, the Vikings offense has often been terrible. It’s actually remarkable that Jefferson is even within shot of the milestone. McCarthy at quarterback is the best way for Jefferson to get there. 

Then there’s the whole deal of actually playing an NFL regular season game to win. All teams should and few teams are this weekend. Preseason-like games in Week 18 have become an annual thing since Roger Goodell forced a 17th game on the football-watching public. Is it going to be two weeks of this shit when he and the greedy owners bump it to 18? 

If the Vikings were pansies like the Packers, they’d be shutting J.J. McCarthy down for the season. There’d be no harm in it. There’d probably be no criticism either. There’d also be no honor. One more game of experience can only be a positive thing for a 22-year old rookie. Not to mention, playing to win an NFL regular season is always a good thing. 

 

Is he playing? Oh yes, he’s playing. 

Is He Playing? Day 1

The Minnesota Vikings are playing the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. It’s Week 18 of the long 2025 NFL Season. The Vikings will not be part of the playoffs. That was determined weeks ago. The Packers will be part of the playoffs. The Vikings gave them that opportunity with a Christmas Day defeat of the Detroit Lions. The Vikings are riding a four-game win streak. The Packers have lost their last three games. It’s wild that in this game between long-time division rivals, the Vikings are the team that appear more interested in winning it. 

The NFL expanded the season to 17 games in 2021. It was a money-grab. The league didn’t add an extra week of exciting professional football. If Commissioner Roger Goodell saw an extra week of division-deciding, playoff-impacting games, he was a fool. What he got, what we all got, was a week filled with games that are more like preseason games. Of the 16 games this week, a whopping three mean something to the teams playing in them. It’s been like that each season since the league moved to 17 games. There was a time when every game meant something to the teams playing in them. Teams with nothing to gain played like the games meant something. Teams played through the end of the season no matter when it came. Today, teams sit out games. Vince Lombardi is rolling in his grave. Preseason games in December and January. Thanks Roger. 

The Packers are starting Clayton Tune. CLAYTON TUNE! The Packers are playing in Week 18 like it’s Week 3 of the preseason. The Vikings are playing to win. They are playing to end a disappointing season with a winning record. Considering the disappointments, that’s remarkable. Since the Vikings are playing to win in Week 18, the question this week has been: Will J.J. McCarthy play against the Packers? Right now, I’m about 85% certain that he plays. McCarthy has a hairline fracture in his throwing hand. He left the Week 16 game against the New York Giants at the half. He couldn’t grip the ball. That was evident when an unprovoked fumble ended the half. The hand is feeling better. The swelling is down. He can grip the ball. He was listed as limited in yesterday’s practice. If he practices fully today, I’m bumping my 85% guess to 100%. Until that news hits these ears, my “is he playing” on Day 1 is likely. 

Pro Football Hall of Fame Finalists

The 15 Modern-Era Finalists for the 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame were announced yesterday. 

Willie Anderson, OT

Drew Brees, QB

Jahri Evans, G

Larry Fitzgerald, WR

Frank Gore, RB

Torry Holt, WR

Luke Kuechly, LB

Eli Manning, QB

Terrell Suggs, OLB

Adam Vinatieri, K

Reggie Wayne, WR

Kevin Williams, DT

Jason Witten, TE

Darren Woodson, S

Marshall Yanda, G

Willie Anderson, Torry Holt, Luke Kuechly, and Adam Vinatieri advanced to this stage automatically due to each candidate reaching the Final 7 last year. With the fluctuating views of the voters, this feels like a questionable new wrinkle to the process. There are a lot of questionable wrinkles in the current voting process. Anyway, Anderson, Holt, Kuechly, and Vinatieri are Finalists this year due to the voting last year. 

The list of 15 Finalists includes four players in their first year of eligibility:

Drew Brees

Larry Fitzgerald

Frank Gore

Jason Witten

I’d say it’s a pretty safe bet that Drew Brees and Larry Fitzgerald will be in Canton next August. 

There’s one more player among the Finalists that’s a finalist for the first time. 

Kevin Williams

Despite being in his sixth year of eligibility, this is the first time as a Finalist for Kevin Williams. History shows a quick Hall entrance for players with five first-team All-Pros and an All-Decade honor. Somehow, the outstanding career of Williams has eluded the voters. It’s a mystery as to how he slipped detection for so long. Is this the first year of a long wait on the doorstep or are the voters serious about addressing five years of mistakes? Richard Seymour was an equally talented peer of Williams. When Seymour was inducted in 2022, I figured that Williams would be next. Nope. Somehow, he didn’t even reach the semi-finalist stage until this year. Kevin Williams had a Hall of Fame career and is much-deserving of a bust in Canton. 

Times as a Finalist:

Willie Anderson: 5

Drew Brees: 1

Jahri Evans: 3

Larry Fitzgerald: 1

Frank Gore: 1

Torry Holt: 7

Luke Kuechly: 2

Eli Manning: 2

Terrell Suggs: 2

Adam Vinatieri: 2

Reggie Wayne: 7

Kevin Williams: 1

Jason Witten: 1

Darren Woodson: 4

Marshall Yanda: 2

Years of Eligibility:

1st:

Drew Brees

Larry Fitzgerald

Frank Gore

Jason Witten

2nd:

Luke Kuechly

Eli Manning

Terrell Suggs

Adam Vinatieri

Marshall Yanda

4th:

Jahri Evans

6th:

Kevin Williams

7th: 

Reggie Wayne

12th: 

Torry Holt

13th:

Willie Anderson

18th:

Darren Woodson

In my opinion, there are three Hall of Fame locks among the 15 Finalists.

Drew Brees

Larry Fitzgerald

Luke Kuechly

I still can’t believe that Luke Kuechly didn’t make it in his first year. Seeing as the voters did the same shit with Patrick Willis, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Kuechly should make it in his second year. 

In an effort to make induction a bit more challenging, the Hall revised the process before last year’s voting. That resulted in a tiny four-member Class. Congratulations! More of that and all you’ve done is create an insurmountable backlog of deserving Hall of Famers. Luke Kuechly should’ve been part of last year’s Class. Now, he’s probably going to take a spot from perhaps Willie Anderson this year. Or Kevin Williams. Or Marshall Yanda. Or Reggie Wayne. 

I’m going to ignore the suspect voting rules and predict the following five-member Modern-Era Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026.

Drew Brees

Larry Fitzgerald

Luke Kuechly

Kevin Williams

Willie Anderson

I’d like to get one of Reggie Wayne or Torry Holt in this Class but Willie Anderson has been waiting longer. 

The Senior, Coach, and Contributor Finalists were determined earlier.

Senior:

Ken Anderson

Roger Craig

L.C. Greenwood

Coach:

Bill Belichick

Contributor:

Robert Kraft

The new process allows for a minimum of one and maximum of three from the above five candidates. I believe that the voters will go out their way to put Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft in together. That allows one spot for the Seniors. For me, that player would be Roger Craig. That player should’ve been Lavvie Dilweg, Verne Lewellen, or Al Wistert. Unfortunately, the voters have apparently shut the door on all deserving players in the Senior pool that played before 1970. 

I sure hope the ridiculous new voting process allows for an eight-member Class. There’s more than enough deserving Modern-Era players for it. 

Minnesota Vikings Late-Season Roster Tweaks

The Minnesota Vikings are on a late-season run. A month ago, they were sitting at 4-8 with playoff possibilities sitting at non-existent. Since then, the Vikings have won four games. They were eliminated from the playoffs as they started to win. One game remains. With a defeat of the Green Bay Packers, the Vikings can end the season with a winning record. In advance of the big, final game, there have been some tweaks to the roster. Many of the tweaks have been prompted by injuries. In the past two weeks, the Vikings have placed five players on injured reserve.

Christian Darrisaw, T

Jonathan Greenard, OLB

Joshua Metellus, S

Ryan Kelly, C

Elijah Williams, DL

All but Elijah Williams are starters. Jonathan Greenard and Joshua Metellus are captains. The Vikings might be on a four-game win streak but they are limping toward the finish line. 

To fill three of the those roster spots the Vikings signed the following players from the practice squad to the active roster.

Dwight McGlothern Jr., CB

Zemaiah Vaughn, CB

Henry Byrd, G

The remaining roster spots were filled by quarterback Brett Rypien, claimed off waivers from the Indianapolis Colts, and running back Ty Chandler, activated from injured reserve. 

One of the roster curiosities of this year’s Vikings team has been the cornerbacks. Early in the season, they ran with the following corners:

Byron Murphy Jr.

Isaiah Rodgers

Jeff Okudah

Three cornerbacks! Three! Through the first eight games, Okudah was played in six. A concussion put him on injured reserve and eventually ended his season. Fabian Moreau replaced Okudah as the third cornerback. Second-year corner Dwight McGlothern Jr. was a frequent game day elevation from the practice squad to give the Vikings four corners. On December 20, he was signed to the active roster. Undrafted rookie Zemaiah Vaughn was signed to the active roster yesterday. With five cornerbacks, the Vikings cornerback depth chart is finally as deep in numbers as most teams in the league. 

Byron Murphy Jr.

Isaiah Rodgers

Fabian Moreau

Dwight McGlothern Jr.

Zemaiah Vaughn

Dwight McGlothern Jr., at 6’2” and Zemaiah Vaughn, at 6’3”, give the Vikings some intriguing height at the position. The two young corners also might get a chance in the final game of the season to show what they might be able to add to the defense in 2026. 

One more game. One more win.