After a week of rest and relaxation during the bye, we’re back with another installment of “5 Questions.” This week, we had the pleasure of connecting with Christopher Gates, the site manager over at Daily
Norseman, to give us some insight into the Minnesota Vikings. We talked about J.J. McCarthy on the eve of his third NFL start, some of the offseason decisions that have impacted the Vikings uneven start on defense this season, and much more in the lead up to this NFC North matchup.
1. The Minnesota Vikings’ 2025 season has so far been defined by injuries and none more concerning than that of the team’s franchise quarterback, J.J. McCarthy.
Carson Wentz, reportedly, toughed his way through a torn labrum and fractured socket for two and a half weeks while McCarthy was on the mend from a high-ankle sprain. McCarthy is fully recovered and scheduled to make his return for this divisional matchup at an important crossroads in Minnesota’s season. Seeing it’s only his third career start in the NFL, what’s your level of confidence in McCarthy at this point as he’s set to face a Lions’ defense ranked No. 1 according to DVOA?
“Well, it’s certainly not an ideal spot for McCarthy to come back in, but he’s got to get out there sometime. It stinks that he got hurt two games into the season when he could have gotten more reps, but McCarthy and the Vikings have to play the hand they were dealt.
I’m hoping that Kevin O’Connell will try to do some things to help McCarthy get comfortable early on, like shortening up some of the route combinations and trying to do more on the ground, but he hasn’t shown any inclination to do that so far this season regardless of who’s been at quarterback. I want to be optimistic about this, but I absolutely wouldn’t be shocked if this thing got out of control early.”
2. Circling back to those injuries, and this is obviously a factor to consider when it comes to assessing your confidence level in McCarthy, but the offensive line has been in flux all year long. Three different players have logged 100+ snaps at center (Ryan Kelly, Michael Jurgens, and Blake Brandel), Brian O’Neil and Christian Darrisaw have both missed time, and Justin Skule has given up 19 pressures on 185 pass-blocking snaps filling in for the aforementioned tackles.
How have those injuries played a factor in the offense’s most lackluster start under Kevin O’Connell–where have they been most vulnerable–and is there a sense of optimism for this group to get things turned around if Darrisaw and O’Neil return to the lineup this week against Detroit?
“The Vikings have, somehow, managed to mismanage every injury the team has had this year in spectacular fashion. The Carson Wentz situation has been well-documented this week, and Darrisaw has been in and out of the lineup at times, almost as if he’s been on a “pitch count” or something. The five linemen that the Vikings were projecting to be the starting five before the season (Darrisaw, Donovan Jackson, Ryan Kelly, Will Fries, and Brian O’Neill) have played zero snaps together this season, Kelly is dealing with concussion issues again… it’s just been a gigantic mess.
Given the expectations and what was done in the offseason to fix it, there might not be a more disappointing unit in the NFL than the Vikings’ offensive line. That’s contributed mightily to the offensive issues this season, and there really isn’t a whole lot of time or resources available to fix it at this point.”
3. Something the Lions and Vikings have in common is being stocked with plenty of talent at the skill positions. Justin Jefferson remains one of the best players in the league, Jordan Addison has had some splashy performances since returning from suspension, and Jordan Mason is shouldering the load while Aaron Jones rehabs.
Do you expect any specific pass catchers to earn more attention now that McCarthy’s back under center, or do you see O’Connell trying to be more balanced and lean more on the ground game?
“During the limited time they got together in the preseason, McCarthy and Addison seemed to have some pretty solid chemistry. I wouldn’t be surprised if Addison were to have a solid game on Sunday, and he might even outdo Justin Jefferson in yards and catches since McCarthy seems to have that going on with him. In theory, the Vikings would be more balanced and try to run the ball more, but they really didn’t even bother against the Chargers and that defense is nowhere near the caliber of what they’re going to see on Sunday. If O’Connell has a perfect game plan in him somewhere, he’s going to have to pull it out for this one.”
4. Brian Flores and the Vikings defense is still aggressive as ever when it comes to sending the blitz (42% blitz rate per Pro Football Reference, first in the NFL), and their sack rate (8.2% per NFL Pro) is good for sixth in the league. They also have the fourth-best mark in the league when it comes to passing EPA per play allowed (-0.17).
What’s been the secret to Flores’ sustained success continuing this season in defending the pass?
“I understand that the numbers look impressive for Flores’ defense this year, but they’ve gotten whooped a few times this season, too. You can blitz a ton and get away with it when you’re facing the Jake Brownings and Dillon Gabriels of the NFL, but as we saw last week against Justin Herbert, when you go up against better quarterbacks you have limited success.
I know Jared Goff has had success against Brian Flores with the Lions, but he’s had a couple of not-so-great games as well. He was pretty bad when these two teams met in Detroit last year, but Sam Darnold managed to be way, way more terrible, and that’s what people noticed. With the Lions rolling again on offense, I’m not sure if this defense is going to be able to do a whole lot against Goff. But, whether the blitz works or not, that’s what you’re going to get from this defense, because that’s the way it’s constructed.”
5. After finishing second in team defense DVOA last year, the Vikings find themselves in the middle of the pack (19th) through seven games this season. The pass defense has held up their end of the bargain, so it seems to have everything to do with their run defense.
Teams are running the ball more against Minnesota’s defense than any other team in the league (51.1% opponent run-play percentage), so what’s gone wrong for the Vikings when it comes to defending the run–and are there signs they could improve as soon as this week?
“The Vikings wanted more pass rush from the interior of the defense, so they signed Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave. Attempting to boost the pass rush, however, has come at the expense of the run defense. The team traded away Harrison Phillips during the preseason, and while Jalen Redmond has been a revelation on the defensive line—and Levi Drake Rodriguez has added solid play—neither of them offer the run-stopping ability that Phillips brought to the table. Add in the fact that Blake Cashman has missed a good chunk of the season and Ivan Pace Jr. would probably get juked out of his shoes by a tackling dummy at this point, and the run defense has dropped off significantly from what we’ve been used to over the past few years.
Again, there aren’t any run-stopping defensive tackles just lounging around in free agency at this stage of the year, so it’s probably going to be that way for the rest of the season. Not great with Jahmyr Gibbs in the opposing backfield, that’s for sure.”
