Who Killed The 2025 Vikings Season?

A murder took place last year. The victim? Well … mostly fans of the Minnesota Vikings. However, the true victim was the team itself.

There were hopes of winning the NFC North Division throughout the team and the fanbase if only they could topple the Lions and Packers and keep the Bears in the basement where they belong until Detroit reverts to their old ways. Kevin O’Connell was going to ride the season with J.J. McCarthy as the starter at quarterback after Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones decided they didn’t want to look over their shoulders all season waiting to be replaced.

A Whodunit for the 2025 Vikings

Brian Flores hoped that one more year with his defense in place would solidify that side of the line, if not overshadow the offense’s ability to score points. That never happened, though, as the Vikings slowly bled to death all season long. Who was the true culprit in all these nefarious deeds?

The answer might surprise you. Like the game of Clue, follow along as we figure out who used the lead pipe on the Vikings in US Bank Stadium.

Suspect Number 1

The Wilf family. Yes, could the owners be trying to bring down their own team and legacy in some elaborate scheme to move the team? No. Nor is it a way to make a false insurance claim or anything like that.

Some feel Ziggy and his family haven’t done enough to keep an eye on the team and are simply watching from afar. Some say the Wilfs don’t really care about winning, and when they aren’t at an away game, they don’t even put in the effort. They only want to be “good enough” so they can make money on jerseys and gameday tickets.

The problem with that lame and lazy take is that why would anyone spend millions or billions to have a product that doesn’t want to win? The Wilfs don’t want to be known as losers any more than they wanted to be the owners that moved the Vikings out of town. They fought to get a new stadium and paid for a great product to be put on the field.

They have gone after and approved of the talent brought in for the coaching staff and players. They can be quickly removed from the top of the list, as they have proven they will do whatever it takes to support any coach and player on their team.

Suspect Number 2

General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. All eyes are on him during Free Agency and the NFL Draft. Is there some dirt there to draw that scrutiny? Yes, there is some definite evidence that he might be the culprit.

When it comes to free agents, he has brought in some key pieces and upgrades to spots. Andrew Van Ginkel, Johnathan Greenard, Eric Wilson, Jalen Redmond, Will Fries, and Jordan Mason have all improved their play at weaker positions on both sides of the ball. Last year, bringing in Johnathan Allen and Javon Hargrave seemed like another big swing for players who could start or be impactful spot players.

Ryan Kelly was thought to be a guy who could solidify and upgrade the offensive line. Allen took a while to be seen as an impact player, but never took over a game the way most fans hoped he would.

Hargrave had some flash moments, but he isn’t the menace on the field he used to be, and what fans thought would be a dominant defense, even better than their 2025 performance, would keep taking opponents’ offense off the field and get the Vikings back out there. Kelly was great when he was on the field, but injuries kept him mostly on the sidelines.

Since concussions are the central issue, he may think about retirement. While they seemed like great signings, they weren’t as powerful as past signings. Fries and Mason were solid and productive players, with Mason getting in some great runs and Fries being the only offensive lineman who played almost every snap on the line this year.

One thing Adofo-Mensah failed to do was bring in a competent backup quarterback after Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones left for greener pastures. Another piece of evidence was trading away Harrison Phillips, and the run defense suffering because of it, along with team spirit, as he was a positive locker-room presence.

The draft is more damning for him. Adofo-Mensah has not had a great record of drafting players who make an immediate or even developmental impact on the team, supplementing those free agents. I’m not going to break down every player he’s missed on because you can find that anywhere.

His four most successful draft picks are Jordan Addison, Will Reichard, Dallas Turner, and Donovan Jackson. While some would say it’s a solid number of picks, too many high picks are no longer on the team. He has done a great job identifying late-round picks who do precisely what they are supposed to do: push for starting roles but remain depth and bit players.

They’re not expected to be stars. Sticking to where they were drafted, the team has gotten impact from late rounders like Jalen Nailor, Ty Chandler, Michael Jurgens, Levi Drake Rodriguez, Reichard, and Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins, with some surpassing their draft spot. Reichard is the standout, emerging as one of the best kickers in the NFL. With the evidence against him, he seems the most likely target, but he’s still not the culprit.

Suspect Number 3

We’re working our way down from the top, and the next level is the coaching staff. Kevin O’Connell is the main leader and answers the most important questions. With Brian Flores as his defensive coordinator, they form a formidable duo that has all those players to work with.

They have done a great job with past and current players and have had success. Had Kirk Cousins never gotten injured, would the team gone all the way? If Darnold had stayed, would he have settled down in his second year here and erased his bust in the big moment’s aura? Would Jones have flourished as he did in Indianapolis? We will never know.

The plan was to run it back this year with J.J. McCarthy at the helm with a strong group of players around him. The offensive line injuries didn’t help McCarthy, last-second signing Carson Wentz, or rookie Max Brosmer succeed, and they all looked unready at different times during the season. McCarthy and Wentz both got injured, and that also threw the offensive plans into a flat spin, resulting in a mediocre season record.

O’Connell still seemed to try to be too smart on offense, refusing to run on 3rd or 4th-and-short, where Mason excels, and trying to throw too often. That puts your young quarterbacks in vulnerable positions they might not be mature enough to handle.

Flores’ defense is given more of a pass after finishing 3rd in the league at the end of the season and being one of the best at preventing passing touchdowns. But even his armor has some cracks.

There were times when it seemed Flores backed off from his signature attacking defense, which blitzed more than any other team in the league. Also, teams have seemed to thrive by throwing to the middle of the field, with receivers wide open and good yards after the catch (YAC) on critical downs.

He has done a great job developing Turner and getting Redmond in spots to shine and become an impact player. Turner was ready to step in for Greenard when Greenard was injured, making plays and finishing the season as the team leader in sacks with 8. Not super impressive for the defense as a whole. They led the league in interceptions, forced fumbles, and fumble recoveries.

Take away the injuries to the offensive line, and the unit has struggled at times over the last few years. Offensive Line Coach Chris Kuper was fired by the team after years of poor play by the unit, and the fact that some of the previous starters considered busts have flourished with their new teams, namely high Vikings draft picks Ed Ingram and Garrett Bradbury.

Along with him, Special Teams Coordinator Matt Daniels has taken heat for his coaching of the unit with some damaging moments at key times. Reichard, punter Ryan Wright, and long snapper Andrew DePaola have been gaining high accolades, giving him a buffer, but kick and punt return coverage has been questionable at times.

Like Adofo-Mensah, there is a deep rap sheet here to go over. They still stay out of the slammer as our investigation continues.

Suspect Number 4

All the team players could have been the reason. From McCarthy being injured or playing poorly and showing some immaturity to the offensive line going through 26 different combinations. Wentz getting injured to Brosmer showing he wasn’t as ready as some fans thought he was.

Injuries on the defense with players like Ivan Pace Jr. regressing from his play from the last few years, including being out of position on a kick return that helped the Bears beat the Vikings at home in the last few minutes. Addison started the year on an NFL suspension and then came back only to get benched for a half in the London game for missing a team practice.

Harrison Smith started the season with a mystery affliction and ended the year with a possible final bow into retirement. The players attributed the team’s demise to more than just bad play, injuries, and mental mistakes at the worst possible times already mentioned.

Christian Darrisaw was recovering from a left knee injury and was in and out of the lineup all season, and TJ Hockenson wasn’t giving as much production as he had in the past, partly because he had to do more blocking to make up for the aforementioned offensive line injuries. McCarthy took most of the heat because he’s the starting quarterback, wasn’t as impactful as everyone expected or hoped, and was on the injured list more than anyone could have guessed.

Again, we could hash over every time the players caused a perfect play call to go awry or failed to do what we think is the simplest of actions, but it would be an endless journey that would culminate in a dead end. Yes, the players still aren’t the culprit.

After all those mountains of evidence, you could even surmise that this was not a single person’s fault, but a network, and all the suspects are to blame. In reality, they are. However, our story has a villain, and it’s one that some have blamed before. In fact, he is already masked in this article.

Suspect Number 5

AH HA! It’s elementary, my dear Watson. One man caused all of this to fall the way it did … and he isn’t even on the team. After all the lineman woes, players’ off-field distractions, coaching missteps, and poor drafts, the man who dealt the blow that felled the team was on another team.

True masters of crime stay hidden and often have tragic backstories that make the reader or viewer say, “No wonder he turned into a villain.” Some already said he was when he was with the team, and he caused many failures in the past. No, it’s not Ray Finkle. It’s time to pull off that mask and find out who the real criminal is, gang. ZOINKS!

The real criminal is … Kirk Cousins! (dun, dun, duuuun!)

Cousins had some great seasons here, and I’ll be the first to admit I defended him and his performances. He was never going to be elite, but if you put the right team around him, he could have won a championship for Minnesota.

I firmly believe that if Flores had been here one year earlier instead of Ed Donatell, the defensive talent would have been better than good enough, because that was the year the Vikings kept fighting from behind to win close games. The defense kept putting the team in bad positions after the offense would rally.

The guy who had the most impact on those comebacks was Cousins. The following year, he was playing fast and furiously while dissecting the Packers on their home turf when his Achilles’ tendon popped, and his season was over. After such a devastating injury at his age, it was possible he wouldn’t ever be able to play in the NFL again.

The Vikings were already looking to bring in his future replacement through the draft and were upfront about it, but they wanted him back at a fair price, given his injury recovery, as part of their thought process.

As he considered being replaced, he also decided it might be time to leave on his own terms, somewhere without a young player peeking over his shoulder. So, he took his services to Atlanta instead of staying in Minnesota. The Vikings still drafted a young quarterback with a high draft pick and started looking to the future.

Unfortunately for Cousins, his fate remained unchanged as he was paid more than he may have earned once again, and the Falcons drafted a new quarterback anyway. The final twist there is that they never told him until it happened on draft night, as he was traveling to a team draft party to be introduced as the new team starter. Ouch.

Michael Penix eventually did supplant him, even when he was playing decently. Being the jilted lover of not one but two teams is enough to make a once good person into the main villain in any mystery.

Had Cousins swallowed his pride and just stayed in Minnesota this year, it may have been his best. He would have been a year removed from his injury, which was obviously hampering some of his throws two seasons ago. McCarthy may have been looked at closely and considered to be the starter.

However, O’Connell is big on developing quarterbacks and openly stating that NFL teams give up on them too soon, too often. If Cousins were back to form, he would have started over McCarthy, so he could have a full year to develop after being down his rookie year with a knee injury.

Cousins would have been able to overcome the injuries on the line, and you can even argue that some never would have happened because the plays that caused them would have been wiped out of history by his play.

The defense would have looked even better, defending leads and having quarterbacks running for their lives as they increased drop-backs to pass. The season might have been much different, and the team might still be in Super Bowl contention this weekend had he stayed here, with the only victim being Darnold’s resurrection.

You can also add Cousins’ agent as an accomplice if they didn’t try to talk Cousins into staying for less money and a possibility at ultimate glory. The angel or devil on his shoulder may have had just as much influence over the 2025 season’s death as the man who pulled the proverbial trigger.

This is a tongue-in-cheek take, obviously. I loved Cousins while he was here and knew he needed more around him to win, similar to Jalen Hurts, who I put in that same category of quarterback: makes plenty of great plays and usually doesn’t lose the team games, but isn’t elite enough to take them over the top without help.

Those who labeled him a villain while here wouldn’t remove their blinders enough to see that, and could rightfully argue that his salary was a hindrance to free-agent signings. Now, he is the man who killed the 2025 season, and he doesn’t even know it.