SKOL from the Sofa
2025 Week 18 – Packers at Vikings

After a final-day victory over the Green Bay Packers, things are finally coming into focus about how the 2025 season went and how things might go for the Minnesota Vikings in 2026. To break down the highs and lows of the last game of a topsy-turvy season, this week’s Skol from the Sofa is brought to you by content lead Tom Parry-Jones.

It’s finally over! The Minnesota Vikings’ 2025 season is finally over! But who would have thought it would end this way? After a 26–0 humbling by the Seattle Seahawks in week 13, the Vikings were at their lowest ebb, at 4–8 with playoff prospects all but extinguished; five weeks and five wins later, they finished with a positive record for the second straight year, something they hadn’t done since 2019.

But in some ways, a win against a Packers team resting several of their star players does little more than paper over the cracks. The quarterback situation is still highly unstable, there are question marks over the future of defensive coordinator Brian Flores, and Sunday also likely saw the final appearances in purple for Harrison Smith and C. J. Ham.

Never say die

There are obviously lots of areas to improve on in 2026, but let’s focus on the positives first. This team clearly doesn’t know how to quit. When they were 4–8 in week 13 after failing to score against the Seattle Seahawks, it was hard to see where the next point was going to come from, let alone the next win. But instead of letting their heads drop, the team came back the following week to shut out the Washington Commanders.

After a couple more confidence-building wins against the Cowboys and the Giants, as well as a defensive mauling of the Lions, it came down to a Border Battle against a Green Bay Packers team – already locked into the NFC’s no. 7 seed – with nothing to play for to see if the Vikings would come out of the 2025 campaign on the plus side of .500.

In the end, it was a low-scoring affair but the defense managed to hold the opposition to fewer than 14 points for the fourth time in five weeks, something they only managed once in the first 12 games. It meant the Vikings finished the season with a fifth straight win, a streak they’ve managed in each of Kevin O’Connell’s four seasons in charge.

Some offense intended

Justin Jefferson reached 1,000 yards for the sixth straight season to begin his career

J. J. McCarthy played well to lead the offense on three scoring drives in the first half, albeit only one of them finishing in the end zone, carried in by C. J. Ham. The first-year quarterback connected well with his receivers and put up 182 yards – his third-most of the season – before aggravating his hand injury early in the third quarter.

Most of McCarthy’s yards came on receptions by Justin Jefferson, who needed 53 receiving yards going into the game to reach 1,000 for the season, a feat he’d managed every year since entering the league. He was already up to 68 by the end of the first half, and a further 33 in the second helped him to his first 100-yard receiving game of the season on U.S. soil; his only other 100-yard performances of 2025 had come against the Steelers in Dublin and the Browns in London.

Marking the quality of a receiver’s season by whether or not they reached 1,000 yards is rather arbitrary, but only 20 players managed it this season, and only 11 managed more than Jefferson’s 1,048 yards. He may not have lived up to the handle of the best receiver in football this year, but he’s by no means fallen off a cliff.

Kicking it on defense

Dallas Turner notched two sacks for the second time this season against the Packers

Will Reichard was metronomic on Sunday, converting all three field goals the team gave him the opportunity to kick, as well as adding the PAT for C. J. Ham’s touchdown, giving him a perfect season on point-after kicks (31/31). Both of his field goal misses this season came from over 50 yards, and there’s a strong argument that spider cam wires might have been involved on both occasions. With stats like those, you’d be hard pressed to say Will the Thrill isn’t the biggest Pro Bowl snub in recent memory.

On defense, Dallas Turner was a constant threat off the right edge in place of the injured Jonathan Greenard. The second-year pass rusher had another two-sack performance to reach eight for the season, leading the team. He’s really made a case for the starting job next year, the only issue would be finding the depth to cover against the inevitable injuries every team suffers.

Strange Case of Dr McCarthy & Mr ‘Nine’

J. J. McCarthy’s taunting penalty at the end of this run potentially meant the Vikings missed out on an opening-drive TD

Although J. J. McCarthy looked good for just over two quarters on Sunday, there are still concerns over his health and attitude on the field. It’s clear he wasn’t fully fit against Green Bay, fighting through a hairline fracture in his hand to start the game. The issue was when he effectively took himself out of the game early in the second half.

I like to think there was a discussion at halftime where McCarthy expressed his discomfort to KOC and was given carte blanche to come off the field if he felt he couldn’t continue. When the fans aren’t privy to those chats, it can look like a young, prima donna quarterback putting himself above the needs of the team, but I think it’s important not to make too many assumptions, especially when you’re two scores up.

That was after McCarthy bumped the team out of an almost-certain touchdown drive with a touch of youthful exuberance. After being flushed out of the pocket on first down, he stiff-armed one defender before lowering his shoulder on Keisean Nixon, only to be flagged for taunting after getting up in Nixon’s face after the play was over.

It’s clear the adrenaline was high for ‘Nine’ on that play, but the 15-yard penalty meant the Vikings had to settle for a field goal, and you could see the frustration on McCarthy’s face as he left the field. It’s good to see his competitive edge on display, but those kinds of penalties can’t become a regular fixture going forward.

Max No-smer

Max Brosmer gave up another crazy turnover against the Packers

The biggest problem was with McCarthy’s replacement under center. We’ve seen Max Brosmer a few times this season, and while this was statistically his best performance (7/8, 57 yards, 98.4 passer rating), it was against a weakened Packers defense who were already trailing. And that’s without even mentioning one of the most ridiculous strip-sacks I’ve ever seen.

Tripped up by his own lineman, Brosmer stood up expecting to be whistled down by contact, presenting the ball like he’s the Statue of bleeding Liberty, only to be gang-tackled by three Packers and losing the ball in the process. It’s a true rookie error – just go down, Max! If you thought his pick-six against the Seahawks was bad, this play really took the cake.

I’d be happy to see Brosmer come back to the Vikings next season, but the front office really need to sort out the quarterback situation and make sure he’s only seeing the field in an absolute emergency. If he ever starts a game for us again, something will have gone terribly wrong.

Time to say goodbye

The end of a season is always a sad time for any time that doesn’t finish with a Super Bowl. It’s the last time this group of 50+ guys will all share the same locker room, and for some, it’s the last time they’ll be in an NFL locker room full stop.

The waterworks were in full flow as Harrison Smith and C. J. Ham received standing ovations from the U.S. Bank Stadium crowd as the clock wound down, before giving heartfelt speeches in the locker room afterwards ahead of their expected retirements.

Fullback is no longer the essential position it once was in the NFL, so Ham’s absence from the field might not be felt too keenly, but as a two-time Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee and all-round nice guy, the Duluth native will certainly be missed in the locker room.

So long, Hitman

Harrison Smith lined up for the 207th and likely last time in a Vikings jersey

Harrison Smith, however, will leave huge cleats to fill in the Vikings secondary. He’s been a Swiss army knife on defense for the last 14 years, filling a hybrid linebacker/safety role since 2012. We managed to stave off having to replace him last offseason by tempting him back for another year, but this time it looks like he’s well and truly played his final snap in the purple and gold. He didn’t quite manage the interception that would have seen him join the NFL’s prestigious 40–20 Club, but the 39–20 Club is just as exclusive!

On a personal note, I’ve met Harry three times now, one of which was just after he became the first Vikings rookie to record two pick-sixes in a season. None of us knew at the time what kind of impact the Hitman would have on this franchise, but although he never got a Super Bowl ring, I hope that when all is said and done, he’ll get the recognition he would baulk at but that he truly deserves by being voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Go with the B-Flo

Brian Flores has transformed the Vikings defense since arriving in 2023

One last figure who might have been involved in his final game with the Vikings on Sunday is defensive coordinator Brian Flores. The former head coach of the Miami Dolphins has worked wonders since arriving in Minnesota in 2023, helping the Vikings go from a bottom 10 defense in each of the previous three seasons to 5th in 2024 and 7th in 2025. He’s earned plaudits from across the league, and he’s started to turn heads at teams looking to fill a head coaching vacancy this offseason.

Flores’ active discrimination lawsuit against the league and several of its teams had some of us thinking we had him locked into this role for as long as we wanted him, but the rest of the league can only ignore the job he’s done with the Vikings for so long before they realise he might be the guy to bring success to a failing franchise. Hopefully we can hang onto him for at least one more year to see if perhaps 2026 is the year success comes to Minnesota.

Final thought

It would be churlish to gloat about a victory over a Packers side resting multiple starters ahead of a wild card matchup against the Bears this week, but you can only play what’s in front of you. No one remembers the specifics years down the line, and 2025 will always be recorded as a winning season in the history of the Minnesota Vikings. The next step is to build on the foundations laid this year, add a few more pieces to the jigsaw, make it back into the postseason and hopefully go all the way.

Do you want to have your say about an upcoming Vikings game? Is something really grinding your gears? You can have your say right here in Skol from the Sofa. Just drop us an email at UKVikingsFanClub@gmail.com or send us a DM on any of our social media channels.

Photos courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings.