Super Bowl road maps: Jaguars | Bears | Browns | Dolphins | Packers | Lions | Texans
Welcome to Super Bowl LXI road maps, where we look at every team’s chances of winning it all in 2026. We’ll analyze the summer optimism before providing a reality check of what’s to come. Next path to assess: the Vikings.
The Vikings should relocate to the other side of the Mason-Dixon line. Then, they could apply for relocation and dominate the NFC South. Unfortunately for them, no such rejiggering of the divisions is coming.
Over the past two seasons, Minnesota has won 23 games. Only the Broncos, Bills and Eagles have won more during that span. All of those teams have won their division at least once, with each advancing to a conference title game or, in Philadelphia’s case, winning the Super Bowl to cap the 2024 season. As for the Vikings, they’ve failed to win the NFC North in either season and made the playoffs only once, getting blown out 27–9 by the Rams in the wild-card round.
Going into 2026, Minnesota is in flux. The Vikings fired longtime general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah this offseason, replacing him with Seattle assistant GM Nolan Teasley. Minnesota also has a quarterback competition between free-agent acquisition Kyler Murray and third-year pro J.J. McCarthy, once believed to be the potential face of the franchise.
For the Vikings and coach Kevin O’Connell, the pieces are there to become a good team. But the pitfalls are equally present, making Minnesota one of the more fascinating teams to consider.
Leadership
After spending four years in Minnesota, Adofo-Mensah was ousted in late January, with Teasley being tabbed for the role on June 1.
It’s Teasley’s first NFL job outside of Seattle after spending 12 seasons with the team, working his way up from scout to assistant general manager. Now with Minnesota, he’ll have a full summer and subsequent season to evaluate his roster before diving into free agency and the 2027 draft.
As for O’Connell, he enters his fifth season with a career 43–25 record and two postseason trips. Regarded by other coaches as one of the league’s smartest, O’Connell leverages his scheme by marrying the run and pass game in his concepts, something he learned under Rams coach Sean McVay. This was evidenced by last season, when Minnesota had three different starting quarterbacks but still won nine games while rushing for 4.5 yards per carry, tied for 10th-best in the NFL.
Defensively, Brian Flores is one of the best coordinators in the game. Known for his blitz-happy tendencies and disguised looks, Flores has seen Minnesota rank 12th, 11th and third, respectively, in yards allowed per play while also blitzing at the highest rate of any defense each of the past three years.
Most influential roster move
How could it be anything but Murray? The Vikings used a first-round pick on quarterback J.J. McCarthy in 2024, and after watching him start 10 games, went out and signed Murray to a one-year deal to provide competition.
In reality, Murray will be the starting quarterback unless he’s injured or McCarthy comes back as a completely different player. After being released by the Cardinals this offseason, Minnesota scooped up the 28-year-old despite him playing only 30 games over the past three years with Arizona. The main reason is McCarthy’s inability to stay healthy, as he has been limited to 10 games over the past two years due to injuries, including a torn meniscus, a small hairline fracture in his throwing hand, a high ankle sprain and more.
When McCarthy has been on the field, he’s struggled, completing 57.6% of his throws for 6.7 yards per attempt with 11 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Meanwhile, Murray is a flawed player as evidenced by eclipsing 7.1 YPA only once in seven seasons while never throwing for 4,000 yards or 30 touchdowns, but he’s also a two-time Pro Bowler with a 2:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio for his career (121 TDs and 60 INTs).
Nobody believes Murray is going to be the long-term answer, but then again, nobody thought that of Sam Darnold, either. Coming into Minnesota, Darnold was joining his fourth team in five seasons and then lit up the NFL, throwing for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns, helping the Vikings win 14 games. Unfortunately, the front office let Darnold leave in free agency, and he signed in Seattle, where he won the Super Bowl in February.
If Murray approaches anything close to the success Darnold had under O’Connell, Minnesota will be a factor in the NFC.
Why this offseason move will work
On the surface, trading Jonathan Greenard seems to be creating a major hole in Flores’s defense. In reality, it might make room for a new star to fully bloom.
When the Vikings went 14–3 in 2024, Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel were fantastic. Greenard posted 12 sacks and 22 quarterback hits, while Van Ginkel amassed 11.5 sacks, 18 tackles for loss and 19 QB hits while earning second-team All-Pro honors. Last year, that duo struggled. Van Ginkel saw his numbers fall to seven, 11 and 13, respectively, while Greenard dealt with injuries, playing only 12 games and notching three sacks.
Now, Greenard is on the Eagles after being traded this offseason, replaced by 2024 first-round pick Dallas Turner. After being a rotational player who contributed three sacks as a first-round rookie in 2024, Turner had eight sacks with four forced fumbles and 66 total tackles while playing 66% of the defensive snaps last season.
Turner, 23, is just beginning to tap into his considerable talent after coming to Minnesota as a highly touted pass rusher from Alabama. With Greenard gone, he’ll step into a larger role while playing more of the money downs, including third-and-longs and end-of-game situations.
Breakout player candidate: Jordan Addison, WR
Turner could have been the choice, but Addison is just as enticing.
In his rookie season, the 2023 first-rounder looked like a future star, posting 70 catches for 911 yards and 10 touchdowns. In ’24, those numbers dipped to 63 receptions for 875 yards and nine scores in 15 games. But last season, the bottom fell out, with Addison notching 42 receptions for 610 yards and three touchdowns while catching just 53.2% of his targets, more than 10% lower than either of his first two years.
Entering what’s essentially a contract year (the Vikings picked up his fifth-year option), Addison has plenty to prove. Playing across from arguably the league’s top wideout in Justin Jefferson, Addison is almost guaranteed to see single coverage against the opponent’s lesser corners. In theory, he should feast, especially if Murray proves to be an upgrade over McCarthy.
With Minnesota lacking a reliable, explosive running back with Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones as the main options (they had five rushes of 20-plus yards last year on 291 carries), O’Connell could decide to throw often with his best playmakers on the outside.
If that’s the case and Addison gets 100-plus targets for the first time since 2023, he could hit 1,000 yards for the first time and put himself in position for a nice extension before going into the final year of his rookie deal.
Missing piece
Not to harp on the obvious, but it’s the quarterback. Unless O’Connell can turn Murray into the best version of himself, the iteration the Cardinals believed they could unlock after he won the Heisman Trophy and was the No. 1 pick in 2018, the Vikings are in trouble at the league’s most important position.
To O’Connell’s credit, he’s found ways to win. Last year, Minnesota started McCarthy, Carson Wentz and Max Brosmer and somehow won nine games. In 2023, the Vikings started Kirk Cousins, Nick Mullens, Joshua Dobbs and Jaren Hall, and they were in contention when December rolled around. This has the potential to be far more like ’24, when Darnold burst onto the scene, than ’23 or ’25, but it’s impossible to ignore the looming issues.
If Murray can’t stay healthy, the Vikings are likely sunk. Over the past three years, Murray played all 17 games in 2024 but otherwise appeared in 13 games over the other two. At 5'10" and 207 pounds, Murray is the shortest and one of the lightest starting quarterbacks in the league.
As Murray ages, it’s a bigger ask every year for him to play most weeks, let alone each of them.
Realistic outlook
The Vikings are a talented team in one of the toughest divisions in the NFL. Minnesota has a terrific coach in O’Connell, an excellent defensive coordinator in Brian Flores, and some of the league’s premium players in Jefferson, tackles Christian Darrisaw and Brian O’Neill, and safety Josh Metellus.
However, to believe in the Vikings, you also have to be comfortable with both Murray and McCarthy, considering health has been a problem for each in recent years. Last season, they combined to start 15 games, throwing for 2,594 yards, 17 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.
If anybody can get the best from Murray, it’s likely O’Connell. We’ve seen him get career years from Cousins and Darnold, two quarterbacks who were primarily viewed as either average or journeyman. But if he doesn’t, and either Murray or McCarthy play as they have, it’ll be a struggle to climb out of the NFC North basement.
