The Vikings’ Season Comes Down to One Last Statement Game

We are at 16 down and just one more to go for the 2025 Minnesota Vikings. The purple team will bring down the curtain on a disappointing 2025 season with a home game against the Green Bay Packers in Week 18.

With one game left, Minnesota faces Green Bay at U.S. Bank Stadium carrying equal parts frustration, urgency, and the chance to control how the season is remembered.

It has not been a great season for Minnesota, particularly in front of the home fans at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Vikings finish the season on home turf, coming in with a home record of 3-4 at U.S. Bank Stadium. Good teams are formidable with home advantage, and the Vikings haven’t been that this season.

However, winning the last two home games against Washington and Detroit has made things look better than when the record was sitting at a very poor 1-4. 

Finishing the Season against the Team That Matters Most

A win against Green Bay would see the team reach parity at home and achieve an overall winning record of 9-8. Something that didn’t look likely a month ago. Finishing the season with five straight wins should give the organization confidence that this team can be competitive next season. Still, there are some lingering questions as Minnesota heads to the offseason.

Is J.J. McCarthy the guy? We still don’t have the answer after a season that has seen the good, the bad, and the ugly from the Vikings QB. More importantly, it’s been another season riddled with injuries.

McCarthy was always a QB who needed to develop, and it isn’t easy to do that when you only play nine games across your first two seasons in the league. Other big offseason questions are the future of defensive coordinator Brian Flores, what the Vikings do with their running game next year, and the possible retirement of Harrison Smith.

Finishing Off with the Old Enemy

Minnesota will finish the season against the team it considers its biggest rival — even more reason to win. It may cost the organization a few spots in the draft and the last place schedule they were looking to be on track for. However, the team is more interested in winning football games at this point.

They will also want to avenge a humbling defeat to the Packers at Lambeau Field back in November, avoiding losing both games to Green Bay in a season for the first time since the 2019 season in the process.

The two teams have been closely matched since Kevin O’Connell became the Vikings’ head coach. O’Connell has a 4-3 record against the Packers. Green is ahead in the overall head-to-head, 67-60-3.

Both teams played with backup QBs in Week 17, and the health of each team’s QB1 will be important. The Packers were assured of playoff football thanks to Minnesota’s win over Detroit, and they can’t do any better than the seventh seed they currently hold. Meaning they may rest players, opening the door for a possible Vikings win.