While the Detroit Lions have been flying a bit under the radar following a disappointing 2025 campaign, the Minnesota Vikings have been earning some love from pundits who feel that the team could be a dark horse in the NFC North headed into this season.
They went out and got Kyler Murray to compete for (and likely win, let's be honest) the starting quarterback job for this year. They also still tote one of the better defenses in the NFC, coached by notorious Lion-killer Brian Flores. And, the Vikings have some elite offensive weapons in Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison.
However, the brakes should be pumped just a bit with respect to their ability to be as competitive as, let's say, the Lions, or the Green Bay Packers, headed into this season. FanSided's Wynston Wilcox also agrees with that sentiment:
"Kyler Murray is the savior for the Minnesota Vikings, right? Well, that’s the kind of pressure he’s under as the Vikings feel they are a quarterback away from being good. They had Sam Darnold and nearly won the NFC North. Things went south with J.J. McCarthy and now enter the Murray experiment. When Murray is healthy, he is a much better option than McCarthy. That said, Murray has played just one playoff game in seven seasons."
"There’s no guarantee Murray is the answer the Vikings need him to be. If he is, great. He’s under a lot of pressure to be better than McCarthy and win. Until we see him in this offense, it’s probably too early to hype up the Murray move."
Vikings hype should be tamped down just a bit headed into 2026
As Wilcox notes, it feels like the Murray signing is being tabbed as one of the best moves for the Vikings to have made, as it does feel like they were really just a quarterback away from being more competitive in 2025.
With head coach Kevin O'Connell also being notoriously good at coaching quarterbacks into great ones while with Minnesota, it's fair to say that Murray might be about to ball out after leaving the Arizona Cardinals.
But, again, he has very limited postseason experience (by way of being a member of the Cardinals), and his limitations as a quarterback remain the same as they've ever been - he's shorter, and could struggle to find Jefferson or Addison down field without the cleanest pocket imaginable.
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If Minnesota is solely relying on the improvement of their quarterback room to carry them from the doldrums of the NFC and NFC North into contention for the top team in the division overall, that could be a big mistake. Quarterback play in the NFC North is shaping up to be some of the best in the league overall, and Murray could quickly fall behind Caleb Williams, Jordan Love, and Jared Goff in that ranking.
We have to see actual pen to paper, Murray on gameday, to get a good read on his fit with this Vikings team. Until then, we're just guessing that they could, maybe, be a much-improved team headed into this season.
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