NFL 2025 Week 15: Don’t Expect Minnesota Vikings To Tank vs. Dallas Cowboys
After 14 weeks of a mostly disappointing season, the 5-8 Vikings will be back in action in Week 15 against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football. With playoff odds at less than one percent, most fans are calling for the team to tank for a better position in the 2026 NFL Draft. Head Coach Kevin O’Connell won’t allow that. Cue Lloyd Christmas’s “so you’re telling me there’s a chance?” because that quote should currently be plastered on every wall in the Vikings headquarters.
Sure, the Vikings need A LOT of help to make the playoffs, even if they do win out. A good breakdown of everything they need to go their way can be found here (the good news is, we can root against the Bears every week). Even so, O’Connell isn’t the type to give up. This team had postseason aspirations coming into this season, and as long as there’s a crack in the door, KOC will look to wedge his foot firmly in the opening and create an unlikely path to the playoffs. That path begins if the Vikings beat the Cowboys on Sunday. Here’s what the Vikings need to do against the Fighting Jerry Joneses to keep their measly playoff hopes alive.
Keys to the Game for KOC’s Crew:
Can McCarthy Have Another Clean Game?
For the first time this season, I hardly have anything to be upset with regarding quarterback J.J. McCarthy’s performance. In Week 14 against the Washington Commanders, he finished his first NFL game without a single turnover. While this was a moment Vikings fans could only dream of at this point in the season, this was supposed to be the expectation for McCarthy. He wasn’t being asked to be an elite gamechanger, merely an efficient game manager who didn’t make dumb decisions that harmed chances to win games (something he’s failed at as a passer).
Aside from having no turnovers, McCarthy added three passing TDs and 163 yards on 16 completions to his stat line on Sunday, making his total yards through the air his 2nd-highest in a game this season. Even so, I’m far from sold on him as the starter next year: he was playing a badly depleted Commanders team that has allowed the fifth most passing yards by any defense this season. He has to keep showing real improvement and maybe even secure a highly unlikely playoff spot for fans like me to support him next season.
Can KOC Keep the Offense “Dumbed Down”?
While the 3-9 Commanders were one of the least challenging opponents on the Vikings’ schedule this season, the Vikings still did a lot right to finally find success after several weeks of poor play. They snapped a four-game losing streak and shut out a team the week after they were shut out themselves for the first time in franchise history. For once, the offense under J.J. McCarthy scored at will. How’d they do that?
Their success last week came down to “dumbing down” the offense for McCarthy. You hardly ever want to hear about the scheme being “dumbed down” for your starting QB, but that choice clearly paid off. If O’Connell can get back to basics, starting with their dominant rushing attack, then McCarthy might keep the offense afloat.
Vikings Must Go Out Battling
The Vikings’ identity has never been built on laying down and giving up, even in painful seasons like this one has become. It’s time to forget the mock draft debates and worry about winning what’s left. If the Vikings want to evaluate McCarthy’s status as the starter seriously, they have to help him try to win whatever he can to close this season. I think they’ll do just that and grab a 21-17 victory. Fans shouldn’t get our hopes up again, but we also can’t let them die until the odds are zero. In the words of Rocky Balboa: “I didn’t hear no bell!”