NFL 2025: What the Stats Say About the Ugly Vikings Offense
Minnesota Vikings fans could sit around and sulk, wondering what’s gone wrong. We could blame the quarterback, blame the coaches, blame the injuries. But what do the stats tell us about what happened in these first two games?
These days, there’s no shortage of stats for NFL teams. Let’s dive into what the numbers are telling us about this Vikings squad, currently ranked last in overall offense.
McCarthy Can’t Get Comfortable
Fans knew that quarterback J.J. McCarthy’s first two regular-season NFL games weren’t going to be easy. His offensive line hasn’t made it any easier. In two games, they’ve allowed nine sacks and 23 pressures. Offensive tackle Justin Skule, who’s replacing Christian Darrisaw while he recovers from injury, has allowed seven pressures and three sacks alone. It’s hard to imagine someone worse at protecting McCarthy’s blindside than Skule–his three sacks allowed put him at 90th among those 92 tackles and seven pressures at 80th. Outside of Skule, guards Donovan Jackson and Will Fries, along with backup center Michael Jurgens (who replaced starter Ryan Kelly after a first-half injury), all earned PFF grades below 50 in the loss to the Falcons. Defenses have shredded this o-line.
All this leads to McCarthy being sacked almost 17% of the time he’s dropped back to pass. Even when he gets to pass, he’s been subpar. Through 2 games, he’s thrown more INTs (3) than passing TDs (2). He failed to reach 160+ passing yards in either contest. The Vikings have had a negative EPA in the passing game in both Week 1 and Week 2. McCarthy’s PFF grade of 55.5 is 38th among 40 QBs this season. His rushing and Week 1 comeback have been the only things saving him from bust status. His ankle sprain, which will sideline him for some time, keeps him from improving his image immediately.
Aaron Jones Has Slowed Down
Aaron Jones had his most rushing yards in a season last year and kept the offense two-dimensional. This year, he’s hit a decline.
He’s struggled through two games, with 13 carries for only 46 yards. He started both games, but clearly wasn’t working for the offense. He’s picked up just one first down in two games. His sole score came from a receiving TD against the Bears, but he’s had just two other receptions otherwise.
He hit the IR with a hamstring injury after the game against the Falcons, but he might’ve seen a decrease in playing time anyway. Jordan Mason has been the spark for what little fire the offense has had. His 75.5 PFF grade is 5th among RBs. He had two rushes of 10+ yards in Week 1 and led the offense to crucial first-half field goals. In Week 2, he saw just nine rush attempts because the offense threw the ball a lot to try to crawl back into the game. Mason has been all the Vikings wanted and more, but if the offense is going to get its act together, Mason’s workload will have to increase. By the time Aaron Jones gets back, he may not get back his starting role.
Still Hope for Vikings After 1-1 Start
It may seem like the Vikings are in a messy situation, but fans shouldn’t panic yet. In the last ten seasons, just under 49% of teams that started the season 1-1 still made the Divisional Round. The Vikings weren’t perfect, but they avoided the dreaded 0-2 start that would’ve put their playoff chances at just 7.0% based on the last ten seasons.
The defense hasn’t been a big problem. They let Bijan Robinson stomp all over them in Week 2, but they are still top 10 in red zone defense, fifth in passing yards allowed per game, and have allowed just three touchdowns in two games (the fourth TD came from McCarthy’s pick-six throw in Week 1). The passing defense, which was a weakness last year, has looked much improved despite injuries to start the season.
This Vikings offense needs the o-line to get healthy, Mason to keep wrecking teams in the run game, and backup QB Carson Wentz to play well while McCarthy is out. But none of these are unrealistic demands. There’s plenty of time for the Vikings to flip the ship back toward the win column, and if they do, we’ll see a much prettier stat sheet soon.
Send this to fellow Vikings fans so we can share our misery. It’ll make our final triumph that much sweeter.