NFL
By Steve Rogers
The 2025 Minnesota Vikings season kicks off with a primetime bang. On Monday night football, to be exact. Against an NFC North foe, the Chicago Bears. In Chicago at Soldier Field.
This is officially the opening act of the JJ McCarthy era. McCarthy will be making his NFL debut on the biggest stage possible. He will be on the road in an inner division battle on Primetime Monday night football, under all of the brightest lights.
However, this is his second full year of preparation and learning the same offensive system, with the same OC Wes Phillips and head coach Kevin O’Connell. McCarthy has had time to absorb the entire playbook front to back. He has complete comprehension and understanding of the verbiage in the playbook. This allows him to have calm command and control while communicating in the huddle and at the line of scrimmage. Continuity and consistency are a major key to success in the NFL. Advantage Vikings and McCarthy.
On the flip side, former number one draft pick Caleb Williams is going into his second season as the Chicago Bears’ starting quarterback. During his rookie season, Williams had two different head coaches and three offensive coordinators. Now he has Ben Johnson as his head coach and a fourth OC. Johnson is a former OC who is making the transition to head coach. So this is the fourth or fifth offensive system he’s had to try to learn on the fly with little to no preparation time. Are we really wondering why he looks like he’s struggling or taking so many sacks?
Now, back to the purple side of this game. The dynamic duo of coaches on both sides of the ball in O’Connell and defensive coordinator Brian Flores creates two of the best football minds working in tandem. O’Connell handles the high-potency offense while Flores mans the dominant defense. Flores has been able to over the last two seasons hand-pick the specific players at key positions to construct the best defensive unit he’s ever been able to. This Flores defense is going to be able to take over games and shut down any offense. A Flores defense can confuse even veteran quarterbacks, let alone young starters on the rise. He has a history of being extra diabolical against younger quarterbacks.
There are some injury updates as well. Linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel is back to full participation in practice. The same can be said for wide receiver Jalen Nailor. Ginkel has been dealing with a neck issue, while Nailor had a hand issue. It’s still unclear if left tackle Christian Darrisaw will be playing on Monday, as he is just nine months removed from ACL repair on his knee. There is one more puzzle: just what is safety Harrison Smith’s mystery health issue? At first, I thought it was just a disguise for a 14-year veteran not needing preseason reps, but now it’s something else?
In the end, I think the continuity of having a team with the same coaching and the same systems and styles will be the X factor. The Bears are still learning and adapting to yet another new set of coaches, culture, and systems. The Vikings are going to have the extra advantage of catching this new look Bears right out of the gate here in week one, while they are still working out the chemistry the Vikings have been building for the last three years. I have the Vikings taking a much-needed division win on the road. Final score 27 – 13.
