Chip Scoggins: Vikings believe they have what it takes to win. Now prove it.

Chip Scoggins, Star Tribune on Jul 22, 2025

Published in Football

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MINNEAPOLIS — Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell has a favorite phrase to describe the development of young NFL quarterbacks and the reasons behind their success or failure.

"Organizations fail young quarterbacks before young quarterbacks fail organizations."

The Vikings did not fail J.J. McCarthy this offseason. They set him up for success, which is why expectations tied to the 2025 season should not be lowered a smidge even though the team is breaking in a first-year starter at quarterback.

On paper, the Vikings look stronger and better equipped for the postseason than the version that won 14 games last season. That’s not to suggest that 14 victories is any sort of benchmark, but the Vikings are operating like an organization that fully expects to win and contend in the present.

As they should.

This isn’t a young team building with an eye on 2027. McCarthy is essentially a rookie after missing his true rookie season with a knee injury, but the depth chart around him is full of veterans who are either in their prime or nearing the end of it and aren’t inclined to gaze beyond this season.

Vegas projects an over-under of 8.5 wins, which is baffling — yes, fully aware of the quarterback’s inexperience — because the organization invested heavily in areas that screamed for it after being exposed in the final two games last season.

When healthy, the retooled offensive line should rank among the league’s elite. Same with the receiving corps. The defense features two Pro Bowl rush ends, a fortified interior line and one of the league’s smartest players anchoring the secondary at safety. The coaching staff has proven to be top notch as well.

For sure, training camp begins Wednesday with areas of concern — namely, cornerback depth and the health of key starters returning from injury — but one didn’t need to be a mind reader to grasp O’Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah’s confidence during their media session to kick off the season.

“It’s time for us to acknowledge what we’re actually trying to build here,” O’Connell said. “What that’s going to take is, in my opinion, an invisible presence in this building of understanding that we are capable, but we’ve got to put in a lot of work to feel totally worthy in those moments to get to where we want to get to.”

In other words, they believe they have what it takes. Now they must prove it.

Prove it in the postseason, not just in the regular season. That’s the next step missing from the O’Connell/Adofo-Mensah regime so far.

The annual shuffling of the NFL playoff bracket resembles a crowded harbor on a summer morning. Teams come, teams go. The line separating being a playoff team and non-playoff team is thinner than toilet paper in a port-a-potty.

Barring a cataclysmic injury derailment, the Vikings should be a playoff team again. The personnel moves made this offseason underscore a recognition that substantive changes and not just tweaks were necessary to become more than a playoff entrant.

The 2024 postseason reminded us once again that to win in the playoffs, teams must win in the trenches. The Vikings were not capable of doing that against the NFL’s best. So they wrote big checks to fix that problem.

Ryan Kelly and Will Fries on the offensive line, Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave on the defensive line — that’s the reason for optimism, along with other reasons, including McCarthy.

“We spent the offseason really focusing on building the idea of the 2025 Vikings,” Adofo-Mensah said. “This is the time for Kevin and his great staff and our football operations staff to really build the reality of what this team is going to be like.”

Adofo-Mensah said his “idea” of the team’s makeup is one that can win different styles of games.

“In a single elimination playoff situation, you might have to play a certain type of game,” he said.

Kudos for not being satisfied with 14 wins and a quick playoff exit.

Those upgrades were made with the young quarterback in mind too. By bolstering the infrastructure around McCarthy, the organization ensures his development has the best pathway possible. The quarterback graveyard is littered with examples of flawed teams asking their high draft pick to work miracles.

McCarthy is walking into an ideal spot, one that brings the pressure associated with a team constructed with a win-now mindset but also with the understanding that he’s not on an island.

The internal hope and plan is that McCarthy becomes the long-awaited franchise quarterback that leads the organization for a decade. Nothing says that must interfere with short-term ambition. The invisible presence that O’Connell mentioned is based on logical belief that his team is equipped to be relevant right now.