It can be argued that the Minnesota Vikings had a decent schedule to start the season, but there was some luck poured in there as well.
The Vikings were able to pick up wins against division rivals the Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, and Cleveland Browns. Their losses included the Atlanta Falcons and the Pittsburgh Steelers, and their combined records were 6-3.
As for the second half of the season for the Vikings? It's going to be nowhere close to as easy as it was before the bye week.
The Minnesota Vikings have an incredibly challenging slate of games coming up after their bye week.
ESPN's Football Power Index shared that the Vikings have the toughest remaining schedule in the NFL. Kevin Seifert added that the Vikings "will play 5 of the league's top 10 teams, as ranked by FPI, over the next 8 weeks."
Here is what the Vikings' schedule looks like the rest of the season:
Week 7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles | Sunday, October 19 at noon CST |
Week 8 at Los Angeles Chargers | Thursday, October 23 at 7:15 pm CST |
Week 9 at Detroit Lions | Sunday, November 2 at noon CST |
Week 10 vs. Baltimore Ravens | Sunday, November 9 at noon CST |
Week 11 vs. Chicago Bears | Sunday, November 16 at noon CST |
Week 12 at Green Bay Packers | Sunday, November 23 at noon CST |
Week 13 at Seattle Seahawks | Sunday, November 30 at 3:05 pm CST |
Week 14 vs. Washington Commanders | Sunday, December 7 at noon CST |
Week 15 at Dallas Cowboys | Sunday, December 14 at 7:20 pm CST |
Week 16 at New York Giants | Sunday, December 21 at noon CST |
Week 17 vs. Detroit Lions | Thursday, December 25 at 3:30 pm CST |
Week 18 vs. Green Bay Packers | Sunday, January 4 at noon CST |
Vikings have tough road ahead with remaining 2025 schedule
Realistically, the only games that would be considered "easy" wins for the Vikings would be the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants. Depending on where the Chicago Bears are during their season, that might be a game where Minnesota is favored. The Ravens also will be interesting, as if Lamar Jackson is healthy, that won't be as easy.
The rest of the schedule is an absolute beast to get through. At one point in the schedule, the Vikings have to be on the road four times in five weeks.
After the Eagles game in Week 7, they are on a two-game road trip as they travel across the country to play the Chargers on Thursday. Next week, they are back on the road against their division rivals Detroit Lions.
Eight of their 12 remaining games feature teams with winning records, including having to play the Lions and Green Bay Packers twice each. At least the Vikings close the season with two straight home games against the Packers and Lions.
This will be a massive challenge whenever quarterback J.J. McCarthy returns from injury with all these stacked teams. It will be the ultimate test of whether the Vikings are legit playoff contenders or pretenders.