Looking forward to this one...

I think I'm rooting for Detroit too.

Matthew Stafford is on a tear. The Los Angeles Rams quarterback is rewriting the record book, becoming the first in NFL history to throw 20 touchdown passes without an interception over a six-game stretch.

In his last three outings alone, Stafford has tossed 13 touchdowns. He’s now tied with New England’s Drake Maye as a favorite for league MVP.

Another milestone: By beating the 49ers last week, Stafford’s career record finally hit .500 at 115-115-1. After all those rough years in Detroit, that’s no small feat. A win Sunday against the 7-2 Seahawks would give him a winning record for the first time – and first place in the NFC West.

Kelly back at practice with 21 day window open.

Not going to lie.  I'm a little torn on this one.  He's a family guy.   At least he's going to wear the Guardian cap.

https://vikingsterritory.com/2025/news/t...ly-vikings

Sounds like he hit a lineman's helmet last week.  Hoping it's merely a flesh wound.

https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/minne...n-vikings/

Daniel Carlson sucks...lol

Remember Daniel Carlson? The two-time All-Pro kicker for the Las Vegas Raiders, who played for the Minnesota Vikings once upon a time? He’s hit a rough patch — so much so that Las Vegas added another kicker to hedge the bet.

A one-time elite Vikings kicker is losing his touch. Once automatic under pressure, his recent struggles suggest the magic might finally be gone.

Carlson is too young for an age-related decline, but his performance in 2025 is turning heads and not in a good way.

Ex-Vikings Kicker Daniel Carlson Falls on Harsh Times
The man will need a rebound.

The future, at least for now, looks bleak for Carlson.

Sporting News‘ Mike Moraitis wrote this week, “It has been a tough season for Las Vegas Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson. The normally reliable Carlson is in the midst of one of his worst seasons as a pro, with the veteran kicker making just 75% of his field goals, which is slightly better than Carlson’s career-worst 73.1% success rate from 2019. This is clearly the Raiders putting Carlson on notice that he has to shape up or he could lose his job.”

Until recently — Vikings fans know this well — Carlson has served as one of the NFL’s best kickers, often a diamond in the rough on a habitually shaky team.

Now, Carlson has joined the doldrums.

The Numbers

Carlson has connected on 12 of 16 field goals in 2025, which might sound harmless to a casual football fan, but in kicker speak, 75% is awful.

The low 75% through 10 weeks ranks 33rd of 39 kickers in the business, making Carlson a bottom-10 kicker leaguewide at the moment. Carlson has also missed an extra point this season, and his special teams coach was fired last week.

For the second time in his career, Carlson has hit a rough patch. When it happened seven years ago, he responded marvelously and shapeshifted into an All-Pro kicker.

The Contingency Plan

In a bit of an ironic twist, the Raiders signed another former Vikings kicker this week as Carlson insurance: Greg Joseph.

Joseph held down the fort at kicker in Minnesota at the very end of the Mike Zimmer era and stuck around through the end of 2023 until the Vikings drafted Will Reichard.

On November 6, 2025, in Denver, Colorado, Las Vegas Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson (8) reacted after missing a second-half field goal attempt against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High. The usually steady veteran showed rare frustration as the kick sailed wide, marking one of his few off-target moments during an otherwise consistent 2025 campaign for Las Vegas. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images.
For now, Joseph lives on the practice squad, but Las Vegas signing him at all implies that Carlson will have a short leash. It’s his first brush with real job security questions since his unceremonious exit from Minnesota in 2018.

The Path Forward

Head coach Pete Carroll said about Carlson’s woes this week, “The ball’s just got to go through the freaking hoop. We just got to make them. That’s all there is to it. We’ve been so close that one kick in this game, one kick in that game has made a difference, and our season would be somewhat different if we could get him to answer, but, unfortunately, we’re putting him in long situations at the end of the game, and it’s as difficult as it can get.”

“And we really trust in him and believe in him and are counting on him to come through. The ball will go a mile up here in this place in Denver.”

That sounds like a frustrated skipper, one who may not hesitate to roll with Joseph if Carlson’s rut persists.

JustBlogBaby.com‘s Levi Dombro opined this week, “Once an All-Pro in his heyday, Carlson’s production has dropped off quite a bit in recent seasons. Many thought he would earn another contract with the Silver and Black, but the way he’s played this year would indicate he’s closer to having one foot out the door.”

“Pete Carroll has talked extensively about competing since he came to Las Vegas, but somehow, Carlson was exempt from this, despite his shortcomings. After another poor showing in Week 10, however, the Raiders finally added some competition at kicker.”

Carlson is just 30 years old, much too young to experience a production downturn.

Dombro added, “But it is underwhelming, at best. Carlson certainly needs a fire lit under him, as the only kickers that the Raiders have signed in recent years have been insurance policies when Carlson is banged up. It’s good for Las Vegas to have another leg in the building, certainly, if Carlson’s struggles continue. But Joseph does not seem to be much of an upgrade at this juncture. Of course, Carlson didn’t either when he was signed by the Raiders, so anything is possible.”

“However, fans are hoping that Carlson takes this bit of motivation and turns it into success on the field, as he’ll always be a fan favorite.’

Carlson is also scheduled to hit free agency in four months. If 2018 were a reasonable indicator, he’d probably rebound just fine with a new team.

Source:  https://vikingsterritory.com/2025/news/a...king-magic

Jefferson is averaging career lows in almost every receiving category:
including yards per game (76.2)
yards per target (8.2). 

He also has just two touchdown catches; he’s never finished a healthy season with fewer than seven. 

Particularly notable: In four games playing with young QB J.J. McCarthy, Jefferson has just 17 catches for 209 yards (average of 52 yards per game), though both of his TD grabs came from McCarthy.

In five games with veteran Carson Wentz, Jefferson caught 34 passes for 477 yards (95 yards per game), which aligns much more closely with his career averages. 

Jefferson has never had to play for an extended stretch with a young quarterback before this season, spending the bulk of his first four years with Kirk Cousins and all of 2024 with Sam Darnold.

Jefferson showed frustration at a McCarthy overthrow Sunday and didn’t hustle after an interception. I’ve had multiple emailers suggest Jefferson is “checked out,” but I think we’re a long way from there. 

He had a bad game Sunday, as did a lot of his teammates. He and McCarthy aren’t synced up right now, which is troubling but not unexpected given Jefferson’s training camp injury, McCarthy’s in-season injury and McCarthy’s age.

Jefferson is only 26 and still elite. But the connection between the two and Jefferson’s body language over the final eight games of the year are squarely in focus as things to watch as the sample size grows.

McCarthy is 0-2 at home and 2-0 on the road. He’s also 2-0 against the NFC North and 0-2 against other teams. 

One trend has to change Sunday when the Vikings host the Bears. 

Strib

The reigning NFL Coach of the Year, the Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell, can affirm his place as one of the game’s best with the remaining eight games that are promised to this year’s team.

If quarterback J.J. McCarthy makes all those starts as expected, it’ll double his current experience as the youngest starter in the NFL with four games under his belt.

His initial starts, including Sunday’s season-low 47.6% completion rate against a talented but vulnerable Ravens secondary, have offered many lessons and plays he wants back.

“There’s a lot of them,” McCarthy said after the game. “I just feel like there’s so much on the tape that it’s going to reveal, but the amount of tipped balls that happened [Sunday] at the line of scrimmage. Those are absolutely killer.”

As far as what McCarthy can control, which is a lot as the quarterback, his inconsistent pocket presence and improper arm angles led to some of those tipped passes. Inaccurate throws continued across the field.

He took the blame for eight false starts, one called directly on him, while offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said there will be a “clearer” plan moving forward.

With a mounting to-do list, O’Connell reiterated his confidence in McCarthy.

“J.J. is going to make a lot of those plays for us,” O’Connell said. “Now it’s just about continuing to carve this thing and shape it in a way where we’re helping him become the best version of himself, both short-term and long-term.”

The good
You’ll often hear O’Connell and the quarterbacks under him reference the position needing to play “point guard.”

Finding completions within plays designed to give the quarterback answers at multiple levels of the field, so he has a correct choice regardless of what the defense does.

That’s why McCarthy’s completion percentage — 47.6% — deserves mentioning again, and why he was praised by O’Connell for checkdowns that found yardage despite the potential for more downfield.

McCarthy vs. the Ravens

Passes within 10 yards: 14 of 20 (70%) for 93 yards
Passes thrown 10+ yards: 6 of 22 (27%) for 155 yards, TD, 2 INTs
The Vikings wanted to attack the Ravens downfield and there were flashes of that production, particularly with receiver Jalen Nailor.

“We wanted to take some shots in the game,” O’Connell said. “J.J. throws the deep ball very well, and we didn’t really get the value received from it in the football game outside of that third-down throw to Jalen early.”

“He had some great checkdowns,” O’Connell said. “One to Jordan [Addison] out in the flat on a tempo play.”

Another “to Aaron Jones on a play-action play out of the [two-back] grouping,” O’Connell added, “where he just kind of gets to the top of his drop, feels the defense lifting a little bit and we end up with 12 yards on a very simple play. And it’s just production moving the ball forward where it should not be a worldly lift to heaven, moving heaven and earth.”

The bad
McCarthy and his star receiver duo, Jefferson and Jordan Addison, struggled mightily to connect.

He completed just seven of 23 targets (30.4%) to Jefferson and Addison for 72 yards and two interceptions. The Vikings have work to do in helping McCarthy connect downfield.

The Ravens secondary has some top-tier talent in Hamilton and cornerback Marlon Humphrey, who intercepted one of those throws. That means Jefferson and Addison weren’t frequently wide open, although there were a handful of chances that McCarthy did not attempt.

His footwork also broke down as the game progressed, according to O’Connell.

“Like what happens to many quarterbacks as games go on, there were some inconsistencies there,” O’Connell said.

Beyond dropback steps and throwing positions, McCarthy’s pocket presence was also spotty and contributed to four batted passes at the line of scrimmage.

O’Connell noted “some good pocket movement” in the game from McCarthy, but also room for growth.

“With a lot of young quarterbacks in this phase of where he’s at right now,” O’Connell said, “it’s not just that subtle climb back to that safe spot, because I did think we had some good pockets for him. It’s the subtle climb, and then come into balance instead of two or three climbs, and then all of a sudden, that push or the block shot comes into play.”

McCarthy said postgame he wants to “work on all the different arm angles” that could help his passes find a lane.

Some of McCarthy’s passes did not find their targets.

One potential 25-yard touchdown catch was dropped by Jefferson. But McCarthy overthrew Jefferson on a third-and-10 in the fourth quarter. He overthrew Jones on a screen earlier in the game. He and Addison couldn’t connect on an intermediate out-breaking route before halftime.

Some receivers were left open downfield.

The ugly
McCarthy’s turnovers will often be the most load-bearing mistakes given how critical possessions are in the NFL.

He could have had three picks had Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith not touched the U.S. Bank Stadium turf with the football during the fourth-quarter play.

On Monday, O’Connell said he “would not change” the third-and-1 play in the third quarter that ended in an interception by Humphrey.

“Spent a lot a lot of time thinking about that third-and-1 call late into the evening,” O’Connell said. “Came back to bite us, for sure, in a huge way.”

But O’Connell defended the decision, saying he had a run play he felt good about for fourth-and-1 if the pass fell incomplete. Jefferson fell down after McCarthy released the pass, allowing Humphrey ample time to intercept the deep ball.

STRIB

He signed with Pittsburgh

If anybody cares...Vikings currently have the 14th pick.

One nugget of interest, if the season ended today, the Rams would have a top 10 pick from Atlanta (yes that same Falcons unit that dog walked the Vikings) for the James Pearce trade. That Rams organization is just a well run unit from top to bottom.