In a largely disappointing season, the Vikings finished strong.
Minnesota concluded the 2025 regular season today with a 16-3 win over Green Bay that improved the Vikings’ record to 9-8 on the season. That’s not good enough to make the playoffs, but after a rough start, the Vikings ended the season on a five-game winning streak.
It helped that the Packers weren’t trying to win, as they were already locked into the No. 7 seed in the playoffs and rested many of their most important players. Third-string quarterback Clayton Tune started for the Packers and showed why he’s a third-stringer.
For Vikings fans, the best moments came when they recognized two longtime respected veterans, safety Harrison Smith and fullback C.J. Ham, both of whom got loud ovations in what may have been their last game in Minnesota.
The bad news for the Vikings was that quarterback J.J. McCarthy aggravated his right hand injury, raising more concerns that he’s simply not capable of staying healthy. McCarthy’s status as the franchise quarterback is the biggest question facing the Vikings in the offseason.
The Packers have bigger fish to fry. After treating today like a preseason game, the Packers will now get ready to travel to either Chicago or Philadelphia for the wild card round of the playoffs.
In a meaningless game between the Vikings and Packers, one thing Minnesota wanted to see was continued signs of development from quarterback J.J. McCarthy. Instead, Minnesota is seeing continued signs that McCarthy can’t stay healthy.
McCarthy exited today’s game in the third quarter after aggravating the right hand injury that forced him to miss last week’s game. The Vikings announced that McCarthy is questionable to return.
The Vikings spent a 2024 first-round draft pick on McCarthy with the thought that he’d be their franchise quarterback for years to come, but it’s hard to count on a franchise quarterback who keeps getting hurt. McCarthy missed his entire rookie year with a knee injury, and this season he has missed time with an ankle injury and a concussion, in addition to the hand.
McCarthy took himself out of today’s game after wincing in pain while throwing a pass. Max Brosmer came in to replace him.
Last January, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that the Raiders are “Tom’s show now.”
One year later, if The Tom Brady Show were playing somewhere on the strip, the curtain would fall for good.
But owners can’t be fired. And Brady is an owner of the Raiders. Primary owner Mark Davis specifically sold a slice of the team to Brady at a below-market rate to stabilize the team. After Brady’s first full season on the job, the Raiders are less stable than dry dynamite in the trunk of a three-wheeled Toyota.
Brady has managed, somehow, to avoid widespread scrutiny for the current condition of the team. That won’t last. The time is now for him to make a move.
And with an infusion of Patriot DNA dramatically altering the situation in New England, where two years of 4-13 have become 13-3 and the first division title since Brady’s last year in the building, Brady may be thinking about bringing a little Beantown to Sin City.
The obvious choice would be offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. But that act has already played, and failed, in Vegas. There’s a rumor currently making the rounds that, once Brady rolls up his sleeves (while also wearing one glove and an expensive-ass watch), he’ll make the case for bringing in Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores.
As the chatter goes, Flores would be the head coach, and former Giants coach Brian Daboll would be the offensive coordinator. Like Flores, Daboll has extensive experience with the Patriot Way. Daboll was there for the first three Super Bowl wins of the Brady/Belichick era, and for two of the second trio of championships.
Brady and Flores are believed to have a good relationship. Flores was among those in Miami who wanted to bring Brady to town after his time in Tampa.
That said, the Brian Flores lawsuit blew up the revised plan to pair Brady with Sean Payton, an effort that resulted in a massive tampering punishment, including the loss of a first-round pick, a $1.5 million fine, and a six-week suspension of owner Stephen Ross.
The Flores lawsuit is still pending. For some teams (including those who are named defendants to the case — Giants, Broncos, Texans, and Dolphins) that would be an issue. For a team like the Raiders, which has a history of litigation against the league, it may not matter. Especially after the manner in which someone saw fit to force out coach Jon Gruden in 2021.
From a coaching standpoint, Flores fits with the widespread trend of finding a coach who is the exact opposite of the last guy. Carroll is a rah-rah, player-friendly coach. Flores is no-nonsense and Belichickian.
Really, Flores may be the closest thing to Belichick (other than McDaniels) currently in the league. If it really is The Tom Brady Show in Las Vegas, Flores & Daboll could be the next Siegfried & Roy.
Before things went awry, that is.
The Falcons had a handful of key players listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against the Saints, but the Panthers will be glad to hear that all of them are in the lineup.
Wide receiver Drake London, tight end Kyle Pitts, wide receiver Darnell Mooney, and cornerback A.J. Terrell will all play in Atlanta’s final game of the season. London, Pitts, and Mooney have knee injuries while Terrell was added to the report on Saturday with an illness.
Quarterback Kirk Cousins, defensive lineman David Onyemata, and linebacker Ronnie Harrison were also added to the report due to illness on Sunday. Harrison is the only one who will miss the game.
The result of the Falcons-Saints game will determine the NFC South champion. A Falcons win gives the Panthers the title while a Saints road victory will give the Bucs their fourth straight division crown.
Saints at Falcons
Saints: S Ugo Amadi, QB Spencer Rattler, WR Chris Olave, RB Alvin Kamara, OT Xavier Truss, DT Bryan Bresee, DT Nathan Shepherd
Falcons: P Trenton Gill, LB Ronnie Harrison, DL Brandon Dorlus, OL Michael Jerrell, WR Casey Washington, WR Malik Heath
Colts at Texans
Colts: CB Sauce Gardner, DT Eric Johnson, S Reuben Lowery, TE Will Mallory, S George Odum, QB Philip Rivers
Texans: WR Nico Collins, OT Trent Brown, RB Nick Chubb, WR Braxton Berrios, QB Graham Mertz, LB Jamal Hill, CB Kamari Lassiter
Cowboys at Giants
Cowboys: LB DeMarvion Overshown, CB Shavon Revel, S Alijah Clark, DT Jay Toia, DT Perrion Winfrey
Giants: S Jevon Holland, WR Ryan Miller, WR Jalin Hyatt, RB Dante Miller, LB Caleb Murphy, TE Theo Johnson, QB Russell Wilson
Browns at Bengals
Browns: TE Harold Fannin Jr., OT Jeremiah Byers, C Kingsley Eguakun, WR Jamari Thrash, TE David Njoku, DT Sam Kamara
Bengals: QB Jake Browning, WR Charlie Jones, CB Josh Newton, S Daijahn Anthony, DE Joseph Ossai, TE Cam Grandy, DT Jordan Jefferson
Packers at Vikings
Packers: QB Malik Willis, LB Quay Walker, RB Josh Jacobs, WR Dontayvion Wicks, S Xavier McKinney, OT Zach Tom, LB Edgerrin Cooper
Vikings: WR Myles Price, QB John Wolford, CB Dwight McGlothern, QB Brett Rypien, RB Aaron Jones, OL Walter Rouse, TE T.J. Hockenson
Titans at Jaguars
Titans: S Amani Hooker, EDGE Arden Key, OL Drew Moss, OL Garrett Dellinger, OL Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson, TE Gunnar Helm
Jaguars: CB Keith Taylor, OL Patrick Mekari, TE Hunter Long, TE Patrick Herbert, DL Emmanuel Ogbah, DT Maason Smith
As the final sands slip out from the top of the hourglass on the Matt Eberflus tenure as the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator, the Cowboys have a clear objective for the new year.
“We got to get an identity on the defensive side of the football,” co-owner Stephen Jones said Friday on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, via Jon Machota of TheAthletic.com. “I don’t think we ever established what we were as a defense. We really weren’t a team that created turnovers. We didn’t get the ball. We gave up a lot of explosive [plays]. At times it felt like we were [stopping] the run. But we just got a lot of work to do on that side of the ball. I think everybody knows that. We’ll go all in.”
“All in”? Not all in. Not again.
Of course, it’s one thing to vow to go “all in” as to free agency, where cap dollars are tight and the Cowboys are often even tighter. It’s another to go all in as to the coaching staff, especially when Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores is about to be available to make a lateral move.
“Bottom line, we need an identity on the defensive side of the ball,” Jones said. “I don’t think we established that this year. Whether it’s Coach [Matt] Eberflus or whoever it is, we have to create an identity. I think everybody would say that Coach [Brian] Schottenheimer has a ton of energy, he’s very authentic and has an identity. We’ve got to play to that in all three phases. I think we did in one phase this year. I don’t know that we established that in the other two phases.”
That’s hardly an endorsement of Eberflus. Anytime anyone says “whether it’s [the current employee] or whoever it is,” bet on whoever.
Assuming that the Cowboys will offer enough to get “whoever” a/k/a Flores to take the job.
