Vikings drawing the short end of the stick despite success

The Minnesota Vikings have found regular-season success over the last four seasons, finishing above .500 in three of those years. However, postseason heartbreak is nothing new to the city, as they have lost in the Wild Card in both their postseason berths during this span. Minnesota has not reached the Conference Championship game since 2017, and with high turnover at quarterback, things may be more of the same going forward.

>Matt Verderame of Sports Illustrated wrote an interesting piece on the road map to the Super Bowl for the Vikings, and it really hits on leadership, but also notes the roster moves the team has made, most notably signing Kyler Murray, trading Jonathan Greenard, and more. However, this portion was interesting and very on the nose for Minnesota.

"Over the past two seasons, Minnesota has won 23 games. Only the Broncos, Bills and Eagles have won more during that span. All of those teams have won their division at least once, with each advancing to a conference title game or, in Philadelphia’s case, winning the Super Bowl to cap the 2024 season. As for the Vikings, they’ve failed to win the NFC North in either season and made the playoffs only once, getting blown out 27–9 by the Rams in the wild-card round."

Seeing where Minnesota stacks up with the rest of the top performers in the NFL over the last two seasons, then seeing where they got in the postseason compared to the Vikings, is a tough read. The mishandling of the Sam Darnold situation and lack of trust and development in J.J. McCarthy have led Minnesota down this path, with the outlook appearing bleak as of now.

>2026 will be a crucial year for the franchise, as another down year by Minnesota's standards could see the departure of Kevin O'Connell, Justin Jefferson could want out, and still no clear answer at quarterback.

>This article originally appeared on Vikings Wire: Vikings drawing the short end of the stick despite success