Fans sing during a game between the New York Giants and the Minnesota Vikings at MetLife Stadium, Dec 21, 2025, East Rutherford, NJ, USA © Yannick Peterhans / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Despite the Minnesota Vikings’ hot conclusion to the 2025 regular season, they are no longer in playoff contention.
Minnesota has won four straight games, but they sit at 8-8 and may be bound to finish in eighth place in the NFC — one spot short of a playoff appearance.
As a result, the winning streak is a bit bittersweet to end the year. Yes, the Vikings are making strides towards improvement that can be built upon in 2026, but they are also hurting their position in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Vikings’ 2026 Draft Position
Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell speaks with running back Ty Chandler during pregame warmups ahead of a matchup with the Arizona Cardinals, Dec 1, 2024, at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The exchange reflected last-minute communication as Minnesota finalized personnel usage and offensive roles before kickoff in a late-season home contest. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker–Imagn Images
That will no longer be the case, and given the talent of those two players combined with the lack of QB depth at the top of this draft class, it seems unlikely that Minnesota will be able to snatch either one of them.
For instance, just a few days ago, Pro Football Focus’ Gordon McGuinness put out a mock draft that had the Vikings missing out on both of these players. Downs landed at No. 10 with the New York Giants while Love landed with the Kansas City Chiefs (may the football gods help us all if this scenario plays out in reality) at No. 12. Both players gone well above the Vikings’ pick, and that was before Minnesota’s latest win as they picked at 15th overall in McGuinness’ mock draft.
With both of those names off the board, McGuinness had the Vikings selecting CB Jermod McCoy out of Tennessee. McCoy very well could turn into a solid NFL player, but there are a couple concerns.
For one, he spent the entire 2025 season on the sidelines because of a torn ACL. As a result of that injury, he will enter the NFL having only one true season as a starter for a defense at the college level.
Oct 12, 2024; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers defensive back Jermod McCoy (3) carries a deflated gator after defeating the Florida Gators at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Angelina Alcantar/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images
Granted, just because the Vikings are losing a couple spots in the draft doesn’t mean this success down the stretch necessarily is a bad thing. Minnesota has found ways to win games with J.J. McCarthy at the quarterback position, which was the entire goal of this year.
That being said, with the number of needs this roster could have heading into the 2026 offseason and limited salary cap space, it will be very interesting to see how the Vikings navigate this spring’s draft without a premium top-end draft pick like many assumed they would have no more than four weeks ago.
Josh Frey is a senior writer at both PurplePTSD.com and VikingsTerritory.com, with a fascination for the NFL Draft. To … More about Josh Frey
