Who else but the Vikings should be destined for this type of opportunity to make NFL history?

Never before has an NFL team participated in consecutive contests in two different countries; never before has a squad been the visiting team in two international games within one season.

Beyond the players and coaches, a multidimensional squad in Purple has been working behind the scenes for months to try to make the unique feat as normal and smooth as possible.

One month ago, Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell began a media session featuring leaders of multiple initiatives with the following words:

"From my vantage point, to be able to just worry about coaching the team and preparing the team from a football perspective is obviously a huge part of it for me, but also knowing that this group not only exists, how they work together, how each and every decision is made, and then ultimately, how I know each and every decision that's being made is made out of the best interest of our players, is what I think makes us the right team to do this, to show that not only it's possible, but a team can have success — pre, during and post — with how you do it, and my confidence level that we're going to come out of this, saying that it not only can be done, but it can be done the right way is due to these folks next to me."

O'Connell in 2022 and again in 2024 has led the Vikings to wins in both of the team's prior appearances at London's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Before trying to improve to 3-0 under O'Connell there, 5-0 in regular-season games in the UK and 9-0 when four global exhibitions are included, the team will face the Steelers at Dublin's Croke Park in the NFL's first regular-season game hosted by Ireland.

The team is boarding a Delta charter tonight. After practicing for two days as if preparing like it would for a normal contest, the team will start Friday on the Emerald Isle, powering through meetings and the final practice of the week. Saturday will offer a chance to visit Croke Park to establish a layer of familiarity before Sunday's contest.

Implementing fundamental principles

On August 25, on the heels of the preseason and a day ahead of forming the initial 53-man roster and practice squad, leaders of facilities, team travel, equipment, player health and performance and nutrition were among a group explaining how they have been focusing on the near fortnight.

For months, they've awoken and worked on this. When time wasn't directly applied to completing a specific task, it was spent thinking about an item left on the to-do list or wondering if everything had made its way to said list.

The departmental leaders did not shy from the historical significance as they directed focus on what each aspect could do to help players shine.

"This is a big challenge for an organization, for a coaching staff, for players, and I wouldn't want any other organization to take that on other than us," said Vikings Vice President of Player Health and Performance Tyler Williams. "I feel like what makes it advantageous to take this on as Minnesota Vikings is the people up here and the people of all the staffs that that we have.

"There's no other better organization in my mind to do that, especially with, like [Director of Equipment Services] Mike [Parson] said, a supportive head coach, general manager and ownership that provides you with resources," Williams continued. "Without that, it's like going into a fight with one hand behind your back. As you heard, there's a ton of moving pieces to that, but I think again, it always comes back to the people. It's not the what, it's the who. And we believe in that."

Williams has led his department to support the Vikings in each of the team's past two trips to England. He's incorporated prior experiences to formulate a philosophy that has believed in delaying travel until Thursday night for a Friday arrival before a Sunday game. The idea is the compressed time prevents entire circadian rhythm changes from affecting players before kickoff.

Williams anticipates those acclimations will occur early next week. The Vikings did look at experiences of other sports teams who have made extended trips before determining it best to incorporate Minnesota's usual strategy for the first game and work to normalize unique experiences in Week 5.

"We really just stuck to our fundamental principles and said, 'What allows us to peak on game day when we travel? What are our travel processes and our strategies? How can we keep the same normal rhythm as much as possible?'

"So even including you guys, your weekly rhythm of when you go to bed and when you wake up and what you do throughout the day, holds a biological process to keep you at your best or at your top, right?" Williams continued. "When we put down four or five different strategies on paper, we said, 'Which one's the least disruptive and which one checks the boxes to have the most consistent sleep, have the most consistent workout opportunities, has the consistent opportunities to eat and hydrate and provide that rhythm and routine as quick as we can?' "

Creating a home away from home

When the charter lands at Dublin International Airport Friday a.m. in Ireland, the travel party will clear customs and head to the IRFU High Performance Centre, which Director of Team Operations Paul Martin described as a "very impressive" facility. It will be set up with a locker room and a weight room to go along with providing indoor and outdoor practice areas and a place to conduct interviews with media members.

Caffeinate, activate and hydrate will all be points of emphasis, along with getting sunlight exposure and following timed-out nutrition plans.

Head Performance Dietitian Ben Hawkins and the chef at the Vikings headquarters were among the team's early travel party this summer. They visited facilities and met with local chefs at the venues that will help provide approximately 7,000 meals during the trip.

"Ultimately our goal is to give the players the best home away from home … so what comes with that is being able to balance the American favorites, foods that they crave like barbecue, wings, soul food staples and then combining those with the local favorites," Hawkins noted.

Ranch dressing, barbecue sauce and certain types of cereals were among the pallets of foods shipped early, along with Gatorade for days.

"Based on the dehydration that occurs on the airplane, each guy will have an individualized hydration plan to maximize [proper hydration]," Hawkins said. "Hydration is just one of the easiest things to overlook on a long trip like that or a long flight, but also one of the fastest ways that performance can dip.

"So just making sure that we're staying on top of that and then comfort and familiarity, like I said, the players can walk into the meal room in Dublin or in London, and it feels more like home, then they can focus entirely on football," Hawkins said.

The Vikings plan to have a couple of food trucks visit during the London week.

Accounting for everything

Parson, who is in his third year with the Vikings, previously worked an international game in London and Mexico City while with the Texans. Last season was his first UK trip with Minnesota, and these two games will be his fourth and fifth at international venues.

He and his team try to prepare for every scenario possible.

"Taking on an international game is a huge logistical undertaking, because in the NFL, you want everything to be routine," Parson said. "Basically, you're taking the whole operation and moving it overseas, and you try to make it where the players and coaches don't really feel it, although we also know that it's not normal."

The Vikings must account for everything brought into Ireland and everything brought to the United Kingdom through a carnet, a list of items "down to every screw, the count, the cost, the country of origin."

"It's normally around 100 pages, something we work on. But doing two countries is very challenging, because you're dealing with two separate entities, as far as their international laws," Parson said.

"There's plenty of mornings or nights where I wake up in the middle of night and I think of Dublin, and it's just what it is, because we want the trip to go so perfect that you're trying to think of everything that could potentially come about and have an answer or solution to that," Parson added. "The difference in this is when we go over from Ireland to London, we're going to send things on a ferry. We normally fly the equipment back with us. We normally take one semi, but we don't know if we're going to acquire any players while we are over there. So if you do that, you better have a solution to get them a uniform made."

Managing an array of weather conditions also is important. The Vikings and Jets experienced some rain during last year's game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

"We got all elements of the weather within a three-hour period: the rain, the sun, the cold. It's a beautiful place," Parson said. "I love it over there, but it is something that we — I think all of us speak on this, that here's a challenge that we all wanted to take on."

A way to keep growing together

O'Connell quipped Wednesday that it is a good thing he was not in charge of the travel logistics and orange slices.

Or passports, for that matter.

Martin's team is safeguarding those for the entire traveling party. He wanted the Vikings advance visit to occur as soon as the double dip was announced but bided his time until June. It was worth the wait because it allowed preparations to be made for productive, in-person meetings with the stadium, medical facilities, bus company, trucking company and visit "maybe a pub or two" so that the upcoming visit will be a business trip instead of a holiday.

"This is a positive for us. We're attacking it like it's a positive for our team, for our organization," Martin said. "From the very first time that we were told this was going to happen, we were sitting in a room with Kevin and [General Manager] Kwesi [Adofo-Mensah] and others, and it was a challenge to us, despite the massive undertaking of what this trip is that this was a good thing for us, so that's the only way we're looking at it."

This past Monday, O'Connell reiterated he feels this stretch is a "great opportunity for us" and looks forward to his team competing in more of a neutral site setting than if the Vikings visited Pittsburgh or Cleveland.

"We'll just be going to Dublin for the first game, and then we will be able to have a normal game week from there, once we transition from Dublin to London," O'Connell said. "And so really looking at it as a two-part trip that all of us here, players, coaches, staff, the great resources that we do have to help put together trips like this, I am looking at it as a phenomenal opportunity, for a lot of reasons, for our team to continue to gel together and bond.

"This is a close-knit group, but my expectation is, you go on a little field trip for 10 days, you've got a great opportunity to keep growing together," he added.

View the 2025 Vikings Schedule.

Check out the 2025 International games.

View future opponents for the Vikings.

Buy single game tickets.

Download the official Vikings App.