Don't fret, with the regular season around the corner, more founded takes are on the horizon.
The fact is out-of-season "lists" and "rankings" can come across as popularity contests or propaganda. Granted, they are often entertaining and do help appease voracious appetites of insatiable football fans.
We digress.
On Thursday, ESPN's Ben Solak put together a guide of the most watchable teams in 2025.
This isn't the typical power ranking, as Solak made sure to specify:
"I ranked all 32 teams on watchability, which is different from overall goodness. Overall goodness is about managing game state, sustaining drives, controlling the ball, creating big plays while minimizing them defensively, avoiding turnovers while creating them defensively, playing for field position and setting up shot plays."
So, what is "watchability"? Solak elaborated it's about throwing the football over the mountains, as well as touchdowns and interceptions, and fourth-down attempts and sacks, and definitely points — lots of them.
Although we could argue for days the Vikings should be higher, Solak placed them 12th out of 32 clubs.
He wrote the following:
The Vikings will be extremely watchable early on, as we'll all want to find out what they have in J.J. McCarthy. Will they be an explosive passing team like they were with Sam Darnold last season? If so, their rating stays strong. Or will they move to a run-centric approach with the offseason re-tooling of the offensive line and acquisition of running back Jordan Mason? If so, there's a watchability drop.
Independent of how the offense goes, the defense will remain fun no matter what. Zany blitzes, unique players (who's excited for the first Andrew Van Ginkel batted pass of the season? I am!) and a ton of chaos-generated splash plays. Only the Bills had more takeaways per drive last season than the Vikings.
Understandably, Solak noted the Vikings watchability will likely coincide with McCarthy's performance. Sustained success will lead to more eyeballs, while struggles could sway disinterested folks to turn their screens off.
That's just the nature of the beast.
Are you wondering who Solak ranked above Minnesota? In order, these 11: Washington, Baltimore, Detroit, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Jacksonville, Las Vegas, Green Bay and Buffalo.
Regarding the NFC North rivals, Solak noted that even after losing Offensive Coordinator Ben Johnson (now Chicago's head coach), the Lions offense boasts Jameson Williams and Jahmyr Gibbs, two dangerously fast players; and Green Bay was elite in 2024 at creating splashes on both sides of the ball.
Chicago was tabbed 21st by Solak to round out the division. But in Week 1, he wrote, they might be top-five in watchability. That tracks. … Monday Night Football. J.J. McCarthy. Caleb Williams. Brian Flores. Ben Johnson. A revamped Bears o-line against an upgraded Vikings defensive line. Sheesh!
Check out Solak's full story here.
Minnesota's unique decision-maker
The Athletic's Alec Lewis shared a profile of Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah this week.
Lewis' reporting, which spanned about a year, uncurtains the anything-but-traditional background of Adofo-Mensah, a 43-year-old former commodities trader on Wall Street who has leaned on math and risk-assessment to help bring to life a vision of a franchise that can contend for its first Lombardi Trophy.
Adofo-Mensah earned his bachelor's in economics from Princeton and a master's degree from Stanford. He told Lewis, "The stuff I've studied shapes how I view the world." Numbers? Yes – and football, as well.
Here's an excerpt from Lewis' feature:
Months earlier, he had declined an invitation to share his story. "If I'm being honest, I'd rather not talk about myself," he said at the time. Adofo-Mensah is, by his admission, a private person occupying a front-facing position. He'd rather talk about his players and coaches. And besides, until the Vikings do what he came here in 2022 to do — hoist the Lombardi Trophy — who cares what he thinks?
But why not talk about his growth as a general manager? Why not share the sources of his passions for football and forecasting? Why not lift the curtain, at least a bit, on a unique life and career arc?
Eventually, he relented.
In some ways, Adofo-Mensah is similar to so many other NFL decision-makers. He, too, is maniacally competitive. He hasn't forgotten the name of a kid who replaced him on the Cherry Hill East (N.J.) High basketball team when he was a sophomore. An almost defiant belief in himself? Angst over time spent away from family? These qualities are evident throughout NFL front offices.
Lewis' story begins with Adofo-Mensah claiming to be a normal dude who loves football and decision-making. While that can be true – in many ways it is – it's apparent by the end of the piece that most of what Adofo-Mensah has done is, to some extent, atypical; The countless trades with pick swaps, the low-cost, high-upside signings, the money spent on youth when possible and the focused attempts to score compensatory selections (Lewis noted three more should be forthcoming in 2026).
The essence of each move is grounded in the imagery that overtakes Adofo-Mensah's mind when he's not working in his office or on the practice fields with a watchful eye. It's what he and Vikings fans long for.
Lewis described it as "a field being sprinkled with purple and gold confetti."
We recommend reading Lewis' article, here, to better understand the Vikings leader.
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