Fresh off of a huge upset road win over the Lions, the Vikings and their young quarterback are faced with a second straight challenge against a Super Bowl contender. The Ravens might be 3-5, but they have Lamar Jackson back in the lineup and are as dangerous as any team in football whenever that’s the case. J.J. McCarthy and the Vikings are going to need to play quite well to win this one, although they do have the benefit of being back at U.S. Bank Stadium this week.
Will the Vikings get the job done, or will Jackson continue his dominance of NFC teams? Our staff writers have made their predictions.
As fun as it would be to pick the Vikings, I can’t quite bring myself to do it. Jackson is 24-3 against NFC teams in his career, including an OT win over the Vikings in 2021. He’s arguably the best pure passer in the league right now, in addition to being the greatest rushing quarterback in NFL history. The Ravens also happen to have a guy named Derrick Henry. So for as well as the Vikings’ defense played in Detroit, this is a massive challenge.
On the other side of the ball, I need to see more from J.J. McCarthy before I fully buy in. His upside is obvious, but he struggled with accuracy and decision-making and overall production after Minnesota’s scripted early drives in Detroit. Three starts into his career, he hasn’t thrown for 160 yards in a game yet. The Vikings absolutely can win this game if McCarthy plays well, but I would need a little more proof of concept in order to predict a win over a hungry Ravens team.
Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry are scary, but the bigger deal about the 2025 Ravens is their lousy defense. According to PFF, the Ravens rank 26th in overall defense, which takes into account the 27th-ranked run defense and the 29th-ranked pass rush. If J.J. McCarthy was able to go on the road and lead three touchdown drives against a Detroit defense that has a top-five PFF run defense and pass rush, then he should be able to have a big game at home against Baltimore. I’m sure Lamar and King Henry will keep things close, but I’m taking the Vikings at home.
The Vikings and Ravens meet at an interesting time coming off impressive wins in the return of their injured quarterbacks. Lamar Jackson looked like himself in last week’s win over the Dolphins with four touchdowns, and J.J. McCarthy showed a lot of impressive signs in Minnesota’s upset win over Detroit. Baltimore enters this game with plenty of desperation at 3-5 on the season, and the Vikings should expect a challenge against one of the NFL’s most complete teams. With that said, I think Minnesota continues to build off McCarthy’s impressive return to the lineup and they generate some serious momentum with a win over the Ravens.
There are a lot of expectations that the Ravens will turn things around after a dismal start to the season. They come into the weekend off a mini-bye after blasting the Dolphins last Thursday. As much as the Vikings have had their own struggles this season, they’re still a much better team than Miami. So, what do the Ravens look like, with a remarkable healthy roster at this point in the season, against an actual competitive team?
The Ravens have pass defense issues. Can J.J. McCarthy take advantage of those and lead a productive passing game? Minnesota’s run defense had a great day last week against the Lions, and they’ll need an equally impressive performance this week against the dual threat of Lamar Jackson as well as Derrick Henry, who has the sixth-most rushing yards so far this season. I’m predicting more late game heroics from the Vikings’ offense and finding a way to squeak out another close win.
Here are last week’s predictions. Season records for our pickers:
