Minnesota Vikings @ Dallas Cowboys
Sunday, December 14th, 8:20 PM ET
Sunday Night Football features two non-playoff teams in the Minnesota Vikings and the Dallas Cowboys. Both teams have largely had seasons to forget and surely came into the 2025 season with playoff expectations. Minnesota won a whopping 14 games last year but went one-and-done in the playoffs with Sam Darnold at QB.
The team surely has some degree of regret not bringing Darnold back, as the JJ McCarthy era has gotten off to a rocky start, but McCarthy and the Vikings did put together a strong performance in Week 14, a shutout win over the Washington Commanders.
The Cowboys have fielded one of the most explosive offenses in the league this year with the group of Dak Prescott, Javonte Williams, CeeDee Lamb, and George Pickens, but the defense has been among the worst in the league.
And the defensive additions this team made at the deadline might be too little, too late. Dallas can still make the playoffs this year, but it would likely require them to win out and still need some help. Fortunately for Dallas, they are the better team in this one and also play this one at home.
The Vikings do sport a stingy defense, but they do not have the secondary talent to keep up with Lamb and Pickens, so Dallas could have a legitimate chance to score a ton of points. On the flip side, it's clear that JJ McCarthy just isn't there yet and is still a massive work in progress.
The Cowboys are going to get back to over .500 with a 10-point win here in Week 15. This game is simply the better team taking care of business at home, and with the Philadelphia Eagles collapsing, Dallas has to ensure they take advantage of their remaining winnable games.