NFL gave Vikings hidden advantage in unprecedented 2-week trip to Ireland, London

At first glance, the first two official games on the Minnesota Vikings’ 2025 schedule look absolutely brutal.

A Week 4 business trip to Dublin, Ireland, to play the Pittsburgh Steelers is certainly doable. But a second international game immediately thereafter, Week 5 against the Cleveland Browns in London? That adds a significant layer of difficulty, especially just one month into the regular season.

So did the NFL do the Vikings dirty with an unprecedented two games in consecutive weeks in separate countries?

The short answer is a hard no. When you peel back the layers here, Minnesota’s schedule as a whole will include some hidden advantages that could be leveraged into another run to the NFC playoffs. Let's break it down:

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Vikings 2025 schedule breakdown: 8 home games, 7 road games, 2 neutral sites

While the task of playing games in three different counties over the first month of the season is certainly unique, the Vikings have the luxury of playing two of their previously appointed road games at neutral sites. Prior to the NFL announcing this year’s international slate, Minnesota was expected to play the Steelers at Acrisure Stadium (formerly Heinz Field) and the Browns at Huntington Bank Field.

That means the Vikings will host eight home games at U.S. Bank Stadium compared to playing just seven true road games in 2025. When you consider that neither the Steelers nor the Browns have named a starting quarterback yet, there’s a clear opportunity here for the Vikings to return home from London in Week 6 with an edge.

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Vikings total air miles traveled for 2025 not what it seems

Again, two international games in two weeks looks daunting on paper, but the flight from Dublin to London is a breezy 1.5 hours. The Vikings will already be acclimated to the time change, and they’ll have the benefit of playing at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the second straight year.

In terms of total travel during this two-week stretch, the Vikings are looking at about 21-plus hours in the air and about 8,000 total miles traveled. That’s not ideal, but Green Bay’s trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil, to play the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 1 of the 2024 regular season was a rough 22.5-hour round-trip that covered about 10,700 air miles.

All told, the Vikings are expected to rank 13th in total travel miles in 2025, coming in at about half of what the Los Angeles Chargers are facing out on the West Coast.

What about the rest of the NFC North?

While the Vikings will travel farther than their divisional counterparts this season, they’ll play less true road games.

The Lions, Packers and Bears were all left off the league’s international slate for 2025. That means all three teams will play eight home games and nine true road games this season.

The Vikings were one win away from winning the NFC North and clinching the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs last season. If they can use some of these hidden scheduling quirks to their advantage, they could get a shot at redemption in 2025.

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