EAGAN, Minn. — The Vikings saw a ton of success during the 2024 season.

Minnesota won 14 games, including sweeping the division-rival Bears and Packers, in the regular season before falling to the Rams in the Wild Card Round of the NFC Playoffs.

The Vikings offense put up solid numbers throughout the season thanks in part to free agent additions Sam Darnold and Aaron Jones, Sr., at QB and RB, respectively, who relied on an offensive line anchored to start by tackles Christian Darrisaw and Brian O'Neill, with sixth-year center Garrett Bradbury in the middle. Minnesota opted for Blake Brandel at the starting left guard position, and Ed Ingram started out the season at right guard for his third straight season.

Darrisaw and O'Neill continued to demonstrate why they're revered among the league's top tackles, helping the Vikings get off to a 5-0 start that included (at the time) upsets of the 49ers and Texans at U.S. Bank Stadium in Weeks 2 and 3.

O'Neill logged grades of 85.9 and 90.9 from analytics site Pro Football Focus twice in the first five weeks, including a career-high 95.1 run-blocking grade against the Jets in London. Darrisaw received a grade of 70.8 or higher in his first five games and a pass-blocking grade of 67 or higher in his first seven. However, the 25-year-old suffered a knee injury against the Rams on Thursday Night Football that unfortunately sidelined him for the remainder of the season.

Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah acted quickly in response to Darrisaw's injury and executed a trade with Jacksonville to bring LT Cam Robinson to Minnesota during the team's mini bye.

Robinson stepped in immediately in Week 9 and held the role for the season's remainder. Though he did see some ups and downs and committed more penalties than preferred, Robinson played admirably — especially considering his midseason move at one of the toughest spots in football.

The Vikings experienced some adversity on the line's interior (more on that below), but Bradbury and Brandel stayed at center and left guard, respectively, while Head Coach Kevin O'Connell opted to swap in Dalton Risner for Ingram in Week 11.

Notable Numbers

3 – Minnesota utilized just three starting OL combos throughout the season and only one change (Darrisaw to Robinson) due to injury. The Vikings maintained the same starting five for Weeks 1-8, then in Weeks 9 and 10 used Robinson, Brandel, Bradbury, Ingram and O'Neill. They swapped in Risner for Ingram for Week 11 and stuck with the combo down the stretch.

0 – In the eight regular-season starts Risner made at left guard, he was credited with allowing zero sacks of Darnold. He did allow one sack in the Vikings Wild Card Playoff Game against the Rams.

57.8 – The Vikings starting five — Robinson, Brandel, Bradbury, Risner and O'Neill — struggled at Detroit in Week 18, averaging an overall offense grade of 57.8 from PFF. Minnesota needed a regular-season finale victory to clinch the No. 1 seed in the postseason and earn a first-round bye, plus home-field advantage. Darnold was sacked just twice but was pressured 22 times, four more than the previous highest instance in Week 15.

The Highest High

Minnesota's offensive line helped the team sweep division rival Green Bay during the 2024 season and helped Darnold complete three passing touchdowns in each of the Border Battles. At Lambeau Field in Week 4, Aaron Jones rushed for 93 yards against his former team and added four catches for another 46 yards through the air. Jordan Addison, Josh Oliver and Justin Jefferson all caught TD passes, and the OL also helped Addison get in on a 7-yard rushing score.

The Lowest Low

It's certainly not fair to point only to the offensive line when looks at the Vikings struggles in Wild Card Weekend. But because we're using a magnifying glass on the position today, let's point it out: the guys up front had a difficult outing against the Rams.

Darnold was pressured 27 times and was sacked a season-high nine times, six of which were credited to the offensive line. Bradbury and O'Neill allowed a sack apiece of the quarterback, who finished the evening with a 77.6 passer rating, and Brandel and Risner were each assessed with allowing two sacks.

2 Pressing Questions for 2025

1. How will the Vikings address interior

Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell said following the Wild Card loss there's "no question" the interior pass rush was a problem throughout the 2024 campaign and will need to be addressed.

He also noted, however, there are multiple ways to improve in that area. Minnesota could sign new players, move players around, find options in the draft, promote current players who have been developing, work on QB timing or implement different coaching techniques.

"We've got to find a way to be able to give a quarterback, especially with players like Justin, Jordan and T.J. Hockenson, we've got to find a way to solidify just the interior of the pocket starting first and foremost. There could be a thousand excuses made, whether it's losing C.D. (Darrisaw) or even midway through the [playoff] game losing B.O. (O'Neill)," O'Connell said. "For me, it's the foundation of the interior of the pocket that we're going to have to take a long look at. I thought those guys battled. That's a good, young, fast athletic front. Really, when you look at it over the course of the entirety of the season, we lost to two football teams, and both of them were able to do some similar things against us via pressure, via some four-down pressure, non-pressure and non-blitz pressure.

"We just weren't able to ever find that rhythm, find those two or three plays that can kind of take a little bit of the steam out of what they're doing and sustain a little bit," he continued. "That's a lot of different things. That's a lot of things that we're going to take a look at and acknowledge the things we did well in those games throughout the year, but there's no question that to get to where we want to get to and where our fans deserve for us to go to … we've got to find a way [to improve]."

2. Will Minnesota re-sign any of the OL free agents?

The Vikings have more than 20 players (as of Jan. 24) who are slated to become free agents when the New League Year opens March 12. Four of those players are offensive linemen, including Risner and Robinson.

Minnesota has signed Risner the past two seasons to short-term deals, and it will be interesting to see whether they look to bring him back after starting eight games at left guard.

Robinson, a 29-year-old who spent his first seven seasons in Jacksonville could test free agency for the first time in his career. If he does, Minnesota will need to fill the void at left tackle until Darrisaw makes his return.

Two other free agents the Vikings will need to consider are interior reserve Dan Feeney and swing tackle David Quessenberry. Feeney signed with Minnesota last spring but dealt with injuries throughout training camp and a portion of the season. He played just 40 special teams snaps and did not see any action on offense. Quessenberry returned for his second season in Purple and played in all 17 games; though he contributed primarily on special teams (90 snaps), he also played 110 offensive snaps as he stepped in for Darrisaw and O'Neill at different points.