It’s not very often that a team starts 6-0, unless you are the Minnesota Vikings.

In their history, they have started 6-0 seven times, with this season being their fourth this century. In 2000 and 2009, the Vikings made the NFC Championship Game, while 2003 had them miss the playoffs. As things stand right now, the 2026 season could go either way.

Having the conversation about a 6-1 team going either in a positive or negative direction feels wild on the surface, especially with a historic defense. Yes, the offense hasn’t been great, but the impact from both the defense and special teams has been that good.

Vikings’ lack of trade deadline moves is noticeable

There is a major question circulating: why hasn’t Vikings general manager Nolan Teasley gone all-in or been more aggressive to this point when it comes to the trade deadline?

It’s a fascinating one for multiple reasons, and those questions arguably got amplified on Monday with the actions by the Jacksonville Jaguars. General manager James Gladstone decided that the Jaguars were ready to make a legitimate Super Bowl run, and he made three impactful trades:

• Acquired safety Jesse Bates from the Atlanta Falcons for a 2027 second-round pick and a 2028 fifth-round pick
• Acquired defensive tackle Davon Godchaux from the New Orleans Saints for a conditional 2028 sixth-round pick
• Acquired defensive tackle Jordan Davis from the Philadelphia Eagles for a 2027 first-round pick and a 2028 second-round pick

That is a hefty amount of NFL Draft capital for players to help the Jaguars this season. It’s also a major vote of confidence from Gladstone that they are ready to make a Super Bowl run. At 6-2, they are primed to make a run in a very uncertain AFC.

Gladstone did the same thing that his mentor, Los Angeles Rams general manager Les Snead, did: “F them picks.” It’s a bold strategy, but it did result in a Super Bowl for the Rams, and they have been consistently in the mix

Why Nolan Teasley hasn’t been more aggressive

It’s blatantly evident that the Vikings need to acquire a quarterback, especially after the travesty we are watching against the Buffalo Bills. This is where we can draw a number of conclusions. Let’s start with what we currently know.

Sources have told A to Z Sports that Teasley has been very aggressive in making calls, and that matches the reporting that has come from others. Calls about players are one thing, because they can be any kind of serious. General managers will call on players for a multitude of reasons. What this does signal is simple: Teasley is always looking to improve.

The real question is simple: why hasn’t Teasley made a move yet? The trade deadline is fast approaching, with less than 24 hours until it occurs. There are multiple reasons why there hasn’t been a move yet:

• There hasn’t been anyone worth trading for at the right price with the market being too expensive.
• Teasley wants to save the draft capital to build the depth of the roster.
• They don’t believe this team is Super Bowl caliber.

The last point is the most interesting with this team. Head coach Kevin O’Connell made it clear how he feels on October 21st when he talked about the trade deadline.

“I think it’s important that I got a lot of confidence in this team right now, and I also have a lot of confidence in Nolan and his staff,” said O’Connell. “I know it seems like it’s months and months and so many months away, but to give him a really powerful draft to be able to really put his imprint on this team, I think is important too. So we’re going to have to really gauge what’s best for our team in the present day, and that’s with a lot of confidence in our group.”

Those are some strong words from O’Connell about the trade deadline and how they want to be careful with giving away draft capital. That’s all well and good, but if you believe this is a Super Bowl-caliber team with a defense that is trending to be historic, sending a day-two pick shouldn’t be a big deal.

There is a different element with Teasley that other general managers don’t have: he was hired during OTAs on May 30th. Rarely do you see general managers get hired after all of the major offseason activities. We don’t know what he feels about the roster, and that’s a big factor in this entire situation. If he had the full offseason like most first-year general managers, we would have a better understanding.

Overall, we won’t know for sure what Teasley is thinking until we get to hear from him, but after seeing multiple teams in the NFC make big trades to strengthen their rosters, including the Chicago Bears trading for Jeffery Simmons two weeks ago, its surprising they haven’t made any kind of move yet.

The one thing that stands out to me with Teasley was this quote from his introductory press conference.

“The way that we look at it is that we’re going to be guided by evaluation. We’re going to be anchored by data. Then the final piece, as we work through our three pillars of acquisition and evaluation, is that…what’s really important is the coach’s vision for the player,” said Teasley.

The data that anchors you right now should be screaming that you should try and get a quarterback. If he doesn’t, or you don’t get a running back to maximize the offense with the poor quarterback play, it sends a tough signal to the fanbase, not to mention Brian Flores’ defense.

Sometimes, the worst thing you can do is nothing at all, and the Vikings are currently flirting with just that.