By Matthew Coller

Happy Friday, everyone! Well, the Vikings are 6-0 and getting set to play the biggest game of the year to date… let’s dive in…

Bradley P… Simmons for two first round picks 👀
What are your thoughts? Seems like too much for a 29 year old.

My thoughts are: Be afraid, very afraid.

It is a huge investment for the Bears but 29 years old isn’t old for an elite defensive tackle. They age extremely well vs. other positions. Look at Cam Heyward.

Because Caleb Williams has elevated his game into the elite-QB category, especially this year with his great improvement in accuracy/timing, the Bears are in a spot where they can push the chips to the middle of the table to add an top-five player at his position.

They have been rebuilding and drafting for years and years. Now it’s time to make a push for the Super Bowl.

The Bears had pretty much everything else on their roster except pass rush. They have a good O-line and weapons and defensive backs. This was the exact type of move that they needed while Williams is still on his rookie deal.

SKOLiosis-3… It’s getting harder and harder to imagine the GM beloved MN is a serious contender with the bears being added to the list of teams making a move to show they are serious.

Should the Simmons acquisition put pressure on MN? How do you think this trade impacts the North as a whole?

It impacts the NFC North massively. There are very few moves where a single player can completely shift the power outside of quarterback but Simmons is one of those guys. They should now be considered the favorites to win the division. Look at how Dexter Lawrence has helped the Bengals defense. This guy is every bit as good.

As far as the Vikings being a serious contender, well, you’re 6-0 so you’re a serious contender. When four of the last seven teams to go 6-0 went to the Super Bowl, how can anyone say that you’re not serious? I’ve never seen a fanbase so down on an undefeated team in late October.

That said, with three of the best six teams in the NFC making huge moves, the Vikings have to decide whether they’re going to keep up in the arms race or let these other teams get a leg up on them. That comes down to how confident Nolan Teasley is that a move can be the difference marker.

But it doesn’t have to be ALL IN or TOTALLY OUT. There is a possibly middle ground. Imagine they make a move for a multi-year player who can help with the next iteration of this team. Or instead of a huge name, they get three players who can all be reasonably helpful. Say it’s DT Grover Stewart, RB Tony Pollard and TE Greg Dulcich or something like that. That would be a little Moneyball style “in the aggregate” improvement.

Brad L…Reichard missed. Is it time to look for a new kicker?

“Did you see the game?”

It’s funny because I wrote the story on Reichard and so many people responded by saying they were hoping he’d miss one before the playoffs in order to negate the Gary Anderson storylines. Crazy part is that Reichard’s last three misses were caused by 1) hitting a camera line 2) the QB ball rather than the K ball 3) Blocked.

Though it did look like he was a little off from usual with the kicks on Sunday so it wasn’t totally random that it got blocked.

JB… A fantasy sports analyst charted QB accurate throw rate versus adjusted net yards and found Kyler the least accurate passer in the NFL. Does this jibe with what you’ve seen?

So here’s how his PFF passing grades break down:

— On throws over 20 yards, he ranks 16th

— Throws 10-19, he’s 31th

— 0-9 yards, 6th

I think that tells the story really well. On the intermediate passes, he’s been pretty much terrible. Last game was demonstrative of that. He went 3-for-7 with a turnover-worthy play on that high throw to Jefferson when he was wide open.

Your follow-up question is going to be whether Murray has always been bad on intermediate passes and the answer is: No. In 2024, he was the 10th best graded QB on throws between 10-19 yards.

Does that mean it’s just been bad luck and small sample size? Does that mean that KOC’s offense is causing some issues on intermediate throws? Is it the blocking because those throws require a little more time in the pocket?

I’m not really sure. I felt like against the Colts that the pressure that Will Fires got pushed back into him caused him to get a little bit wonky footwork on those types of passes for the rest of the day.

I don’t believe the answer is totally the Vikings offense having Kyler throw short passes on every play but that’s the one thing he’s been consistently good at doing for his entire career. Right now he’s 32nd in percentage of 0-9 throws. Joe Burrow, Matthew Stafford and Dak Prescott are all at the top so it’s not like you can’t win with the quick game.

scampinaround… I’m still struggling to see how this is not an all-in year for the team. I get Teasley is in his first year as GM so that changes the outlook. What I’m struggling with is it took multiple years for BFlo to build his magnum opus defense, which will not be the same next year even if BFlo remains. It just seems like you don’t get your shot often, and you don’t always get to choose when your shot is. We’re 6-0 with a great defense, an offense with potential to be good enough, and a sparse field of competition in the NFC. Can the team really have a markedly better shot in 2029 after so much roster turnover and new draft picks then they would now with the proven players they have? I’m struggling to see how

I tend to agree with you. This is a once-a-decade defense. No matter how good Flores is, this group coming together like they have isn’t something you can just recreate. The Houston Texans’ defense falling apart from 2025 to 2026 is a cautionary tale.

The other thing is: How often do you have a $1.3 million quarterback? Talk about Kyler’s shortcomings all you want but this is the model of a cheap QB that we talked about forever. They didn’t have to tear it down this offseason because they were able to get a QB for nothing.

The only reason not to go all-in on this with a big-swing trade is that we don’t know what’s going to happen at QB in the future. What if they need to trade up from 23 to 10 to draft a QB? What if they need to trade picks to acquire a veteran this offseason? Or what if they need to pay Kyler $40 million? Then you need the draft picks to build the roster.

Otherwise, I see the Vikings as one of six serious contending teams in the NFC. If you’re at that point, take your best shot.

The fans who have waited 50 years to get to the Super Bowl aren’t going to be ticked if it doesn’t work, they’re going to be ticked if you do nothing and have the same playoff results.

Rob… Pollard would be my trade target if I was the Vikings GM. What is a realistic trade value for Pollard.
Who else not named Taylor should the Vikings consider trading for at the RB position?

I’m big on Pollard too. Outside of him, Saquon Barkley, Tyler Allgeier from the Cardinals, Rachaad White from the Commanders, Kendre Miller of New Orleans, Kimani Vidal from the Chargers.

So there’s a few but none of them are in Taylor’s ballpark.

Brad L…I’m not advocating for it, but can you see a scenario where Flores replaces KOC?

I just cannot talk about firing a head coach who is 6-0. If this changes, I will. But not now.

Jake J… Do you think it’s possible Flores wasn’t interested in Buckner? I know Allen and Hargrave had a lot of pressures last year, but it just didn’t seem like a great fit for the system.

I definitely think it’s possible, yeah. Certainly Buckner is a better player than either one of those guys coming off injuries but the question of fit is pretty big.

I’m still of the opinion that Buckner is such a monster that he would have been perfectly fine with how Flores wants him to play and he could have rotated into a spot where he’d give them more chances to rush four but I can understand if they’d prefer defensive tackles that are body movers rather than pure pass rushers.

Ben…Everyone says KOC should give up play calling but the Broncos are a great case study for why that’s not always the best solution??

Anyone talking about KOC giving up play calling is wasting their time. The only way that he would give it up is if the Wilfs told him that he had to give up play calling or he would be fired — and I can’t see that happening, particularly because the team is 6-0.

KOC is always going to want to be inside his QB’s helmet until the communication cuts off at 15 seconds.

I think we should give this team a chance to play out the next portion of the season before we decide that drastic measures are needed. The panic of this week from fans has been so over the top that it’s hard to know how I’m supposed to even respond to it.

Bradley P….All I want for Christmas is a quarterback that can get the ball to Justin Jefferson as often as Sam Darnold does to JSN. Too much to ask for?

It’s not too much to ask for. I’d like to see them using Jefferson out of the slot or backfield way more often than they have been and let him get the ball in his hands. KOC is absolutely right about Jefferson’s skillset being best when it comes to deep ins/outs but if the QB can’t consistently hit those passes and the O-line isn’t built to give him a chance to see it/throw it, then there has to be another solution. In 2024, Jefferson caught 75% of passes between 0-9 yards and averaged 8.3 yards per catch. More of that would be fine in this offense.

He doesn’t have the same type of quick twitch as JSN because he has those long strides but I believe that he could make a bigger impact on quick game and that would help become less predictable (and double-able) downfield.

Dan…. Proposal: KOC should take more deep shots on 3rd and long to get up to his personal quota of those. This way he keeps more drives alive, and the failed ones on 3rd and long can either be arm punts or sacks or brilliant successes. When they fail as a sack, the drive was probably going to end anyway.

The problem with taking deep shots on third-and-long is that there’s going to be either blitzes or deep coverage. I’m following your logic and there’s validity to the idea of throwing it 30 yards and hoping for pass interference or a jump ball coming down in your guy’s hands. A pick that travels 35 yards isn’t really hurting you because that’s basically a punt. But I understand why they do it on early downs to try to take advantage of opponents playing the run.

Billy J…With the Packers and now bears not having their 1st round picks, and the lions on the verge of having to move on from a lot of their offense, maybe teasley is looking too far forward past this season for the vikings championship window coming in 2-3 years when everyone else is on the down swing and sitting out the trade deadline. Personally, I think they should be all in now and not waste this start.

I don’t doubt that Teasley is looking ahead several years at what it’s going to take to build a championship-caliber roster and how much draft capital that’s going to take with uncertainty at quarterback and positions opening up to players aging out.

But the reality is that all the NFC North teams are set up to win for a while. Jared Goff is still only 32 and Gibbs is three years away from the RB cliff. Maybe they’ll lose LaPorta but otherwise the band is staying together. Jordan Love isn’t going anywhere. Caleb Williams isn’t going anywhere. It’s hard to see in the next three years where this gets easier. And if Williams keeps getting better, this only gets harder.

That’s why it seems to make sense to make a big play now. They have the roster to compete with the monsters of the NFC North right now and that might not happen in the coming years if they don’t solve the QB position.

Yelnats….KOC seems to have turned more conservative this year. Do enough to win, control the clock and avoid turnovers. It is working! The stingiest defense in the NFL is the driver. My guess is the offense will open up enough to outscore the next four opponents. I hope I never see KOC call four consecutive run plays to open a game again! The interior offensive line is again a weakness, who are likely trade candidates that would be an upgrade?

Yeah, he’s basically calling plays like 2015 Norv Turner. What Kyler is doing right now is pretty similar to 2015 Teddy but because he was young and had a friendly personality and Zim hadn’t disappointed anyone yet, people loved it.

There’s not a ton of obvious candidates at guard that are rentals. New York’s John Michael Schmitz got benched by the Giants so he could be an option but that team is competitive and may want to keep depth. UFA Jon Gaines of the Cardinals has played decently this year.

They might look for a bigger name who’s under contract. Landon Dickerson maybe? Would the Dolphins trade Aaron Brewer? Jackson Powers-Johnson from the Raiders?

Florian K… Is it correct thinking that when you trade picks for a player that player’s value should be at least the value of the pick(s) used? Example - if you trade a first round for a guy that guy better be a star starter. Correct? Is there some formula teams use to determine what they’re willing to part with for a specific player? Similar to draft pick valuations?

Read more

By Matthew Coller

EAGAN — It’s not really fair to look at Justin Jefferson’s yards per game and compare it to previous seasons because we need to factor some things into the equation.

First, the Minnesota Vikings have been leading a lot this year. They have run the fifth most plays when ahead of any team in the NFL and that generally means running the ball often. Aaron Jones has the second most carries with his team ahead of any running back.

“I think in the past we were throwing the ball a thousand times,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said on Wednesday. “When you lead the league or you’re close to in rushing attempts on the early downs, controlling the game or attempting to control the game, there may not be just the amount of volume, but he’s our best player and we’ve got to find a way to continue to activate him.”

To show how much the run-often approach has impacted Jefferson’s stats, 26% of Kyler Murray’s throws have gone to Jefferson over the last two weeks. In his Offensive Player of the Year season in 2022, Kirk Cousins targeted him 29% of the time.

Jefferson also started the game against Tampa Bay with two catches for 32 yards and then suffered an ankle injury that took him out of the game.

In the four full games he’s played this season, the Vikings’ star receiver is averaging 67.5 yards per game, which is a 17-game pace of 1,147 yards. Those are not the numbers you’d expect from him.

It’s an odd place to be for Jefferson because he knows that he should be a bigger part of the offense but it’s hard to argue with the team’s 6-0 record.

“That’s something that you kind of have to be in the middle on,” Jefferson said. “Obviously you want to have high production. You want to be in the top in all categories. But you have to look at the bigger picture and understand that we’re 6-0, we’re winning games, and what we’re doing right now is working but there’s things to do better and things to fix on the offensive side of things.”

The efficiency of throwing Jefferson the ball has returned to its previous standard. When he’s been targeted this year by either Carson Wentz or Murray, the passer rating on those throws is 141.3 and completion percentage is 76.7%.

O’Connell said that one of the reasons that Jefferson hasn’t gotten the ball more is that defenses haven’t brought extra defenders into the box despite the fact that are running more in previous years.

“We just haven’t really seen teams say, ‘you know what, we’re going to get that eighth defender around the line of scrimmage’ with so much conviction that we’re willing to allow him to have one-on-ones,” O’Connell said. “And when he’s had them, he’s won, he’s caught the ball, he’s had some opportunities that we haven’t been able to take advantage as we’ve kind of progressed.”

The numbers confirm O’Connell’s assertion. Against the Colts, Jordan Mason only faced eight defenders in the box on 13% of carries and vs. New Orleans Aaron Jones faced an 8-man box on 4% of rushes. Jones’ game against the Saints was the third lowest heavy-box percentage of any runner in Week 5 and only four RBs with 10+ carries saw fewer box defenders than Mason in Week 7.

But just because there are explanations doesn’t mean that it’s OK.

If we look at the distribution of targets for Jefferson thus far, he’s had more targets in the intermediate area (10-19) than he has short throws (0-9), yet Murray is completing 87% of passes this year on 0-9 throws, best in the NFL.

We know that Jefferson has had wild success in the past as a downfield receiver, averaging 14.6 yards per reception for his career and even during a difficult 2025 he was still highly success in the intermediate area with 29 catches on 48 targets and eight contested catches on 12 attempts.

But the league is shifting. With teams refusing to waver from shell coverages, a lot of offenses have leaned into getting their best receivers the ball underneath.

Puka Nacua, Amon-Ra St Brown, Garrett Wilson, Ja’Marr Chase, Drake London and Smith-Njigba are all under 10.5 average depth of target (shortest 30% among receivers with at least 15 targets).

To frame it differently, the top 0-9 receivers in terms of targets this year are: CeeDee Lamb, Nacua, Smith-Njigba, George Pickens, Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson and St. Brown.

Jefferson ranks 68th.

Laquon Treadwell has six more short area targets this year than Jefferson.

There has to be a better way to pair Murray’s best throws with Jefferson. One thing that stands out is that KOC hasn’t used Jefferson in the slot much this year. He’s only taken 16.1% of his snaps out of the slot in 2026, which is a big drop from his career mark of 28.5% (he’s been over 30% three times in his career).

Jefferson averages 4.6 yards after catch per reception for his career, so he is capable of turning passes that travel five yards through the air into first downs.

Will they find the answers soon?

This week the Vikings face the perfect opponent to turn things around.

During Jefferson’s career, he has averaged 107.1 yards per game against the Lions. They currently rank No. 32 in passing yards allowed. Opposing QBs have a 102.2 passer rating against Detroit amd have 16 touchdowns to four interceptions.

The Lions have one good corner in DJ Reed, who ranks 21st out of 114 by PFF grade thus far in 2026 but their other two CBs Roger McCreary and Rock Ya-Sin are 84th and 97th, respectively.

What has to happen in order for the Vikings to take advantage of a struggling secondary?

“Nothing really crazy,” Jefferson said. “It’s just going through progressions and hitting an open receiver….It’s just all on the execution and all 11 guys just doing what they need to do to complete the play.”

Last week, we saw a bunch of different examples of 11 guys not doing what they need to do. Whether it was a wide open third down look that was blown up by pressure or a missed throw by Murray high or a sack on a quick pressure, there is a lot more that’s going to have to get fixed than just Murray targeting Jefferson on quick throws in order to get him back to the impact he’s had in previous years.

“It’s just growing pains of trying to figure out the offense and getting on the same page, that’s the main thing,” Jefferson said. “It takes time. We still talk about how the offense is going to have one of those games of being complete and dialing it up. And that day is going to come.”

The Vikings need it to come on Sunday because the Lions average 30.7 points per game, second in the NFL.

Read more

The Minnesota Vikings advanced to 6-0 with their win over the Colts. Let’s dive into the numbers and All-22.

What went right

Blake Cashman’s All-Pro day

I can’t remember the last time I saw a PFF grade as high as Cashman’s for Sunday’s game: 94.3.

In real time, it felt like one of the best performances we’ve seen from a linebacker and the film told the same story. He finished with three pass breakups, seven tackles for negative Colts plays, two sacks and two more QB pressures.

Here’s a look at an aspect of Cashman’s game that makes him so special: His instincts in coverage. On this play, the Colts run double slants on the left side. The idea is probably to anticipate the Vikings blitzing and dropping back one linebacker and then making him choose which route to undercut. But Cashman seems to read Jones’ eyes or body language and he picks the right slant and nearly gets a pick-six.

There’s another play later in the game where he identifies a screen and breaks it up as the ball is arriving, which you rarely see.

The next play is proof that all blitzing linebackers are not built equally. Cashman is lined up over the guard and begins his rush by taking him wide, then he juts back inside to run a stunt with Jalen Redmond, who crashes into the guard with the center still trying to block him. Cashman appears at Jones’ doorstep out of nowhere.

This is a good example of why other teams can’t just copycat Flores. This stuff isn’t possible if you don’t have the movement skill of Cashman, who has the burst and flexibility of a safety but the size and toughness of a linebacker. It doesn’t work if the guys can’t do their jobs unselfishly, like Redmond just crashing into bodies to get Cashman the opportunity.

Vintage Harrison Smith

Quarterbacks have talked about how frustrating it is to face off with Harrison at the line of scrimmage because they don’t know whether he’s going to blitz or drop back into different types of coverages. In this instance, he blitzed. The Vikings got a 4-on-3 on the right side and there were four blockers taking on only two rushers on the left side. That gave Smith a free run at Jones and he delivered the sack.

He was only given a 0.5 sack on the play but that bumps him up to 22.0 for his career.

Smith’s interception was a pitch-and-catch in the backyard.

I froze the tape to give you a look at what the picture looked like when Jones decided to throw the ball toward his tight end.

It’s hard to make sense of the decision unless he just didn’t see Smith there at all. Nonetheless, gotta make the play and Smith rarely misses an opportunity when they come his way.

Jalen Redmond and Dallas Turner rushing the passer

Every week, we say that Jalen Redmond is a star and folks around the NFL need to start talking about him. He finished the game with five QB pressures to lead the team and three stops for negative plays in the run game.

Dallas Turner only got 18 pass rush snaps but created four QB pressures and shared the sack with Smith. He is No. 2 in the NFL in PFF’s Pass Rush Productivity rate (pressures vs. snaps, weighted toward sacks).

Run D after the 38-yard TD

After the Vikings gave up a big touchdown to Jonathan Taylor, they only allowed him to run for 3.3 yards per carry the rest of the day. Everybody got involved in the action in order to slow him down. On this play, Levi Drake Rodriguez beats his man in the middle by dominating the reach block and closing off a cut-off lane and Andrew Van Ginkel overpowers the blocking TE and slams him back into the RB, giving Taylor nowhere to go.

Six defenders finished with PFF run defense grades over 70 and Cashman had seven tackles on unsuccessful plays.

If we’re looking for one big difference between this version of Flores’ defense and previous iterations, it has been that they are less vulnerable to teams sticking with the run to slow down their blitz-happy ways.

Explosive offensive plays

Despite the offensive numbers being bleh, the Vikings actually had a number of big plays. One of the most impressive came from the shadow of their own end zone on a play-action where Kyler Murray had to deal with some pressure when Max Bredeson couldn’t hold his block and he threw it over a tall defender to Jefferson 20 yards downfield.

Throwing downfield to his left this year, Murray is 6-for-11 with 162 yards and three big-time throws.

Later in the game, Murray hit another pass that has been working for him in recent weeks: Targeting the tight end down the seam.

The Vikings line up in a condensed set and send Jefferson on a double move to the outside and Murray releases the ball just as TJ Hockenson clears the linebacker for a big gain.

Murray also got big gains on underneath throws to Jauan Jennings, who has been staggeringly underused in YAC situations and Gavin Bartholomew, who could possibly be targeted more often with his ability to run with the ball in his hands.

Joe Huber continues to play well

The Vikings’ fill-in left guard had their highest PFF grade in terms of pass protection (82.8) and allowed just one QB pressure.

Since he took over for Donovan Jackson, he’s given up just four pressures and zero sacks and has a average 62.0 run blocking grade.

The Vikings will have to decide whether they want to find a guard at the trade deadline. Huber has at least made his case.

The quick stuff

Murray went 7-for-9 on short throws (0-to-9) and the lone screen went for 10 yards.

It was a nice design by KOC with a pre-snap motion by Jordan Addison where he looked like he was going into the flat but instead turned around for a quick pass and he did the rest with his legs.

Addison’s ability to run after the catch is probably underutilized overall.

Here is another play from the second drive of the game where a pre-snap motion sets up Justin Jefferson for a quick stop route and Murray puts the ball on him for a first down.

These are the types of plays that the Vikings got away from a bit as the game went along but they are in Murray’s wheelhouse.

Later in the same drive, Addison came across the middle of the field and found himself open in front of Murray, who was rolling to his left.

In total this season, Murray has completed 87.8% of his 0-9 passes but he still only ranks 32nd of 38 in percentage of his throws going from 0-9.

That HAS to change. KOC is dialing up good plays for him in quick game and rollouts and then going away from it.

What went wrong

Murray’s accuracy

Murray’s accuracy was atrocious by his typical standard. He finished the game with a Completion Percentage Over Expected of -12.3%, meaning that he should have completed 70% of passes based on the distance and locations of receivers and defenders and instead he completed 58%. Over the last two games, Murray had been +6.8% and +3.9%.

Here was one of the most brutal misses: A third-and-10 throw to Jefferson as he was coming wide open.

For some reason, Murray bounced around and reset his feet before firing and let the ball take off on him. Jefferson had no chance to make a play on the ball and it was nearly picked off.

Murray also missed a routine checkdown to Mason that was likely to turn into an enormous gain and several other throws that you would expect him to make.

The silver lining argument might be that he’s been more precise than this recently and he might have just felt a little sped up. But the downside is that Murray has now had two of his four games where he’s not sharp.

Sacks and pressures

Read more

By Brian Murphy

Hey, 6-0 is a helluva accomplishment. Finding ways to win. Protecting the football. Building scar tissue. All worthy traits.

Time to mothball the pacifier and training wheels, though.

November’s schedule demands more adulting.

The Minnesota Vikings are undefeated, which is objectively wonderful. They dismissed the Indianapolis Colts 16-10 at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday, surviving another dog day afternoon of offensive dysfunction or just-miss opportunities depending on your prescription glasses. And with it comes the requisite anxiety about optics and sustainability.

They have won six consecutive games. Their defense has allowed a league-low 74 points. Their kicker remains one of the most reliable human beings in Minnesota. And their offense continues to operate like three shifts of manual labor.

It all feels totally untenable.

Perhaps not today. The Vikings are the only undefeated team in the NFL. Alphas of the NFC. Two games ahead in the loss column in the North and arm’s length from the knife fight raging below them in the standings.

But here come the Lions, Bills, Packers and 49ers, and Minnesota cannot keep asking its defense to blitz 85 percent of the time while its offense avoids the end zone like it’s molten lava.

Sunday offered another example of how the Vikings can win football games, with another reminder of how much harder they make it on themselves and their faithful.

The psychological road this franchise makes its fans march every season is truly biblical.

The Colts arrived in Minneapolis at 2-4, coming off a loss to winless Tennessee and without injured cornerback Sauce Gardner and tight end Tyler Warren. Indianapolis had plenty of problems before kickoff, not that anyone would notice.

Jonathan Taylor planted his flag at U.S. Bank Stadium (perhaps permanently next month, Mr. Teasley?) and rocketed 38 yards for an opening-drive touchdown that cold-cocked the rested Vikings and liquored congregates.

The Vikings trailed 7-0, and the afternoon immediately took on the familiar feel of an unnecessary struggle.

Minnesota’s opening possession, in contrast, was uninspiring. Myles Price gave the Vikings a 46-yard kickoff return to the Indianapolis 47. Surely, this was an opportunity to establish some offensive momentum.

Instead, the Vikings ran four times behind hobbled Aaron Jones with Jordan Mason returned, refreshed and curiously missing. They managed precious little and turned the ball over on downs on fourth-and-1. Another straightforward decision turning into a philosophical debate.

The defense, meanwhile, went back to work while Blake Cashman went berserk.

The local linebacker spent the afternoon treating Daniel Jones like a snitch at a biker rally. He finished with 12 tackles, two sacks, four passes defended and three quarterback hits. He was simply everywhere, disrupting Indianapolis’ passing game and making life miserable for the former Vikings quarterback meeting room MVP of 2024.

Can we all agree this is Brian Flores’ team? With special teams coordinator Matt Daniels, his chief of staff and Kevin O’Connell, their affable public relations director.

To be fair, O’Connell has won 11 straight games in the NFL. In twice as many ways. With a patchwork offensive lineup that finally lined up healthy and raring to continue the unit’s – ahem – ascension behind quarterback Kyler Murray.

O’Connell is the head coach, obviously. But when the offense spends another afternoon struggling to manufacture points at home against a spiraling team like the Colts, Flores the superstar defensive coordinator is the guy keeping the entire operation afloat.

Minnesota managed two Will Reichard field goals in the first half, which felt like a small miracle considering the amount of time required to produce them. One drive covered 53 yards in 15 plays and consumed more than six minutes. It ended with three points.

Fifteen plays for a field goal. Quite the offensive identity six games into the season.

The Vikings have apparently decided that scoring touchdowns is optional, provided their defense can keep the other guys from doing it.

The Colts helped. Spencer Shrader missed two second-half field goals, including a 56-yarder on fourth-and-2 that handed Minnesota a golden opportunity. Indianapolis had the Vikings wobbling, but its kicker couldn’t deliver the knockout punch.

Then came the play that pivoted the afternoon.

Murray, who had looked uncomfortable while missing open receivers, took off on a third-down scramble in the fourth quarter. He navigated traffic, found daylight and ran 35 yards to the Indianapolis 5-yard line.

Two plays later, Murray flipped the ball to T.J. Hockenson for the go-ahead touchdown. Minnesota led 13-10, and the offense had finally done something more substantial than keep the field-goal unit employed.

It was the Vikings’ 10th offensive touchdown in six games. Let that marinate. The touchdown mattered enormously, but it also illustrated the problem.

Murray finished 14 of 24 for 150 yards, and Minnesota spent much of Week 7 struggling to sustain drives yet again against an Indy defense missing its biggest star in the secondary.

Yet again, the Vikings refused to lose. Cashman and company kept making plays, even as Taylor churned his way to 95 yards and a looming parole hearing on the trade market.

The Colts had opportunities to tie the game, but Shrader’s second shank preserved the Vikings’ narrow lead.

Reichard then supplied his own plot twist. After extending his franchise-record streak to 35 consecutive made field goals, he had a 59-yard attempt blocked by Grover Stewart. Just as well. He doesn’t need to shoulder Gary Anderson’s 1998 burden of perfection into January.

Fortunately, Reichard got another chance. His 52-yarder -- just another sand wedge -- with 1:39 remaining gave Minnesota a six-point cushion, downright lavish these days.

And then Old Man Harry came to the rescue.

Harrison Smith, the 37-year-old safety who returned for his 15th season, intercepted Jones with about a minute remaining. It was the 40th interception of Smith’s career, a milestone worthy of another standing ovation and a reminder that the elder still knows exactly where the ball is supposed to go when delivered by ghost-fearing quarterbacks.

Harry! Harry! Harry!

There are worse ways to finish a football game than watching a franchise legend seal another victory.

Just don’t mistake survival for progress.

Six-and-oh is real. The defense is running out of adjectives to leverage. Reichard remains a weapon. Murray’s legs can rescue a drive, and Smith can still turn a game around with one instinctive play.

But here come tougher opponents and dynamic offenses that won’t keep gifting Minnesota opportunities to escape. The Vikings need to convert possessions into points, turn promising drives into touchdowns and stop relying on their defense to clean up every mess.

Cut and paste.

They have demonstrated that they can win ugly. They have demonstrated that they can protect the football and hang around long enough for something good to happen. Now they need to demonstrate that they can play a complete game.

Celebrate 6-0. The Vikings have earned that much.

But the kiddie pool is closed for the season. Now the Vikings have to swim with the sharks.

By Matthew Coller

MINNEAPOLIS — It’s now been 11 games since the Minnesota Vikings lost and almost every single one of them have had the same refrain: The defense walks out of the stadium beaming with new breathtaking performances each week and the offense sheepishly apologizes for its performance and vows that improvement is around the corner.

That feeling has never been stronger in the postgame locker room than it was after Sunday’s 16-10 victory over the Indianapolis Colts.

On one side, the defense held the opposing quarterback to 108 yards passing at 4.9 yards per attempt and give up just 10 points.

On the other side, Kevin O’Connell and Kyler Murray’s offense only got into the end zone once and finished with just 275 total yards and 3-for-11 on third downs.

The question when you write a postgame article about this 6-0 team is: Which area do you start with?

Since they won, we begin with the defense. We have gotten used to the excellence of Blake Cashman but he had a game for the ages. He broke up four passes, had two sacks and 12 tackles.

“I told the team, giving him another game ball, it feels like it’s a weekly thing,” head coach Kevin O’Connell said. “Right now, he’s just flying all over the place. What he does just from a pre-snap communication standpoint as the green dot and then just as a blitzer, made some really nice instinctive plays, knocking some balls down in zone. Almost picked one off there early on in the game that would have probably been a touchdown. He’s just so impactful.”

One of the themes of this defense is that all the players have been in Flores’ defense so long that they can adapt and adjust to just about anything on the fly and that starts with Cashman.

“The way he’s playing and the way he’s kind of taking ownership, taking the next step of just kind of that elite understanding of our defense, what we’re trying to get done, adjustments in game, it’s just spectacular,” O’Connell said.

PFF’s initial grading of the game credited Cashman with six total QB pressures and seven tackles on negative Colts plays.

“He’s a factor in all phases of the game, he’s getting sacks, he’s awesome in the run game, he’s a huge factor in the pass game, plus he’s the one who gets the play call and dudes are yelling at him all game, ‘what’s the call, what’s the call,’” Safety Harrison Smith said. “He has so much going on and for him to quiet that when the ball is snapped and play with a lot of intelligence and violence at the same time, he’s playing lights out.”

In terms of defensive euphoria, Smith’s game-sealing interception gets added to the trophy case that he has filled up over his career. Smith’s pick was his 40th of his career and he emphatically set the ball down at the 40-yard line as the offense walked out for victory formation.

“I was talking to Richard Sherman this week and he has a lot and I have a lot and we both feel like they don’t come around when you chase them, you just do your job and the opportunities will present themselves and then you have to be a ballplayer,” Smith said. “That’s pretty much what happened there.

The crowd cheering, “Harry, Harry, Harry” was the cherry on top of another classic Smith moment.

“It was fun at a big moment in the game, which I’ve always prided myself on playing good when it matters most,” Smith said, acknowledging that he did indeed hear the chants.

There were plenty of other shining stars on defense as well. Kyle Van Noy made plays. Jalen Redmond had key stops. Dallas Turner was in the backfield all day. Andrew Van Ginkel came close to an interception.

Yes, Colts RB Jonathan Taylor did rush an impressive TD against them and finished with 5.1 yards per attempt but the Vikings closed down the run in key spots as well and forced Jones to pass.

You just can’t say enough good things about the No. 1 defense in the NFL. You’ll see the stats everywhere. Least amount of this through six games, fewest number of that allowed to this point of the season. Every new factoid tells the same story: The defense is a force.

Now take the opposite of all that and describe the offense.

The Vikings opened the game with a long kick return by Myles Price and then instantly squandered it away with four straight runs by Aaron Jones that resulted in a turnover on downs.

While they won the turnover battle and protected the football, Murray missed open passes downfield to Jauan Jennings and Justin Jefferson and he had a penalty negate one of his best throws of the day to Jordan Addison.

“We left a lot out there,” O’Connell said. “I think our guys are very confident that we’re not far off. And the far off changes a little bit as you go. But I’m very, very confident we’ll get it going.”

How many times can O’Connell continue to say they are close? There haven’t been answers in a very long time and there’s always a new explanation. In this particular game, O’Connell reeled off a laundry list of different plays that nearly hit, like a long pass that went off Jennings’ fingertips, a long completion to Addison that was negated by a suspect penalty and a wide open throw to Jefferson that was inaccurate from Murray.

“You can’t get down on it right now just because it’s still relatively early enough that we’re catching our stride,” O’Connell said. “But at the same time, we know what the type of people and teams that are going to be on our schedule the rest of the way and where we want to go with this team. We’ll keep progressing and all while not turning it over.”

There were good things that happened. O’Connell counted nine “explosives,” including a 20-yard throw to Jennings that helped them go up by six points late and a 35-yard rush by Murray that resulted in a touchdown on the next play.

But it’s nowhere near consistent enough.

The frustration comes partly because over the last two games it looked like Murray had gotten into a groove. He went 40-for-48 from the third quarter against Miami to the end of the game against New Orleans and kept the offense largely on track with shorter passes.

The offense seemed to go back to a lot of downfield shot plays, like one that got Murray sacked and nearly taken out of field-goal range when the Vikings were up 13-10 in the fourth quarter. Murray ended up just 4-for-10 on throws over 10 yards, yet he was efficient from 0-9 yards, going 7-for-9 with 52 yards and a touchdown.

Even with underwhelming stats, it’s remarkable how often they were on Indy’s side of the field and couldn’t put the ball in the end zone.

They had drives end at Indy’s 38 (turnover on downs), 44 (punt), 10 (field goal), 29 (field goal), 41 (missed FG), and 34 (field goal).

“I think that we just have to put the ball in the end zone,” Murray said. “I know it comes down to execution.”

At some point, we just could design an A.I. program to write the postgame press conferences and have it give the same answers we’ve heard for a year-and-a-half.

In the bigger picture, there’s a pretty darn promising history when it comes to starting 6-0. Four of the last seven teams to do it landed in the Super Bowl (2024 Chiefs, 2022 Eagles, 2019 49ers and 2018 Rams).

But there’s a couple cautionary tale teams. After the game, Van Noy reminded us of the 2019 Patriots, who were 6-0 and lost in the first round of the playoffs.

You could make an argument that it became en vogue to call out good teams for being “frauds” when the 2020 Pittsburgh Steelers started off undefeated but had a poor offense and then collapsed at the end of the season.

Murray’s 2021 Cardinals were 6-0 and only finished 11-6 and lost in the first round.

We can all agree that the Vikings’ defense can keep doing this. They have now put together an incredible 11-game streak in which they have allowed 13 points or less in seven of the games and over 20 only twice. Since Week 2, the defense has given up 42 points. That’s less than the Bucs scored on Sunday.

The reality is, we don’t really know the answer to where this is going and we’re about to find out.

It stands to reason that the Vikings’ offense can’t be this bad with this much talent. Murray played far better than this in 2024 when he was with a less gifted Cardinals team and the Jefferson/Addison/Jennings/Hockenson/Mason combo is all players with long histories of success. The offensive line has four out of five starters.

But if it’s something deeper about the offense or the play calling that has been solved by the rest of the NFL for whatever reason, then it might not turn around. The sample size is becoming disturbingly large and it’s hard to ignore JJ McCarthy playing well in New York on Sunday.

The answer will come in the next section of games. The Vikings face the Lions, Bills, Packers and 49ers — simply four of the best teams in the NFL with four superstar quarterbacks that won’t be throwing for 100 yards and scoring 10 points, no matter how great the defense is. They will need to produce points against those clubs to win.

If they go 2-2 or 3-1, then their argument would be pretty darn strong for remaining as a top contending team. If the offense continues to look like it’s stuck in the mud and the excuses keep coming, then it will be very hard to keep the “fraud” word out of people’s mouths.

By Matthew Coller

MINNEAPOLIS — Are we living in a simulation? Every Minnesota Vikings game is the same and somehow they are 6-0 despite trying to lose every single one of their contests in 2026.

The Indianapolis Colts came into US Bank Stadium leading the league in “down bad.” They fired their GM last week after losing to the winless Titans and lost two star players to injury in Sauce Gardner and Tyler Warren.

Yet the Vikings did everything they could to keep them in the game. They struggled to run the ball despite Jordan Mason’s return. Kyler Murray lost the precision that he had in the Miami and New Orleans games, throwing inaccurately a number of times on plays where receivers were available. Kevin O’Connell seemed to struggle to decide what he wanted the day’s identity to be and they made some sloppy miscues that killed drives.

On the defensive side, they only seemed more vulnerable than usual because one of the NFL’s top running backs Jonathan Taylor put together a seemingly unstoppable day as he bolted for a touchdown to open the game and then repeatedly grinded them to a pulp.

But when the dust settled, the Vikings got a huge run from Murray that set up a TJ Hockenson touchdown and their defense bowed up and closed out the win against Daniel Jones via a Harrison Smith interception.

Do style points matter when you are 6-0?

Actually, yes. When the next four games are against outstanding teams with great offenses, it feels nearly impossible for the Vikings to remain in the top position in the NFC if they are going to play like this on offense. If it wasn’t going to get going against a very mediocre defense without Gardner, then when will the offense start looking good? It feels like 2024 is far away now.

For the entirety of the first half of the season, we heard that it was injuries holding the offense back, yet they had everyone and still no answers for consistency.

How many times can we hear “we were close to some plays?”

Maybe the answer is in a trade. Maybe the answer is that they’re just going to have to keep playing this way and hope that it gels eventually — it’s a long season.

You never want to be the “they can’t keep getting away with this” team but that’s exactly who the Vikings are right now.

It’s great to be 6-0 but they’ve reached a point in the coming games where the offense is either going to start putting up points or they are going to sink like a rock, no matter how good their defense is.

Here’s how Sunday’s game went down…

Read more

By Matthew Coller

I feel for anyone who wasn’t around for the 1998 NFL season. In Minnesota, Randy Moss was putting on a show unlike anything the league had ever seen. Terrell Davis ran for 2,008 yards. Reggie White had 16.0 sacks at age 37 and won Defensive Player of the Year. Charles Woodson was Defensive Rookie of the Year. Dan Marino was taking one more shot at a Super Bowl with Jimmy Johnson as his head coach. Steve Young had Jerry Rice AND Terrell Owens. Bill Parcells had the New York Jets at 12-4. The Dirty Bird was a thing. Brett Favre led the NFL in passing.

The storylines were endless.

For a 12-year-old resident of Western New York, however, one storyline towered above the rest: The unlikely rise of Doug Flutie.

To explain Flutie’s ‘98 season, you have to go back to Boston College. Flutie was a college football legend, most remembered for his Hail Mary in 1984, but he was also the most prolific passer in college at the time, leading the nation in passing yards per game three times.

He decided to play in the USFL to start his pro career. The questions began there: Can a 5-foot-9 quarterback really win in the pros?

When the league folded, Mike Ditka decided to find out. In 1986, Chicago Bears starter Jim McMahon was injured so the Bears traded for Flutie’s rights from the Los Angeles Rams (who drafted him in the 11th round). He ended up starting a Divisional Round playoff game against Washington after only starting one regular season game and Chicago lost 27-13.

Flutie got another shot in 1988 with the New England Patriots and won six of his nine starts but didn’t put up impressive numbers with just a 63.3 passer rating.

After that, Flutie went to the CFL, which had a larger field and a more wide-open style that would allow him to play his type of game. And by 1991, he set CFL passing records for yards and rushing touchdowns by a QB.

By the end of the 1997 season, he had three Grey Cup championships and six Most Outstanding Player awards.

But he still wanted to prove that he could play in the NFL.

When the Buffalo Bills signed him in 1998, I was just old enough to listen to sports talk radio in the evening and read the sports section in the newspaper and start forming opinions on the things that I heard/read.

When Flutie signed, I was listening to my eventual co-worker (circa 2010) Chris “Bulldog” Parker on WBEN-930. The callers were mostly negative about the signing. They declared it to be a gimmick — a PR stunt to get more fans from Canada to come to games. Why bring in another quarterback when they had just traded a first-round pick for Jacksonville backup Rob Johnson, they wondered?

Bulldog pushed back. There was no risk involved. He was going to be the backup. What difference did it make? Why not take a shot at a guy who had been wildly successful in the CFL? If he ever appears in a game, it will be a surprise, so nobody should be too worried.

In the coming months, Flutie vs. Johnson would become a war between fans, talk hosts and eventually the locker room and owner vs. head coach.

But I decided that night that I was all in on Flutie. My parents bought me Madden ‘99 (the one where Randy Moss is wearing No. 18) and the first thing I did was dial up a season with the Bills with Flutie as the starting quarterback, despite his poor ratings (even Madden was skeptical).

In the first week of the season, Johnson got hurt against the Ryan Leaf-led Chargers and Flutie entered the game and played well (12-for-20, 2 TD, 1 INT) but his game-winning drive went awry with a missed 39-yard field goal and the Bills lost 16-14.

Johnson went back to starting and played well but in the team’s fifth game, Johnson got hurt on the first drive and Flutie came in the game. He played at a high level, going 23-for-28 with 213 yards and two touchdowns.

There wasn’t any controversy yet though. The Colts were terrible and Flutie mostly just kept the train on the tracks as they ran all over Indy. Plus, the game was on the road at the RCA Dome.

The following week changed everyone’s sports lives in Buffalo forever.

At Rich Stadium in Buffalo, the Bills faced off with the Jaguars, who had gone 11-5 the previous season and were 5-0.

Both defenses largely controlled the game but Flutie kept them alive. In the fourth quarter, the Bills trailed 16-10 with 39 seconds left and the ball at the Jacksonville 39-yard line. Flutie found receiver Eric Moulds for a 38-yard gain to the 1-yard line with 28 seconds left.

On the first two plays, Flutie threw incomplete into the end zone. That set up fourth-and-goal. The college and CFL legend took the snap, appeared to have a miscommunication with RB Thurman Thomas on a handoff and then took off toward the end zone. The Jaguars froze. Flutie scored. Nearly 80,000 people shook Orchard Park, New York in celebration.

Flutie Magic was born.

He remained as the starter, lighting up the Panthers on 18-for-22 passing the following week. He threw jump passes, he scrambled, he won. The Bills went 8-2 in their next 10 games with the small field general in charge and made the playoffs despite an 0-3 start.

While his improbable run was taking Buffalo by storm, a cereal called “Flutie Flakes” hit the shelves in stores, with profits being donated to the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, created in honor of Flutie's son.

If you weren’t there to see it, you’d think it was a made-for-TV Disney movie.

The Bills ultimately lost a wild playoff game against the Dolphins and the Johnson vs. Flutie debates raged into 1999.

Long story short: Flutie played well enough to get the Bills to 10-5 but Johnson played the final (meaningless) game of the ‘99 season and the owner demanded that he play against the Titans in the playoffs. That game turned out to be the Music City Miracle.

Now here’s the reason that I’m telling you this story: The two seasons of Flutie in Buffalo were not only memorable but they were convincing to a 12-year-old fan of Flutie’s that we should never judge a book by its cover. That great quarterbacks come in all sizes. That there’s a real thing as being a winner and you’d rather have somebody with the “it” factor than a guy who has all the measurables. And there’s nothing like a quarterback who can make plays out of structure.

I don’t care how cliche that stuff sounds. That was the takeaway.

I also learned that no matter what a short quarterback does, people will always want the guy who “looks the part.” They will always doubt anyone who doesn’t play “traditional” quarterback.

Into my adult life as a sports talk host in Buffalo and then Vikings reporter, Flutie’s run stayed in my mind. I argued that the Bills should tank for Cam Newton. I made the case for the Vikings drafting Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts.

There was only one quarterback who truly looked like Flutie when he played: Kyler Murray.

Their stories included a Heisman trophy but Murray’s path was quite different. He was a 5-star recruit and the No. 1 overall draft pick. Because enough quarterbacks had succeeded as runners, and undersized QBs Russell Wilson and Drew Brees had thrived, the stigma wasn’t anywhere near as strong as when Flutie was playing.

But that doesn’t mean it went away.

Murray’s career has been filled with questions about whether he can see the field and whether a short quarterback who scrambles around can ever lead a team anywhere. If you look at any comment section this offseason during the Murray vs. McCarthy quarterback battle, you’ll see endless insults about Murray’s height. You’ll see tons of concern trolling about how “KOC will adjust his offense” for Murray.

There was a very, very large contingent who wanted the traditional Michigan QB who looked the part, even if his passes flew inaccurately and his processing time had to be measured on a sundial. Even as Murray formed a clear chemistry with Justin Jefferson in camp.

After Carson Wentz won back-to-back games, plenty of folks demanded he remain the starter despite Wentz going 5-9 with a 83.1 passer rating from 2022-2025. He looks the part, remember. Everyone’s always gonna love the guy who looks the part, remember.

Now as the Vikings are getting ready to play the Indianapolis Colts and Murray has shown a little magic, the bar has been raised for him with a 5-0 team to finally win and show that he can lead a quality franchise after spending all those years with the bumbling Cardinals.

With Murray’s career at a crossroads, I wanted to better understand what it’s really like to deal with the physical and mental aspects of being a quarterback at under 5-foot-10.

So I called Doug Flutie, who is doing a football podcast these days on YouTube called Flutie vs Stegall with (Vikings fan) host Arash Madani.

The phrase “never meet your heroes” really shouldn’t exist because we talked for nearly 40 minutes about the X’s and O’s, leadership and the drive to prove people wrong that comes along with life as an undersized QB.

A kinship with Kyler

Doug Flutie doesn’t know Kyler Murray well, but he did meet Murray’s family during the 2019 Heisman ceremony.

“We were talking and his mom was talking about whether he should play baseball or football,” Flutie told Purple Insider over the phone. “I knew how difficult the road was. And I’m like, ‘if he can play baseball, go play baseball.’”

Flutie knew how hard the road was going to be, even with Murray’s resume as an all-time great Texas High School player and elite college QB.

Of course, Flutie has always rooted for Murray.

“From afar, root for him because of the size factor and I want him to do well,” Flutie said. “I know that everybody’s, ‘oh, they’re 5-0, but he’s struggling da-da-da. So then this week I paid attention… and he actually looked real solid, so I was happy for him.”

Where he relates the most is Murray not getting the benefit of the doubt.

“There’s an automatic go-to for why you’re not getting it done when your team [isn’t winning] but it’s such a team game that you’re dependent on everyone,” Flutie said. “It’s hard on a daily basis to walk in that locker room and act like you’re Josh Allen, Peyton Manning, Patrick Mahomes, or Tom Brady, and just take total control of everything because there’s always a doubt from other people about your size.”

The doubt about his height would show up in the coaching rooms. He remembers changing a play in a preseason game when he was with the Patriots and throwing a touchdown but getting reamed out in the meeting room because they hadn’t practiced it. He recalls getting questioned about moving outside the pocket to create throwing lanes because it made the offensive tackle more likely to hold. If he quickly chopped his feet to get to a throwing lane, it was called “getting happy feet.”

“I think it’s taxing,” Flutie said. “My years in Canada weren’t that way. That’s a perfect example of it. That was not taxing. I was having fun. If I felt like doing something, I just added it in the middle of the game. I would change plays and check out of things because I just felt good about something. And I didn’t need a reason. And it usually worked out, right? It’s like, you can’t do that in the NFL because in the NFL... Tom Brady could do that but if I did that, I better have a damn good reason why I went to something. We better have talked about this on Wednesday and Thursday.”

It’s hard to know how much of this applies to Murray. Since he was expected to be the franchise player in Arizona, he may have gotten more leeway but there were NFL folks who described Murray’s offense as “college-like” early in his career. When he arrived in Minnesota, there were questions about whether he could run a complex offense from the pocket, even if he’d been doing so under Drew Petzing in recent years.

What Flutie did with the non-stop questions is turn them into a drive that would keep him in the NFL for years after Buffalo.

He remembers being in his 40s with the Chargers and running hills with fellow undersized NFL’er Tim Dwight, a receiver and punt returner, and thinking about how nobody believed they should be there.

“We always looked at each other saying, we’ve got to prove we belong every day,” Flutie said. “Where the 6-foot-4 guy has to prove he doesn’t belong.”

Flutie recalled Patriots quarterback Steve Grogan being asked why Flutie was still playing with the Patriots in 2005.

“I remember reading a quote from Grog saying, ‘you know why he’s still playing? Because he’s trying to prove you assholes wrong,’” Flutie said. “You know, it was true.”

He noted that he wondered in the back of his head after he retired about people saying he couldn’t still do it. At 43.

Murray has never been outward chip-on-the-shoulder guy but those close to him said this summer that he was highly motivated to prove that he can still be a top NFL QB.

Flutie’s advice: Lean into that.

“Constant motivation, chip on your shoulder,” Flutie said. “I do some speaking [these days]. You need a reason every day. A motivation on a daily basis to get up and be better that day and to continually improve.”

‘I knew what I did well’

Flutie’s first NFL action came when he was 24.

I asked him why he felt that things worked out so much better for him the second time around when he came back to the NFL at age 36.

“I don’t know if it was different from an X’s and O’s standpoint, just from a confidence standpoint when I came back from Canada, I knew what I did well and what I didn’t do well and I wanted to focus on that stuff,” Flutie said.

You have to wonder if that can be a difference for Murray, who has completed 40 of his last 48 passes after finding a groove against the Miami Dolphins and New Orleans Saints. Does he understand much better now when he should scramble? When he should check down?

Murray has to be able to communicate what he does well to the coaching staff. Over the last two weeks, Kevin O’Connell and Wes Phillips have commented on them getting a better understanding of what’s working for Murray in the offense.

After watching the New Orleans game, Flutie saw something clicking for Murray that always worked for him.

“What I did realize that I just saw Kyler do it this week, play-action passes where you gave me something to do with the ball,” Flutie said. “I want play action. You do like a half boot pull up while it’s developing downfield. The further away from the line of scrimmage I was, the easier vision was. And the best way to get the ball downfield was this hard play-action stuff… it gave me something to do while the, double moves [were developing].”

Murray is 14-for-21 in the last two games using play-action and averaged 9.0 yards per attempt.

When Flutie was in Buffalo, he loved to throw to star receiver Eric Moulds, who went for 1,368 yards in 1998. He felt that if his top receiver was able to get one-on-one coverage, that he was accurate enough and could see the field well enough on the outsides that he could deliver.

“In man-to-man coverage, I found my matchup and I’m throwing the ball,” Flutie said. “You’d love a crossing route, a corner route or some kind of movement route. So you pick your guy, I’m gonna throw the ball. And the best example of this is one-on-one on the outside and he’s running the fade and whether the coverage is good or not, there’s somewhere to put the ball.”

If this sounds familiar, it’s what we have seen from Murray with Justin Jefferson. Last week vs. the Saints, Jefferson was initially covered one-on-one and Murray put the ball in a spot in the back of the end zone for him to go get it. By the time the ball arrived, so did two other Saints defenders, yet Jefferson caught it for a touchdown.

What about the “happy feet” thing? Sometimes when Murray is in the pocket, he bounces and ducks around like he’s panicking. Flutie pointed to that element of his game that was simply always going to have to look different than tall QBs.

“I would drift into the lane and coaches used to give me a hard time about, ‘Doug, this is a five-step drop, you’re not sitting firm, you’re drifting, you’re taking seven little shuffle steps,’” he said. “It’s just an instinctive thing I started to do. And the key to that for Kyler, for myself, for Patrick Mahomes even, is that you’re an athlete. You played baseball. You’ve thrown the ball off balance from short to sidearm. You’ve done a jump throw. You flip your hips and throw. Run into your left. You just open your hips a little and throw it sidearm. Because you could make these athletic throws, I didn’t care where my feet were.”

It speaks to the fact that it requires a different mentality as a coach. The thing about the Vikings’ current situation is that the bottom line is the only thing that matters this year. While O’Connell is badly going to want Murray to run the offense as designed, he isn’t a robo-QB and he’s going to have to do things that are unorthodox to win.

At the same time, Flutie heard KOC’s quote earlier this year talking about how Drew Brees had said that it was “his job to see the field.”

Just being undersized isn’t an excuse for not playing within the structure of the offense, as Brees himself proved at only two or three inches taller than Flutie or Murray.

“The underlying factor of all this, yes, you can be a playmaker, move your feet, do these special things and do all that, but you still have to be the best quarterback in the room at dealing with pass protections, understanding your reads and getting the ball out on time, all that stuff,” Flutie said. “Then the other stuff is a bonus. But you first have to be able to do all the other stuff from the pocket.”

If you’re getting the sense that Flutie was enjoying the conversation, indeed it felt like he could talk about this subject for days. I wondered as we were chatting whether people outside of football have ever asked him about the details of playing as a shorter quarterback or if they preferred to focus on his story.

Or maybe his passion for football just goes beyond what any sane person would conceivably possess and detractors of Murray might say that’s the difference between them.

Or maybe football has so many layers and so many anomalies that it’s never-endingly interesting to peel them back. It’s still inconceivable that either Flutie or Murray have achieved what they have. Think about the thousands of other high school quarterbacks who were 5-foot-10 and couldn’t make it work. These two did.

At the end of our conversation, I told Flutie that my Bills-fan dad would be thrilled that I spoke with him and that he’d shaped my view of football for life.

And such comes along with buying the idea that Murray’s differences do not make it impossible for him to take the Vikings where they need to go.

I guess we’ll find out in the coming weeks if Murray becomes a Flutie-like sensation in Minnesota.

By Matthew Coller

EAGAN — “You know who’s standing out in camp and preseason? Jeshaun Jones.”

How many times have we said that over the last three years?

Since signing as an undrafted free agent in 2024, the Minnesota Vikings’ wide receiver has become one of the stars of summer. Whether it was fighting for a depth role or bumping up to the first team when there were injuries or rest days, Jones caught footballs thrown in his direction. When it came to the preseason, he always showed up, grabbing 20 passes for 270 yards in the last three preseasons.

All three summers ended the same way: “Jeshaun Jones signs to Vikings practice squad.”

There was always someone ahead of him and some reason not to put him on the active roster. Whether it was trading for Adam Thielen in ‘25 or drafting Tai Felton or needing Myles Price as a returner or adding Jauan Jennings in free agency this year, the Vikings couldn’t quite get him to the 53-man roster.

His only appearance in an NFL game was Week 18 against the Packers when he saw seven snaps on special teams.

In Week 5, Jones’ grind behind the scenes finally was rewarded. With Jordan Addison banged up, he was active for the Vikings’ matchup against the New Orleans Saints. He was on the field as a wide receiver for exactly one passing play and everything broke right for him to be Kyler Murray’s target.

Murray got pressured and moved outside the pocket while keeping his eyes downfield. Jones realized that the play was being extended and ran to space. Murray threw the ball where only he could get it and Jones went up and grabbed the pass. It went down as a 32-yard gain. The drive ultimately resulted in the go-ahead touchdown for the Vikings and they never gave the lead back.

“It meant a lot, man, it meant a tremendous amount to me, honestly,” Jones told Purple Insider on Friday. “I didn't really think it would come at that time, and that made it a little bit cooler. The moment was amazing, though. Just getting that opportunity and this crazy, like, that was one of the plays I had gotten in practice throughout the week. And for it to turn into a scramble drill, and Kyler to find me down there, it was amazing. I'm so thankful for the opportunity…just working, grinding, and finally, getting to get out there on Sunday, and make a play to help my team, that all that matters to me.”

Jones also recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff of the second half that led to a Vikings touchdown.

When he got back to the locker room, his phone was exploding with messages.

“I remember as soon as I got in the locker room, I called my mom as soon as I got back to my locker and we both were excited, screaming on the phone,” Jones said. “Just happy, just because it's so much I’ve been through.”

The long road to his first NFL reception wasn’t just about the hundreds of practices and meetings without being rewarded, it also included a lot of adversity in college as well. Jones tore his ACL in one knee in 2019 as a sophomore at Maryland and tore the other in 2021. He battled back from those setbacks to finish his college career in 2023 with a 53-catch, 747-yard season, earning him an opportunity as a UDFA with the Vikings.

I asked Jones what kept him going through the injuries and uncertainty about whether he would see all the practice catches someday turn into a place forever in an NFL box score.

“That's just kind of who I am, man,” Jones said. “I've been through two major injuries in college, so I've had to sit back and not be able to play….I take advantage of every one of these opportunities, man. I love it…it's kind of who I am. I just keep my head down to work and just keep going.”

Nobody was happier for Jones than Tai Felton, who was with Jones at Maryland and has been influenced by his hard-work approach.

“He was my big bro [at Maryland] so I played with him damn near like my whole career and I’ve seen him come back from a couple injuries, I have seen him persevere and I always we always try to model my personality and the hard work after him,” Felton said. “Seeing that after seeing him grow so much, and then when I came in, he taught me how to be a professional football player, and him getting that chance to go make that play, it’s definitely huge. My family loves seeing it. He like family to me. So my family was screaming at the TV. My mom and them were excited for them.”

What Felton has appreciated most in terms of learning from Jones is the work that goes into practice. For Jones, practices have been his moment to show coaches that he can play and he’s put everything into those weekday afternoons at TCO Performance Center.

“Treating every day like a game, that's a regular Tuesday or a regular Wednesday or practice day, or Saturday walk through, he chases everything like a game,” Felton said.

Head coach Kevin O’Connell has continued to bring Jones back and was pumped to give him a game ball following the 23-13 victory.

“The team, they respect him so much,” O’Connell said. “The worker he is, the amount of time that he’s poured into this organization, and hopefully he feels like we’ve done the same and helped him along his football journey. So now he can make plays when called upon. It’s a long season. Jeshaun is one of those guys you’re fortunate to feel like you have more so than just playing X or F or Z [positions]. He’s been a really good contributor in the kicking game when we can get him up as well.”

Now that the Vikings are back to full health, Jones will once again have to wait his turn. But his presence speaks to the unique depth that the Vikings have on the roster with a player that they’ve been able to develop over years who can step in and make a key play.

It also speaks to how much the right work ethic and attitude can pay off.

By Matthew Coller

Happy Friday, everyone! Feels like forever since we’ve had some football in our lives. Let’s dive into your questions…

Eldon… Teasley seems like he will be aggressive at the trade deadline, are there some positions that aren’t on fans’ radar you think he will target?

Generally it seems that the most discussed positions have been running back and guard, which makes sense. I’ve thrown out defensive tackle as a position where they could land someone like DeForest Buckner and that would change the dynamic of what they can do up front.

If there’s two spots that are a little more under the radar, it’s probably wide receiver and safety. We’ll be on Jauan Jennings watch over the coming weeks to see how that’s working out because if things continue this way then it might be worth looking for another receiver. Maybe they see Odell Beckham Jr. as that guy already though.

Safety would have to be a game-changing player. If it was a big swing like Derwin James or Antoine Winfield Jr., then it’s worth doing. It’s not exactly a need but it does feel like if there was one more difference-making player there then this defense would be untouchable.

Jake J… If the Vikings pull off a trade for Quenton Nelson, would he be able to just get plugged in and play immediately? Or would it take a few weeks to learn the offense?

It’s interesting because for a long time I believed that in-season trades weren’t worth making because it was so hard for guys to learn a new offense/defense but TJ Hockenson completely changed my mind about that. He arrived on Tuesday and caught a bunch of passes on Sunday. We’ve also seen guys like Stephon Gilmore and Carson Wentz come in and play right away without having much time to learn the scheme.

I think when players get to a certain age, they’ve learned so many gameplans, heard so much verbiage etc. that they can learn it throughout a week and be pretty comfortable. I’m sure it’s a group effort with a lot of communication but it’s doable. We saw Cam Robinson take over at left tackle when Darrisaw got hurt and he was able to make it work.

Brad L… Lots of trade speculation. So, how should we feel if the deadline passes and we do nothing?

I’ll go with: Conflicted.

On one hand, the team is good enough to get to 5-0 and sometimes we wildly overrate the impact of one player. It’s not like it’s impossible for them to win the NFC North and be a serious contender without a different guard or one more defensive tackle. Plus, we all understand that this team has to be retooled/rebuilt in the coming years.

At the same time, the excuse/explanation of not wanting to give away draft capital is probably a tough one for Vikings fans to swallow. This is a franchise that has not appeared in a Super Bowl for 50 years. Whenever you get a chance to take a shot at it, you have to take your best shot, right? These seasons don’t just happen all the time and there’s a ton of uncertainty into the future.

If you take a swing and it doesn’t work, at least you tried as hard as possible to really go after the Super Bowl. But from Teasley’s perspective, he’s planning on being the GM for many years, so he can’t just sell the farm.

A commenter on my live show the other night did make a good point when it comes to trading away third-round picks. He pointed out that these are the Vikings’ third-rounders in recent years: Tai Felton, Mekhi Blackmon, Brian Asamoah, Chazz Surratt, Wyatt Davis, Kellen Mond, Patrick Jones, Cam Dantzler, Alex Mattison, Pat Elflein.

Not a lot there that’s irreplaceable.

scampinaround… I think I’m fully convinced this is an all-in year for Teasley. Reasons: the team is 5-0; the NFC overall is quite weak with the Rams, Eagles, Cowboys all down bad and the Seahawks regressing to the mean; it’s potentially/probably the last year with BFlo; the QB room is still very cheap and Murray isn’t guaranteed to return; we have an older roster. Thoughts? Do you think Teasley has to see more before he reaches that point?

I do think Teasley is going to see it that way but we also have to remember that there’s three games to be played before the trade deadline. There is a pretty enormous difference in the deadline approach if you’re 8-0 vs. 5-3.

But I’m sure it’s not lost on him that you don’t get many years where a veteran starting quarterback costs $1.3 million and that guys like Andrew Van Ginkel, Blake Cashman and Isaiah Rodgers are free agents. Or that last year his team in Seattle made an aggressive move to add a “final piece” type guy that was the difference maker. To take that a step further, the Seahawks weren’t exactly a team that was favored to win anything going into 2025 but then their defense came together and their special teams was great and their quarterback leaned on the No. 1 wide receiver etc. It’s not the craziest comparison.

The fact that the NFC is so down makes it even more compelling. You might have two teams in the playoffs that don’t belong there at all from the NFC East and NFC South and then some NFC North opponents who you’re very familiar with and one super strong team in San Francisco. The fact that several teams we saw as NFC contenders have not lived up to the billing is compelling as well.

Robert S…. Would you say that the top few teams in the NFC are sufficiently evenly matched that health will ultimately play a huge part in determining who goes to the SB? And if this kind of luck plays such a determinative part, does the “all-in” or “full Rams” approach not make as much sense as a more measured one, where you make a consequential move when there’s one to be had, but focus as well on keeping yourself in the running long term, extending your window as long as you’re able to give yourself the most cracks at it?

Yeah, health is always a massive factor when it comes to which team reaches the Super Bowl. If you look at the Eagles and Seahawks in the last two years, they were almost 100% healthy going into the Super Bowl.

I’m not sure the logic quite follows that because injury luck is a factor that you shouldn’t be aggressive at the trade deadline. There’s always a chance that you could have a rash of injuries and fall apart but avoiding moves because of that possibility seems like it’s living in fear and not really trying to take full advantage of the opportunity.

If the Vikings were a young team that was going to keep this group together over multiple years, I’d lean toward the side of being cautious. That’s not who they are. They are a group of veteran players who are in their primes that were put together over a three-year period to have a serious shot at winning the Super Bowl this year.

Remember, the teardown in 2023 was to reach this point today. Just because Kwesi and JJ aren’t here anymore doesn’t change the facts about the overall roster.

This is not me saying that they should trade every pick they have for five players somehow. But don’t be scared to really go for it just because things could go wrong.

Chris C… With all the trade talk lately what do you think is a realistic/responsible amount of draft capital for Teasley to trade away? Would your preference be one big trade like a Nelson deal or multiple smaller deals like Pollard, blocking te, and defensive depth? (Draft capital being close to equal in both scenarios)

Nelson is a special player. He lives in a different universe in the conversation in my eyes. So any opportunity to get him is worth it over multiple lesser players. Not that I’m against smaller deals, he’s just different. If you were comparing Jonathan Taylor to three contributors, I might take the three guys.

In terms of what they could be willing to part with, I’d guess that Teasley is going to be hesitant to give away any picks from Day 1 or Day 1 unless it’s the exact right opportunity. Personally, I think third-round picks were made for trading. The top talent is off the board and the odds aren’t that different from the third to the fourth round in terms of success rate.

This is from a PFF article in 2025 about historical hit rates by draft slot. Notice something? There is a huge gap between pick 65 and pick 100 but there’s very little gap between pick 100 and pick 200.

Tony T… In past seasons, good or great offenses have seemed to figured out Flores defenses with quick passes, passes over the middle or bully ball at the line. It seems like our recent 10+ win seasons have been won by dominating average/bad teams while going 50/50 against good teams. That trend gets you maybe one win in the playoffs.

Why is this year different?

First, we can agree that this defense isn’t going to give up 12.8 points and 173 passing yards per game forever, especially with the types of quarterbacks that they have on the way. So there are going to be some moments where the offense is going to have to go toe-to-toe rather than just running the clock down and getting a bunch of three-and-outs.

However, this stretch of outstanding defense spans back to last year where they played great against Chicago, Green Bay, Seattle, Dallas and Detroit and this year they’ve played well vs. Green Bay and Chicago. Also New Orleans is 10th in scoring.

That would be the argument for this year being different. This has been a sustained level of defensive play that seems to be capable of playing with the best.

But I think we all agree that just beating Tampa Bay, Miami and New Orleans with underwhelming offensive performances isn’t enough to start planning the parade. If this year is going to be different, then the offense has to get on a roll. I’d like to see it with all the weapons and Kyler comfortable before we judge what it’s going to be.

Also, a side note… there’s only a handful of legitimately good teams in the NFL. You can go through almost anyone’s schedule and say “they didn’t play anyone!” The 49ers have beaten one team above .500 (Denver). The Chiefs have beaten one team above .500 (also Denver). Buffalo has beaten one team above .500 (Detroit).

William D… With the Vikings cap space being a little over 6 million , and with perhaps free agents that are in positions of need exceeding that amount (Buckner, Payne, Nelson etc) , how would the Vikings create the available cap space to make a deal.

If they really needed to make something work, they could restructure Andrew Van Ginkel, Will Fries and TJ Hockenson and create some extra space if they need.

My understanding of how this works is that the acquiring team doesn’t take on the full-season cap hit. So with Nelson, it’s not $24 million, it’s prorated over the remainder of the year. That still would require some movement but not as much as it looks like on paper.

I’m sure it’s a consideration when they are working through potential deals though.

Phil I….This a Vikings question and fantasy question too! How many carries for Jordan Mason this week?

I’ll go with 15. Last year he was around 10 per game but in Week 1 he ran 15 times and I’d expect that with the potential for the Vikings to be playing their typical type of game with grindy run-first offense and nasty defense that Mason will especially see carries in the fourth quarter as they try to close out the game.

Unless they get down by 33 points like the last time they faced the Colts. Then it will be different.

CMBoourns….Do you think it’s more advantageous to A) wait until closer to the deadline to swing trades to have more chances to prove legitimacy, maybe more players becoming available or B) to try for trades sooner and maybe have less competition for players, get another game or two with whoever we get?

Waiting longer might allow for more clarity on a few levels. First, bad teams at the deadline will be 100% sure that they’re out of the race, whereas there’s probably a few clubs still holding out hope right now. The Vikings will also have a better understanding of exactly who they are vs. good teams. Playing the Lions and Bills will tell them a lot. It will also tell them if they are 7-1 or 8-0. If that’s the case, there’s a lotta teams in NFL history that started seasons that well and ended up in the final four.

It also might be harder to convince teams that the price is right when there’s still a few weeks before the deadline. They might be holding out hope that there is better offers that could come from desperation caused by injury or a hot stretch from a team or somebody doing something nuts because they are going to get fired etc.

But the advantage of getting a trade done earlier is that you get the player earlier. If you trade for Quenton Nelson next Tuesday, you can use him against really good opponents.

Joe J… Prior to the last game, the transaction wire listed Odell Beckham as being elevated, however he was then subsequently listed as an Inactive for the game. Does that still count against his allowed number of practice squad elevations for the year? If so, what would be the reason they did that (Uncertainty on Addison’s game time status)? Absent another injury or trade, do you see him being elevated at all soon?

Yes, I believe that counts as one of his elevations. And you’re correct that it was because they didn’t know if Jefferson and Addison were both going to miss the game, in which case he would have been active.

Whether he plays or not depends on Jauan Jennings, probably. If Jennings continues to struggle and they ultimately decide to move him before the trade deadline, I could see Beckham getting some opportunity and mixing and matching with Myles Price and Tai Felton. If things get turned around with Jennings, then it will more likely just be about being a depth player in case of injury.

Read more

By Matthew Coller

Coming out of halftime, the Minnesota Vikings were trailing 7-6 to the New Orleans Saints when rookie Jake Golday made a game-changing play.

On the opening kickoff of the third quarter, he punched the ball free from the Saints’ returner and it was recovered by receiver Jeshaun Jones.

A few plays later, Kyler Murray dropped a dime between three defenders to Justin Jefferson in the back of the end zone to put the Vikings up 13-7.

“It was honestly very rewarding and just like a huge relief to finally make a big play that impacts the team,” Golday told Purple Insider on Wednesday.

Normally with a second-round draft pick, we wouldn’t only be talking about a key special teams play. Usually teams draft players in the first two rounds with expectations that they can make an impact right away on offense or defense but Golday’s situation is unique. The multi-faceted linebacker is behind four players on the Vikings defense who have driven the team’s 5-0 start with the No. 1 defense in the NFL in points allowed.

So heading into this weekend’s matchup with the Indianapolis Colts, Golday has a grand total of seven defensive snaps.

But he has 95 special teams snaps and he’s already made significant strides in his development.

“I think you can just tell big time from week one to where I am now,” Golday said. “I’m just getting the flow of the game down and the speed of the game, just understanding the scheme within the special teams. It not just a bunch of guys running down the field and trying to make a tackle. There’s a scheme within it. And knowing all these different techniques is helping me become a better player.”

The return of the kickoff play has not only made the value of impact tacklers on special teams skyrocket from previous years where the kickoff had become irrelevant, it is giving young players like Golday an opportunity to perform very similar duties to what he would do defensively.

“Kickoff and punt simulates getting up and blocked and going to make a tackle, and that’s basically our job description as linebackers and his defense,” Golday said. “So, when you’re five yards apart on this new kickoff, you’re basically simulating the tight end climbing up to you [on a run play], and you’re trying to make a move and go make a tackle on the back in the backfield. Same thing, it all correlates.”

Golday is currently PFF’s No. 2 graded special teamer, playing regularly on every unit except field goal block. That’s particularly impressive because, per PFF, he played only 174 special teams plays between 2024 and 2025 with the Cincinnati Bearcats.

Knowing that there was a good chance that special teams is where he would make his biggest impact in Year 1, Golday worked closely throughout the offseason with special teams coach Matt Daniels.

“When I first got here, I was just kind of a raw athlete out there, just kind of just trying to run down there and make plays,” Golday said. “But once he got behind me and coached me up on the scheme of things and techniques, I feel like the level that I’m playing, especially going against vets…that wouldn’t be possible if I wasn’t going to meetings with Coach [Daniels] and spending time with him.”

For a special teams coach, getting a second-round talent who is 6-foot-4, 240 pounds, runs a 4.6 40-yard dash with a 39-inch vertical jump is pretty rare. Daniels was naturally excited to have him on his unit but it’s never clear how much buy-in that the high draft pick is going to have when assigned to the dirty work. Daniels explained that Golday has

“You can just watch the play from Week 1 to Week 5, just in terms of understanding where a block’s coming from, how do I own my leverage? How do I need to attack this particular player?” Daniels said. “You can just see the confidence within this player growing week to week. For him to be able to go make that punch out coming out of the half was huge for us. And his trajectory is only going to get... exponentially bigger week to week.”

Head coach Kevin O’Connell said that the team saw signs early in training camp that Golday could be a difference-making special teamer and they are seeing it come to fruition. And KOC sees the reps that he’s getting now on ‘teams paying off down the road if he is called upon on defense.

“Maybe because of how healthy we’ve been on defense, we haven’t been able to really see the impact yet but all of these snaps are contributing to him hopefully having confidence when he does get in there a little more on defense as the season goes on,” O’Connell said. “Hopefully he continues to rise to being a guy I think our opponents are talking about. We call them ‘red dots,’ the guys that are truly impactful in the kicking game that you’ve got to know where they are and account for him and I think he’s really you know becoming one of those players.”

Under O’Connell and Brian Flores, the Vikings have been very comfortable developing draft picks on special teams and taking a longer-term approach. Even first-rounder Dallas Turner played 358 special teams snaps over his first two seasons as he was learning the NFL behind Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel.

Flores not only has the patience to develop players on special teams, it’s also part of his own background. In 2008, he was a special teams assistant for the New England Patriots and spent three years on that phase of the game before becoming a defensive assistant in 2011.

“From experience in my career, I think it’s the kicking game is where young players learn the speed of the game….it’s a long, fast play,” Flores said. “I think you take your lumps in that phase because things are happening fast. You could be up one second and down on the next because somebody hit you. I think you learn a lot about the speed of the game, the physicality of the game. I think a lot of times there’s a lot of schematics and a lot of things that young players aren’t necessarily exposed to in college.”

Flores said that if players make plays in the kickoff phase, it can usually translate over to defense. He wants his developing linebacker and others on Daniels’ unit to understand that they are paying attention.

“When a guy makes a play or is playing well in that phase….how do we find a role for him defensively?” Flores said. “Looking down the road, it’s, ‘this guy can play, he’s making plays in this phase. How do we get him to make plays in our phase?’”

Flores’ defense is stacked with former special teamers, some of whom still attend the ‘teams meetings. Josh Metellus, Eric Wilson, Theo Jackson, Andrew Van Ginkel, Isaiah Rodgers and Blake Cashman were all predominantly special teamers at one point their career.

“I could be a little biased because I’ve spent a lot of my career playing special teams, it’s something I’ve always taken a lot of pride in,” Cashman said. “I think if you’re making plays on special teams, you deserve to get an opportunity on defense. And I know Flo feels the same way. Goldie’s doing everything the right way. He’s already handling himself like how an all-pro would with his preparation and his routine through the week, and he just continues to do things the right way, and that’s going to continue to find a bigger role for him on the field.”

Cashman also pointed to the speed in which things happen on the kickoff play as something that helps with the adjustment for young players from college to the NFL.

“You have to cover a lot of ground and I think if you can be a good tackler on special teams when you’re going against fast returners with a lot of space and you have to eat up that that space to close the gap on a ball carrier it’s only going to help you when you’re closer to the ball like playing in the box,” Cashman explained.

As the season goes along, we should expect to see more of Golday because of the impression that he’s making on the coaching staff. Over the last two weeks, the Vikings’ offense has been on the field for around two-thirds of the game, which has limited the number of snaps that can go to rotational players. But as they go forward against teams like Detroit, Buffalo, Green Bay and San Francisco, depth is likely to be needed.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

A positive injury report

The Vikings have had a slew of injuries on offense to open the season. On Wednesday, a number of those banged-up players were back at practice following the bye week. Left tackle Christian Darrisaw, tight end TJ Hockenson, wide receiver Jordan Addison and running back Jordan Mason were all full participants.

Mason’s return is particularly of interest because the Vikings have needed to lean heavily on Aaron Jones over the last four games. Now they can return to the duo that they expected to have heading into the season.

“He’s one of those backs that gets better as the game goes on,” O’Connell said. “I think we’ll see that. Obviously, hopefully getting CD and TJ back in there will allow us to open up the full run game and be in a little bit more of attack mode. And then the marriage of all that with the pass game and the different phases of our offense.”

Cornerback Charles Demmings, who has been battling a hamstring injury, was also back at practice.

KOC on trades

The Vikings are in the driver’s seat in the NFC, which puts them at the forefront of trade conversations.

Will they make improvements to the roster or roll with their current group?

On Wednesday, O’Connell said that they are keeping the future in mind while looking to potentially upgrade.

“It’s talking about maybe some positions where there could be some not only good players available, but maybe some value there as well,” O’Connell said. “I know [GM Nolan Teasley] is really excited about where we’re at as a team right now, but if there’s a chance for us to get better…we’re going to have those conversations.”

O’Connell alluded to the conflict of being the coach of a 5-0 team and wanting the best possible version on the field while also understanding that Teasley is a first-year GM who is going to need assets into the future in order to build the next iteration of this team.

“It seems like it’s months and months and so many months away, but to give him a real powerful draft to be able to really put his imprint on this team, I think is important too,” O’Connell said. “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. But also, it feels crazy to say this as the coach, I want to make sure that we’re as smart as possible.”

By Matthew Coller

EAGAN — The Minnesota Vikings returning to the field from their bye week to face the Indianapolis Colts is like getting up from a nap to find out that somebody ordered pizza.

The Colts lost last week to the Tennessee Titans and fired their general manager, opening up the door to potential 6-0 start and trade options for the Vikings. A lot of the NFC teams that folks thought would be strong contenders this year are not showing that to be the case i.e. the Rams, Seahawks, Eagles, Cowboys and Commanders. And, looking forward a bit, the Buffalo Bills’ defense sets up for a potential shootout as their defense is sputtering.

Everything is coming up Vikings.

Well, except for the fact that the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers had great days and the next four games after Indy are against four of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.

Still, the Vikings are at the front of the pack along with the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC.

Considering the Vikings are coming out of the bye week with the No. 1 defense in the NFL and a top-notch special teams unit, pressure is squarely on the shoulders of the offense to pull its weight as the tougher opponents arrive. The difference between a good and great season will likely be based on how much they improve.

Going into Week 7, the Vikings are 27th in Expected Points Added per play and 32nd in Success Rate. If you’re curious who’s No. 1, it’s the other undefeated team, then the Bills, Lions and Chiefs.

If the Vikings had no answers for improving that number, we might be talking about a fluke start to the season that was bound to crumble but in this case there are clear explanations. They played two games with a backup quarterback and have been missing at different times Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, TJ Hockenson, Christian Darrisaw and Jordan Mason.

Not to mention that stats like EPA would prefer that you not slowly drain the life out of the clock and rely on your defense.

Nonetheless, if the offense doesn’t improve, it’s difficult to see the Vikings dominating 40 minutes of possession every game by running and eeking out first downs with quick throws.

The light at the end of the tunnel for the Vikings’ offense isn’t just that Murray is getting back his full compliment of weapons, it’s also that the coaching staff is beginning to understand him as a quarterback and he’s getting more comfortable with the offense to evaluate his own likes/dislikes.

On Tuesday, offensive coordinator Wes Phillips explained the process behind the offseason of the coaches and Murray getting a feeling for each other.

One thing he mentioned is that Murray wanted to run the Vikings’ full offense when he arrived and didn’t ask them to make changes for him.

“There wasn’t any resistance or, ‘hey, I don’t want to do any of this stuff,’” Phillips said. “It was more like, ‘hey, I want to do what you guys [want], your offense.”

While that’s exactly what the Vikings wanted from the veteran quarterback, it does cause the coaches to play a game of trial and error.

“I think that’s why you go through offseason training camp and you put a lot of install, or at least we do, on the guys,” Phillips said.

The OC explained that there are two lines of thought when it comes to installs. You can either put in a lot of different concepts or you can try to get very good at a relatively small number of concepts.

“[Coaches] try to throw a lot on the wall and see what sticks a little bit with this team, with this group and then you go back through it,” Phillips explained. “You go back through it in training camp. You go back through it as you’re installing for particular games.”

Since Murray isn’t just new to the system but he’s also unique because of his size and mobility, it makes sense for the Vikings to go on a fact-finding mission about Murray during camp and within the first few weeks of the season.

“[Quarterbacks] don’t necessarily come in right away and have all the questions of why are we doing this this way or can we do it this way, they’re trying to figure out our system,” Phillips said. “And then they start opening up and saying, ‘OK, have you ever done it this way? Or I’m not as comfortable doing this or I haven’t done this before.’ I’ve seen him start to do that.”

In Murray’s last two games, he has completed 76.1% of his passes with 7.1 yards per pass attempt and 476 yards and rushed for 67 more yards with zero interceptions, zero fumbles and zero Turnover-Worthy Plays (PFF).

For Week 4-5 combined, he was PFF’s eighth highest graded quarterback.

“The communication, I think really with him and the play caller, Kevin [O’Connell], has just grown as you’d expect it to, as we get going through our first year with him,” Phillips said.

The Vikings’ OC, who has been with O’Connell for the entirety of his time in Minnesota, acknowledged that the coaches asked too much of Kirk Cousins when they first arrived with the Vikings. Cousins’ first few weeks of the 2022 season were challenging before he got the hang of the system. However, when Sam Darnold took over, he quickly found his way, opening the season with a 118.3 passer rating in the first four weeks.

With Murray, they have aimed for the balance of installing enough ideas to find out what works while not burying him in information.

“We’ve probably cut down a little bit over time, but I do think there’s value in getting a lot of concepts taught and installed where they’ve heard it in the spring,” Phillips said. “You go through it again in training camp and maybe you add some things there. By the time you do get to a game plan week, it’s not the first time they’ve heard this concept or this route or this scheme. They have some familiarity with it as you go.”

One of the things that has been different in recent weeks is how often the Vikings run out of the shotgun.

He has run 25 times from the gun and is averaging 5.0 yards per attempt, per Pro-Football Reference. He only rushed 32 times from the gun in all of 2025.

While Phillips noted that Murray has been under center before in his career (especially in 2024) and he has had some success with under-center concepts this year, shotgun running has made them less predictable from a formation/play call standpoint. Phillips explained that there is a give and take when it comes to running from shotgun.

“Some teams you’ll get more shell coverage when you’re in the gun and they’re expecting more pass,” Phillips said. “More seven, eight man box…if you’re under center. So there’s some of those things that play into it. Some people are running more single high pressures when you’re under center.”

The Vikings have been very good with play-action working off their run concepts over the last two weeks. In Week 4 and 5, Murray went 14-for-21 with 189 yards (9.0 YPA) running play-action and he had the ninth highest percentage of drop-backs during that time.

The Vikings’ run game getting back Jordan Mason should have a significant impact on how often they are in favorable situations to run play-action and the amount of attention that has to be paid toward the Vikings’ run game.

“We were really excited about Jordan throughout the offseason training camp,” Phillips said. “I mentioned before how good a shape he came in, and that was really on his own accord. He felt like he was a little bit heavier than he wanted to be last year and worked hard in the offseason, came in really good shape, running the ball as explosively as I’d seen him run.”

Mason has been out since Week 1 with a thumb injury.

Between the Vikings getting healthy and Murray’s comfort growing, the expectations should be high for the offense to begin looking much more like it has during other points in O’Connell’s tenure.

Against the 28th, 29th and 23rd ranked defenses in points allowed in the coming weeks, now is the time to prove it.

By Matthew Coller

Since the beginning of 2025, Minnesota Vikings kicker Will Reichard has made 48 of 50 field goals. Out of those makes, 18 of them have come from 50+ yards and this year he’s averaging 10.6 points per game.

Against the Chicago Bears, he made a kick in the rain to put the Vikings up six points, which forced the Bears to aim for a touchdown with backup Tyson Bagent in the game. Against the Saints, he put the game on ice with a 50+ kick to put the Vikings up by 10.

Vikings fans have an unfortunate relationship with kickers because two of the biggest disappointments in the team’s history have involved kicking. Yet there has been a noticeable shift in fans’ attitude toward the craft during Reichard’s time in purple. You see Reichard jerseys at US Bank Stadium. Fans turn him into memes every week — in a good way — because of his innocent look and stone cold mentality.

Simply put: Vikings fans have a kicker they can wrap their arms around and believe in despite their trauma.

Why is Reichard so different in their eyes? They have had a number of quality kickers in the past and none have received the benefit of the doubt like him.

In order to find out, I called seven Vikings fans who are enamoured with Reichard to find out why they see him as the kicker who has changed everything.

Here are their stories…

Drew from Iowa

As a 42-year old Vikings fan, Drew is the perfect age to have Gary Anderson’s missed kick in the NFC Championship game hurt the most. He was just old enough to still believe in magic and not old enough yet to be jaded by *gestures at everything*.

“They had never been a real championship contender in my life until then and when you’re 14 years old, you think it’s going to happen,” Drew said. “That was the first crushing disappointment that I had.”

Drew went to games at the Metrodome with his grandfather when he was growing up. His dad is a Packers fan, though he still felt bad for his 14-year-old kid when Anderson’s boot drifted wide to the left.

Years later, Drew found himself inside TCF Stadium for the Vikings’ playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks. It was a badge of honor to have been there for one of the coldest games of all time and when Teddy Bridgewater found Kyle Rudolph on a pass over the middle that put the Vikings in field goal range, he thought he’d be telling the tale of Vikings victory for many years to come.

“It was definitely going to be like one of those like mountaintop fan experiences because it was so cold….like you really like have your fan badge on that you endured that and it was going to be a win until it wasn’t,” Drew said.

Drew recalls the disbelief of Vikings fans leaving the stadium that day.

“One of the real memories of that day is walking back to the car after the game and everybody was coping with it in a different way,” Drew said. “Like every like 15 seconds, you’d like hear somebody else just go, ‘I can’t believe you missed that!’ Everybody was just like processing it like out loud, whether it was you with your friend or you’d hear other groups of people just like, just cursing them out.”

That’s enough of a traumatic experience to feel sketchy about kickers, especially since Walsh went 34-for-39 in 2015.

But Drew is all-in on Will Reichard.

The first part of his explanation is that he doesn’t buy into the idea that there are spooky forces at play that cause Vikings kicks to go wide to the left.

“I know I’m a Vikings fan, so I should believe curses exist,” Drew said. “But at some point, it has to be different. I think that’s part of the point of being a fan is you’ve got to have that belief that it’s going to be different at some point in time was otherwise, what are we doing here? Like why, why would we cheer for something that we don’t think is ultimately going to pay off at some point in time?”

Beyond Drew talking himself out of the kicker boogeyman existing, he sees something in Reichard that didn’t exist for previous kickers.

“Will’s different,” Drew said. “He just seems to be on a different planet. It feels like you truly have the best kicker in the league and the best kicker, maybe ever. It’s not like he’s scraping the crossbar, [the kicks] are straight down the middle for the most part and carrying the crossbar by 10 to 15 yards every time. He just seems like a... Almost like a robot out there.”

While Reichard is indeed a real person, his consistency is machine-like. He’s made 24-of-29 kicks from 50+ yards in his career and he’s 48-of-50 in the last two years. One of those misses (probably) hit a TV cable and the other was in a hurry-up situation where they couldn’t sub in the K-ball.

For Drew, it’s not just the results of Reichard’s kicks, it’s his demeanor as well.

“He never looks anxious,” Drew said. “He just sort of has this very relaxed manner about him and very matter-of-fact. I feel like that plays into it.”

Drew points out that in postgame locker room videos, Reichard has little-to-no reaction to getting game balls from Kevin O’Connell. He expects to be this good, Drew surmises.

“The way he carries himself on the field, and even the other day when he kind of was mixing it up on the field a little bit, he gives you that perception of, ‘hey, I’m a football player, not a kicker and he carries himself with that confidence,” Drew said.

Now for the ultimate test: If the Vikings need a game-winning kick from long range in the playoffs this year, how will Drew be feeling?

“We’re going to win,” he said.

Ryan from California

Ryan grew up in Minnesota, went to the University of Minnesota and lived in Minnesota until about 12 years ago when he moved to California. At 51, he’s old enough to have gone to games as a kid with his dad at The Met. He was in college when Randy Moss and Randall Cunningham took the NFL by storm.

Right before Gary Anderson lined up for his infamous miss in the NFC Championship game, Ryan remembers hearing broadcaster Pat Summerall say that Anderson hadn’t missed all year. He looked over at his college roommate and said, “he just jinxed us.”

Standing on his couch for the kick, Ryan collapsed to his knees when it floated just beyond the post.

“There’s moments in your life where something’s just ingrained in in your memory and I have that with that moment,” Ryan said. “I can never get it out of my head.”

Blair Walsh’s miss had a bit more levity involved for Ryan but it was just as memorable.

It happened on the same day as his daughter’s birthday. As Walsh was lining up to kick the ball, he was hanging streamers.

“He hooked it wide left, and I was like, ‘you’ve got to be kidding me!’” Ryan said. “My wife’s like, ‘Ryan, it’s your daughter’s birthday, don’t let this wreck her party.’ I was so devastated.”

Luckily the miss did not ruin his daughter’s birthday or her love for football. Both of Ryan’s daughters are Vikings fans and his 20-year-old asked him last week if she should get a Will Reichard jersey. Naturally, at 20, she was inspired by a Reichard meme involving his scuffle with the Saints after a made field goal.

“His personality is it’s different, man,” Ryan said. “He’s very, very quiet and he definitely looks like an eighth grader, but also he’s super, super competitive.”

Because of the team’s past problems with kicking, which extend to Daniel Carlson’s memorable “did you see the game” miscues in Green Bay and Dan Bailey’s meltdown in Tampa Bay in 2020, Ryan and his kids always say, “don’t miss!” before every Vikings kick. But over the last two years, their tradition has changed.

“Now we don’t even say that,” Ryan said. “We look at each other and we say, ‘he’s got this.’”

For the record, Ryan and his daughters are still doing their Caddyshack-inspired jinx fingers for opposing kickers. They want to maintain some control over the game.

Ryan and his family aren’t totally superstitious — maybe only a little stitious — but he does want Reichard to miss one field goal before the playoffs.

“It’s one of those things you almost kind of hope he misses one so that he doesn’t go into the playoffs with a streak,” he said.

No matter if Reichard has missed one or not, Ryan and his kids have more confidence in Reichard than any other Vikings kicker who has come along because of his demeanor.

“You feel kind of safe with his confidence, right?” Ryan said. “Where some of the other kickers you could tell were a little squirrely about the moment and you’d feel nervous as an audience or a fan. You’d feel nervous for them. Whereas when Will walks out, he’s just kind of like, everybody calm down, I’m here, I’ve got this.”

Ryan compares Reichard’s calmness to a golfer making putts with all the pressure on them, alone out there on the green.

What about the scenario of the Vikings needing a game-winning kick in the playoffs?

“I’m going to have, to be totally honest with you, I’m going to have a little bit of nerves about our history, but I feel a lot more confident than I have in any of those previous kickers,” Ryan said. “I just feel like he’s a different cat altogether than those guys. So, yes, I would be nervous just because as a Vikings fan for 40 years, it’s been tough. But I would feel good about it.”

John from New York

John was in eighth grade when Gary Anderson missed. He was in his parents’ home in Rochester, Minnesota, and all he could keep saying was, “are you kidding me?”

He had the same reaction years later when Blair Walsh missed. His best friend was at the game at TCF Bank Stadium and he was in New York in disbelief again.

Ever since then, John has adopted a tradition whenever the Vikings line up for a field goal. Whether it was Ryan Longwell or Kai Forbath or Greg Joseph, he always got up and walked out of the room. It made him too upset to watch, even if those kickers were very good overall.

With Will Reichard, he doesn’t do that anymore.

One thing that he likes about Reichard is that he was drafted by the team. He isn’t a random kicker who made the team out of camp or a veteran who has bounced around to 10 other teams.

“We drafted him so he’s got the pedigree,” John said. “Other than when he got hurt, I mean, he’s just been automatic. It’s just crazy to see somebody like that. I mean, it’s literally on par with some of the best kickers in the league, and we’re lucky to have him.”

John also mentions that Mike Zimmer not being the head coach helps when it comes to the kicker’s success.

“Zim was good but short sighted when it came to kickers,” John said, being very polite about Zimmer’s history of playing mind games with his specialists.

There’s something else that John has noticed that plays into his confidence with Reichard: That kicking these days is out of this world. The league is hitting 84.7% of its kicks this year and kickers have nailed 66-of-95 attempts over 50 yards. There are two misses under 40 yards this year.

In 1998, the league percentage was 79.6 and the NFL only went 47-for-87 from 50+ for the entire year and there were 49 kicks (out of 484) that were missed under 40 yards.

That still makes Anderson’s miss look rough but it shows how much kicking has changed.

“I feel like when a lot of these traumas that happened to Vikings fans, like, kicking’s come a long way since 1998, you know?” John said. “I think the whole mentality has changed. [Kicking] is one for kids to get into college on scholarship and… get an education. From the top down, it’s a position that people value now.”

In terms of the potential for a game-winning kick in the playoffs, John will be staying in front of the TV to watch and he’ll feel good about it. Reichard’s success has made him think about the way many Vikings fans re-live the team’s failures over and over and he doesn’t want to have that mentality.

“I was watching the Saban thing yesterday and in one episode the thing that stood out for me was [Saban] keeps saying, ‘live in the future, you can’t live in the past,’ so I guess that’s what we have to do to live in the future, not in the past,” John said. “That’s all you can do as Vikings fans.”

Andrew from Illinois

The first Vikings kicker that Andrew remembers is Fuad Reveiz.

Coincidentally Reveiz had a couple of seasons where he was the Vikings’ main source of scoring, as Reichard has been in 2026. In 1994, Reveiz made a league-leading 34 field goals as the Warren Moon-led Vikings struggled to get into the end zone. In the playoffs, Reveiz nailed a 52-yarder in 1993 and then went 2-for-2 in 1994. The problem? Nobody remembers the makes when your team wins.

Anyway, when kicking is brought up, Andrew’s mind goes to a slightly different place than 1998 or 2015. He thinks about the kick that was never allowed to happen in 2009.

As the Vikings were setting up for a game-winning field goal, they committed a penalty for having 12 men in the huddle, moving them into a spot where they wanted one more pass completion before trying the field goal. Of course, that’s when Brett Favre threw an interception that allowed the New Orleans Saints to win in overtime.

“We were living in Atlanta at the time and my friend is a Georgia Bulldogs fan, big Falcons fan…he sends me a text message that’s just, ‘Longwell’s got this,’” Andrew said. “And had there not been 12 men in the huddle, maybe he would have….the rest is history. But just brutal.”

As an aside, the Vikings have a very normal field goal percentage in the playoffs, historically speaking. In 53 playoff games in team history, they have made 80.2% of their kicks. Nobody ever mentions Chuck Nelson’s 5-for-5 day in the Vikings’ 36-24 win over the 49ers in 1987. Or Rick Danmeier’s 3-for-3 day in a 6-point win vs. the Falcons in ‘83.

One of the most forgotten clutch kicks in Vikings history came from Kai Forbath. He made a 52-yarder in the Minneapolis Miracle game to give the Vikings a late lead.

Dan Bailey went 2-for-2 in the Vikings’ 2019 playoff win. Eddie Murray had a game-winner vs. the New York Giants in a 1997 playoff game (albeit only 24 yards).

Still, reminding folks that the Vikings’ kicking hasn’t let them down every time isn’t particularly reassuring to a Vikings fan like Andrew, who still feels a wave of anxiety when his team’s kicker lines up.

“I have this reflexive, like self-protective fatalist instinct to be to picture Blair Walsh hooking it left or to picture Gary Anderson or whatever,” Andrew said. “Because it’s [Reichard] and he’s been just really unbelievable, it’s almost like a reminder, like, no, it’s Will. He’s more than earned the benefit of the doubt.”

Who can blame him for still feeling the pang of fear. In 2015, Andrew had the bright idea to have a party at his house during the Vikings’ playoff game against Seattle. His wife told him it wasn’t a good idea to have people over when the Vikings could potentially let him down but he went against her advice. At least there were friends around to console him after Walsh missed.

In his early 40s, Andrew is trying to rewire his mindset and Reichard is part of that. He has been inspired by the way Reichard does not seem to have any fear for the moment. He has no expression before he kicks. He’s just going to swing his leg and whatever happens, happens.

“I think that’s almost like a model for how I’m trying to think about this team in any season, but especially this season,” Andrew said. “When there’s reasons to be ecstatic about the defense, to wonder about the offense, and to not know exactly what this is going to look like, but to just kind of enjoy the ride.”

Will he be thinking about just enjoying the ride if the season comes down to Reichard’s leg though?

“They say when you die that your life flashes before your eyes, I feel like the season will flash before my eyes, and I’ll be like, this is good,” Andrew said. “This is always where you want to be. And despite it, it’ll be stressful. I’ll probably be clutching the dog too tightly or something.”

Bradley from Dayton

Bradley has a tendency to get a little worked up during football games — to the point where his husband leaves the house to allow him space to stress-watch — but he’s only been brought to tears one time during a Vikings game: When Gary Anderson missed wide left.

Bradley, who grew up in Blaine, Minnesota, promises that he’s only fatalistic during the games and the rest of the time he’s an optimist, especially when Reichard is lining up for a field goal.

One of the reasons that he isn’t freaking during field-goal attempts is because of Reichard’s background. He loves the fact that Reichard went to Alabama despite their previous bad history with kickers.

“He wanted to break the curse, which to me on an 18 year old, that is some balls that just don’t exist. That just don’t exist,” Bradley said. “I don’t know how you say to yourself, ‘you know what, I’m going to go break this curse.’ In a world where the youth seems to want to make everything easy on themselves, he decided to take the path of most resistance.”

Reichard indeed broke the curse in college. In 2023, he set the record for most points ever scored in the SEC and hit a 52-yard field goal late in the game against Michigan in the college football playoff. He was also a two-time All-American.

Bradley, who is well-read on everything Vikings, saw a Star Tribune article that noted Reichard works with multiple different kicking coaches trying to perfect his kicks. He loved that.

“I think [Reichard] is just somebody who is trying to hone their craft and they’re not worried about the outside noise,” Bradley said.

One thing I’ve noticed when talking to fans about Reichard is that many tie in their own life experiences to their trust in Reichard.

Bradley is a competitor and played many hours of foosball growing up and he battles coworkers at table tennis as an adult. He is a headcase. A choke artist. He can’t handle the pressure.

“As soon as I would get in my own head, even though I was amazing at it, I ended up letting somebody come back into the game,” Bradley said. “I think there’s just some people, [Reichard] included, that just seem to be built differently. It’s like golfers too. You have all the pressure in the world and there’s just some that are so much better than others.”

There’s another part of his trust for Reichard that seems trivial but makes sense: His mis-kicks go in. In the muck against the Bears, Reichard was a bit off to the right and his kick ended up glancing in off the post. Bradley thought one of his kicks against the Saints was going left and then it drifted right back through the posts.

“I think I laughed because I was like…even when the guy misses, he makes it,” he said. “I just shake my head. I’m not a jersey guy, but like the couple of people who had posted with the jerseys, it was like, you do that. That is great.”

Bradley is not a believer in jinxes. He doesn’t care if Reichard misses one before the playoffs. He doesn’t think talking about the kicker’s pristine record will throw something off cosmically. He doesn’t leave the room anymore when Reichard kicks.

However, were the Vikings’ star kicker to line up for a game winner in the playoffs…

“I’ll be honest, I’d be on the ground praying sort of miracle,” Bradley said. “I think the funny thing is, we’re as nervous as we are but he doesn’t seem to be anywhere close to that, which is exactly what you want.”

Rick in Buffalo

Rick is the most skeptical of all of the fans I spoke with but he feels a little better knowing that Reichard has support. The kicker gets blamed for 100% of the results but Rick has been thinking about the other things that play into success or failure.

“There’s like four different things that could go sideways here,” Rick points out, referring to bad snaps, bad holds, opponents blocking kicks and whatever else could transpire aside from foot-to-ball.

The Vikings have the best long snapper in the NFL in Andrew DePaola. He is a two-time first-team All-Pro and hasn’t had a miscue since joining the team in 2020. The current holder, punter Brett Thorson, didn’t hold in college but did a good enough job in training camp that the team trusted him with its valuable merchandise. Not to mention special teams coach Matt Daniels has worked very closely with Reichard and Kevin O’Connell is very positive and supportive toward his kickers, unlike his predecessor.

Knowing that the operation is sound helps with a distrust of kickers that was formed in the upstairs bedroom of his parents’ house. Rick was 13 when he watched Gary Anderson miss wide left. He started punching the floor until his mom came up to remind him that wasn’t particularly productive behavior.

That miss was tough for Rick because he was just finding his love for football. While he was in the heart of Bills country, his fandom bounced around until one particular player changed everything for him: Randy Moss.

Nobody in the history of the NFL had played like Moss. As soon as Sega Dreamcast came out with the game NFL2K, Rick crushed all of his friends by throwing bombs from Daunte Culpepper to Moss.

He feels a little differently about Walsh’s miss vs. Anderson’s gaffe. While the Vikings lost on that kick, the final score was 10-9. Rick grumbles about the Vikings allowing Russell Wilson to run around and find a completion for a first down. His point is that they could have done a lot of other things in the game rather than bringing it down to another field goal.

In that same vein, Rick’s answer to the question of a late-game 50-yard field goal was that he hopes they go for fourth down rather than putting it on the foot of the kicker.

Maybe I should have been more specific about the circumstances of the hypothetical but nonetheless Rick came around to saying that he is “fine” with it if Reichard has to attempt a game-ending kick.

He is, however, on the side of wanting him to miss before the postseason.

“I don’t want it to hang it over every kick where you have to hear, ‘he hasn’t missed since blah blah blah blah,’” Rick said. “Just miss one get it over with.”

I did find a couple examples of a kicker being perfect in the regular season and nails in the playoffs. Green Bay’s Mason Crosby went unscathed in the 2020 season and then 4-for-4 in the playoffs, though none of his postseason kicks were from beyond 40 yards. Indy’s Mike Vanderjagt went 37-for-37 in 2003 and 3-for-3 in the playoffs. Maybe he’s not the best example though.

Anyway, Rick said that he sees Reichard as being resilient. He was impressed the way that he attempted to play through his injury in 2024 and may have come back a bit earlier than needed.

He also has a bit of a personal chip on his shoulder about the league-wide media not giving Reichard enough credit.

“If the rest of the league could perhaps catch up and understand [Reichard’s greatness] as opposed t talking about the kicker in Dallas all the time,” Rick said. “He’s good in his own right, but not as good. He seems to be overshadowing [Reichard], and no one seems to appreciate Will. That’s fine. The less attention, the better.”

And while he isn’t quite ready to declare total confidence in a 50-yarder in the playoffs, he doesn’t want that to come across as not being happy with Reichard’s performance.

“It’s definitely positive,” Rick said. “I’d much rather be here than the rotating band of misfits that the Rams, who are bringing in.”

Truth.

Still, years of anxiousness have brought Rick into a state of acceptance that Reichard may not be infallible.

“If another shank happens in the playoffs, that’s the Vikings,” he said.

Ben from Florida

Ben believes in curses. He also believes that curses can be broken.

When it comes to Reichard, there’s something he keeps coming back to: Alabama had a curse too.

“I looked up Alabama’s kicking history and it was really bleak, especially when Nick Saban started, they were winning championships and couldn’t kick to save their life,” Ben said. “He went there and it instantly flipped. They had the most consistent kicking and the all-time NCAA scorer. I think it was pure destiny that an NFL franchise that has a horrible kicking history drafted him and he’s changing the trajectory of it.”

Ben, who has been a fan since Moss arrived, has further logic to his premise that Reichard is the one who can buck history. He argues that Reichard has been around long enough to show that a meltdown is never on the way. After all, he’s 62-of-72 field goals and 77-of-77 extra points. That means he’s put foot to football 139 times and made 129 and most of the misses were impacted by his injury in 2024 or a TV wire in 2025.

“I feel like if he was going to shank a kick or get the yips, it would have happened by now”

Admittedly, you won’t find anyone higher on Reichard than Ben, no matter how much you love him. Ben is crafting a league MVP case for Reichard. He thinks that the Vikings’ kicker might be more popular in Minnesota than Justin Jefferson right now.

Respect the enthusiasm, folks.

Like the other fans, Ben was inspired by Reichard’s fearlessness when it came to mixing it up with Saints players.

“I’m like, you do not see that from a kicker, kicking is something that you have to be mentally built for and he’s built for it,” he said.

And there’s something about the way the actual kicks look that makes Reichard different in his eyes.

“My favorite thing about him is that he’s a perfectionist,” Ben said. “Every single kick goes directly down the middle of the goal posts. Also during his rookie year when he got hurt, he tried to kick through it. I’m like, he’s built mentally like a football player.”

So Ben must be the most confident person in the world if the playoffs come down to Reichard, right?

“The way he carries himself, I think he does away with the kicking curse of the Minnesota Vikings,” Ben said. “But…in the back of my mind I’ll never get it out of my head until he kicks the game winner in the NFC Championship game.”

By Matthew Coller

This may come as shocking news but the 5-0 Minnesota Vikings are going to be making phone calls in the coming weeks with the aim to add to their roster at the deadline.

What’s unclear is whether they are big-game hunting or just looking to add some pieces to help in areas where they might need a little more depth. Maybe that’s for another article when we get closer to the deadline.

One factor that will determine the types of opportunities the Vikings have to acquire talent via trade is the teams that are looking to sell.

Which teams should they be targeting? Who are the main players likely to be on the block?

Let’s have a look at the categories of potential sellers, from 100% teardown teams, to teams that should be selling to those who probably won’t be moving talent unless the next few weeks turn disastrous.

We can also identify some possible trade targets based on 2027 free agent status or rumors…

Absolutely selling

Miami Dolphins

Last offseason, the Dolphins tore it all down and they are seeing the fruits of that labor with and 0-5 record and -62 point differential (worst in the NFL). They are in the perfect position to move anything that isn’t nailed down and pick up more draft capital for their full rebuild.

Possible targets:

TE — Greg Dulcich

ED — Josh Uche

New York Jets

The Jets are a much better team this year than they were last year but they aren’t close to a contending team with the Patriots and Bills in the division. At 2-4, they should be looking to find any way possible to get younger players on the field and move anybody who isn’t going to be part of the long-term vision.

Possible targets:

ED — Kingsley Enagbare

G — Jordan Meredith

WR — Tim Patrick

Tennessee Titans

The Titans are a funky one because they spent gobs of money in the offseason on a bunch of veteran players with hopes of being much more competitive. I’m assuming that they will live in reality and sell at the deadline but it’s always possible that they could stubbornly try to fight it out with hopes of showing improvement by the end of the season.

Possible targets:

RB — Tony Pollard

RB — Tyjae Spears

ED — Jermaine Johnson

Los Angeles Chargers

There seems to be some buzz that the 0-6 Chargers are going to keep fighting despite being an utter mess this season but they’ve already gone past the point of having any chance of a turnaround. With some veterans on defense, they should be trying to restock via the draft around Justin Herbert.

Possible targets:

S - Derwin James

ED — Khalil Mack

DT — Dalvin Tomlinson

ED — Tuli Tuipulotu

RB — Kimani Vidal

Arizona Cardinals

Good for the Cardinals getting their first win of the season against the Rams. But they are a team who has looked for a total rebuild from the time they benched Kyler Murray last year. They should be open for business leading up to the deadline.

Possible targets:

S - Budda Baker

ED — Josh Sweat

LB — Zaven Collins

ED — Baron Browning

RB — Tyler Allgeier

DT — LJ Collier

Philadelphia Eagles

Since they already moved Cam Jurgens, Lane Johnson retired and they are currently playing Tanner McKee, GM Howie Roseman has to be wise enough to know when the party has come to an end. Since he already took a rare loss in the Jonathan Greenard trade, it’s not clear whether he would help the Vikings in their quest toward NFC contention but it’s very likely that he will be trying to pick up future draft capital.

Possible targets:

RB — Saquon Barkley

CB — Tariq Woolen

TE — Johnny Mundt

RB — Dameon Pierce

Bad teams who might keep fighting

Read more

By Matthew Coller

Happy bye week, everybody! Hope you enjoy your relaxed weekend of watching football. Let’s dive into your questions…

scampinaround… Do you think it’s more likely they trade for an RB to beef up that position group or find a replacement for Donovan Jackson like Cam Robinson was for Darrisaw, or both? With the 5th from JJM and a potential Juaun Jennings trade after OBJ signed, it seems like they have a lot of flexibility for one or two moves.

From my perspective, I’d like to see them bolster the offensive line and the backfield. The problem with the O-line is finding options for starters. I’ve been looking over which 2027 free agents on bad teams might be available and the answer is: Not that many. Maybe Teven Jenkins from the Browns or Chris Paul from the Commanders. I suppose they could try for former Gopher John Michael Schmitz if they wanted to bump Brandel to guard (but that’s not my favorite idea).

Running back just has more options like Tony Pollard, Rachaad White, Tyjae Spears, Dameon Pierce, Tyler Allgeier, Sean Tucker etc.

I would agree with you that they have a lot of flexibility to make moves. The question is how many teams are going to be OK with selling. It might be a bunch or it might only be a couple.

Also: I’m going to beat this drum as the deadline approaches…. more pass rush / D-line help.

Rad… Coller, you’ve been brought in as a consultant to help the undefeated Vikings bolster their roster for a playoff run. Considering fit, salary cap and likely trade cost, which of these players would make the most sense: Jessie Bates or Amani Hooker at safety, David Edwards or Ben Bredeson at left guard, Tony Pollard at running back, or Khalil Mack at edge?

My spending limit would be the extra 2027 third-round pick acquired from the Eagles and fifth-round pick from the Giants. Would you pursue anyone on this list within that budget, or is there another player you’d target?

Some of the guys you’re talking about are on multi-year contracts that I’d be wary about like David Edwards. The ones that stand out from your list are Tony Pollard and Khalil Mack.

Pollard has been a consistently good running back with four straight seasons of 1,000+ yards. I think he’d be great as part of a trio and a backup plan in case either Mason or Jones gets hurt.

Mack is still grading pretty well by PFF despite being 36. He’s played in lots of different types of systems.

I’m working on a list for another day with more players but I’ve wondered about defensive tackles Daron Payne or Malik Collins as third down rushers.

Derrick K… After two trick plays in the last game, did KOC get it out of his system for 2026? Although one almost worked, I think we could all do without seeing a trick play again.

It’s not so much that I’m against trick plays, it’s really the timing and thought process behind some of them that I’ve been flummoxed by. Trying to throw a pass to Kirk Cousins against the Giants or having the tight end pitch the ball to Josh Dobbs — these are just ridiculous decisions that had very little chance to succeed.

Doing a reverse back to Kyler and having him throw it makes a lot of sense. But trying to throw the ball back to the QB in a spot where you need one or two positive plays to be in field goal range and end the game is baffling. Murray was out there completing every pass and Jones was wearing down the Saints’ D-line. Just take care of business.

O’Connell needs a trick play checklist. 1) If it puts your QB at risk in any way, don’t do it. 2) If your QB is in a rhythm and your offense is moving the ball, don’t do it. 3) If it involves somebody who basically never throws the football, make sure they fully understand how to throw the ball away.

Jason… Are the corners underrated? Traditional wisdom says you beat a blitz by throwing fast but that hasn’t been happening. It might just be my reaction to national media takes, but the two starters seem to be playing great.

Isaiah Rodgers might be the most underappreciated player in the league for the way he’s contributed to the No. 1 defense. He’s the highest PFF graded player on the defense currently. He has been targeted 20 times and allowed just eight receptions into his coverage for 31 yards. Teams have had a little more success against Murphy Jr. in terms of completion percentage but he has three INTs and is extremely important to the communication of the defense. Not to mention that James Pierre has been really good too.

I think it’s easy to overlook these guys because the blitz gets so much attention. Not to mention that they don’t play man-to-man coverage, which means the broadcast isn’t going to be talking non stop about CB vs. WR one-on-one matchups.

These fellas are really going to be tested in the coming weeks as they play some great quarterbacks and receivers. We’ll see how it looks then but thus far they’ve been an outstanding unit.

Arin J… Hi Matthew, proof of concept the NO game opened eyes overall a fantastic game for Murray. His scrambling was so much better than previous games it looked like the player we saw in 2024 and back. As far as how high are we on this season, I would put it at guaranteed playoff and a possible title game, not super bowl ready. I need to see games against tougher offences and see if the defense is the best. Also need more consistency from the offense against better defense ls however I see the vision and like it. To me Chicago, LA San Fran are the real contenders, I put Chicago in there because of Williams and their defense is improving. La and sf will depend on health do you have another NFC team in mind?

That’s fair. If this team had Josh Allen, we’d be assuming that 5-0 pretty much locked them into Super Bowl contention but we have to see them really prove it on both sides of the ball against tougher opponents before we can say that they are truly deserving of the “Super Bowl-caliber” label.

I’d have San Francisco in their own tier right now as the favorite. We’ve seen Kyle Shanahan and Brock Purdy do this before and they can do it again.

After that, I’d say that the Rams, Seahawks, Lions, Packers and Bears all belong in the same category of the Vikings as teams that definitely have some flaws but enough talent to make a serious run. Remember, the Packers are getting Micah Parsons back and that makes them a totally different defense.

Reid… How would you rank our trade needs in a pie chart? I would sort of expect RB, LG, and possibly WR3 to occupy the bulk of the %’s... Any other positions I’m missing? Who are some realistic candidates for each position do you think?

I don’t mean to cop out on the realistic candidates, but I think we need more time to really know who’s got a chance to be available. The deadline isn’t until November 10th, so there could be serious shuffling in the standings before then.

As far as positions, doing this pie chart style is a little weird because they can trade for more than one but I’ll be brave and take a shot at it. I’ll go with 50% guard, 20% running back, defensive line depth and 10% wide receiver.

Pickle Enjoyer… Rank the positions that we might target before the deadline in order of importance. Please.

I would rank it as 1) guard 2) RB 3) DT/edge 4) WR

Things can change in the coming weeks though.

Brad L…Who is your first quarter of the season MVP? Who do you predict it to be at the end of the season?

Will Reichard certainly deserves a lot of attention for that, as does Myles Price. Aside from them, I’d probably go with Blake Cashman. Everything starts with him at linebacker. The blitzing along with Wilson, his ability to get back in coverage and stop underneath stuff and the relentlessness vs. the run. He’s been an absolute monster. Jalen Redmond is also in the mix there.

By the end of the season they really need it to be Justin Jefferson.

Bill B… Based on Seattle’s past trade deadline activity, how do you see that influencing Teasley’s approach to the market?

I would guess that the addition of Rashid Shaheed being such a massive difference maker for the Seahawks left a big impression on Teasley. One player can be the difference between getting over the hump and not. He can’t give up all the future draft capital but a fourth+fifth like what Seattle moved for Shaheed is more than reasonable to shore up the O-line or add one more pass rusher.

Bradley P… How has Kyler’s trajectory thus far compared to Kirk (when he was first in the system) and Sam?

How do you think Max Bredeson has looked so far? Has the drop off from Ham been as big as it seems?

It’s really difficult to compare because Kyler’s really only played three games and the first one was atrocious and the other two have been legitimately solid. Kirk had a great start vs. Green Bay in 2022 and then ran into some troubles with consistently making the throws of the KOC offense. It wasn’t until Hockenson arrived that he got comfortable.

Darnold came out throwing flames pretty much from Week 2 on. That was a very fast adjustment. So it’s probably closer to Kirk. The biggest thing is just KOC and Kyler appearing to see things the same way over the last two weeks.

I’d say that Max Bredeson has done a good job with the alignments and motions. He seems well prepared from a mental standpoint about where he’s supposed to go on a given play. I think being as good as CJ Ham is going to take a while. He’s still pretty clearly getting used to tracking down and sustaining blocks on NFL players. I wouldn’t say it’s been bad by any means, just that he’s going to probably start getting the hang of it as the season goes along.

Ramsey K… How do you balance the obvious rhythm that Kyler found himself in during the saints game with the very real misses (Bartholomew on the trick play, Jennings on what should have been his first read according to the broadcast before the field goal)? You and others have said that he played really well. I’ll grant the scrambles and the throws to Jefferson, but without having watched the all-22, isn’t there a lot of meat still left on the bone?

I can’t see how many snaps Caleb Banks and Domonique Orange have played recently, but I’ve noticed a couple of snaps per game where the former is knifing into the backfield and I know Orange had the big play in week one but has had 0 tackles in the last three weeks. What’s your quick scouting report on their progress?

I would say this: When you watch the All-22 back of almost any QB, you’re going to see receivers that they should have targeted. It’s way easier from the bird’s eye view than it is actually playing on the field. I’ve never watched a game where I didn’t spot a few yards left out there.

The same thing goes for the miss to Bartholomew. He was wide open and it’s definitely a miss but when we’re talking about going 24-for-30 and averaging 7.6 YPA with zero Turnover-Worthy Plays, I’m not sure what more you could want.

Is there still meat on the bone though? Yes. He only went 2-for-5 when throwing intermediate passes (10-19 yards). I’d say that’s the area where he can still get more comfortable in the offense.

In terms of Banks and Orange, they haven’t played much in the last two games because the defense has only been on the field for about 80 plays. Banks has one or two plays every game where he just throws a guy and makes a play. Orange flashes some quickness and strength.

Neither player is really ready to play large numbers of snaps yet though. Banks doesn’t have the pad level thing down yet and can get pushed around and Orange is also still figuring out the leverage thing and has to make some more plays.

Both are going to need time but we’ll be looking for signs of progress as we go along.

Their youth is the reason I’d be thinking about a defensive line acquisition for the Vikings at the deadline though.

Brent K… Hi Matthew. Here’s a potentially meaty topic that might be a good one for the bye week. On Monday, Mike Sando at The Athletic showed a chart of cumulative EPA by game for the Vikings during KOCs tenure, with separate lines for the defense, offense and ST. Sando was pointing out the BFlo effect. In fact, the chart showed that the defense has delivered nearly all of the positive EPA for the Vikings over KOCs time. I was shocked by the overall negative cumulative EPA by the offense, which has been trending down even further over the 10 game win streak. So here’s my questions:

- how does EPA really work, and is it a reliable metric over time to look at each phase of the team? (Accurate but not necessarily precise). Are there major limitations to EPA such as game situations where you might run out the clock with the lead instead of scoring?
- assuming cumulative EPA is reliable, it seems to support overall fan frustration with the offense. How much of that is the revolving QB vs. play caller? Even Darnold’s 14 win season doesn’t show a major upward trend in EPA from the offense. Are there other reasons the offense has struggled to consistently generate positive EPA?
- The Vikings ST have always been decent, and it looks like you can see how Will Reichard and Miles Price have tipped the EPA trend upward.
- the BFlo defensive EPA is stunning. Are any other teams close to that on offense or defense over his tenure at the Vikings?

Lots of questions. Maybe this is a good article for next offseason, but inquiring minds want to know your thoughts. Love your content!

The simplest way I can explain EPA is this: It’s production vs. situation. If you are at the 1-yard line, you probably score 80% of the time, so your EPA would be like 5.0. If you score, you get six points, so that’s 1.0 added (these are examples, not exact numbers). If you are at the 50-yard line with first-and-10, you are expected to score 2.5 points per drive. If you get a 25-yard gain and then your expected points goes up to 3.5, you get 1.0 added.

Make sense?

Does it tell a story? You betcha. Every team to make the Super Bowl in the last 10 years except one has a top 10 passing EPA. The No. 1 EPA on defense last year? The Seattle Seahawks.

So that Sando stat tells us that B-Flo’s effect is unbelievable and if O’Connell hadn’t hired him as the DC, then he might be coaching the Arizona Cardinals right now.

The 2024 season had such bad rushing numbers that it dragged down the EPA. The passing game was 6th in total EPA.

Here’s the thing to be careful about with EPA: It is not a particularly predictive stat. It tells you the results but it doesn’t always point you in the right direction. We all know that the Vikings’ offense has been terrible for the last 10 games. We don’t need EPA or any other stat to know that. But EPA doesn’t factor in who’s playing.

So I don’t think EPA says much about where the offense can go. We’re going to find that out.

Personally, I think a lot of analysts are leaning way too much on EPA lately. It’s a tool, not the be-all-end-all like it’s being treated.

Fun side note: EPA was invented by former NFL player Virgil Carter.

Read more

By Matthew Coller

The Minnesota Vikings’ offense is weird as heck on paper.

They are 29th in Expected Points Added but 14th in the percentage of drives that they have scored on.

They are 29th in passing yards per game but 12th in completion percentage and 16th in team passer rating.

They are 24th in rushing EPA but 13th in rushing yards per game.

Kyler Murray is 27th in ESPN’s QBR but he’s No. 1 in completion percentage on throws between 0-9 yards and ninth in rushing EPA.

Aaron Jones is 38th by PFF grade but sixth in total rush yards.

What the heck is going on here?

Welcome to a ball control offense.

The Vikings are No. 2 in the NFL in time of possession per game. They are 28th in pass:run ratio (meaning they run a lot) and Kyler Murray is sixth in percentage of passes that have gone behind the line of scrimmage. He is 34th in percentage of intermediate passes.

It was pointed out by subscriber Aaron, a data enjoyer, that the Vikings are also taking the most time between plays on the clock of any team. Which we have been critical about delay of game penalties (rightfully) but it has helped keep opponents off the field and allowed the defense to stay fresh.

This has been a pretty monumental change for Kevin O’Connell as a play caller. In 2024, they were only 14th in time of possession despite winning 14 games and having a great defense and 22nd in time of possession per drive. They were also 15th in pass:run ratio despite being ahead often during that season. And Sam Darnold was 27th in percentage of passes behind the line of scrimmage and 37th on throws between 0-9 yards.

It’s pretty clear that having an explosive offense is a sign of being a good football team. In 2024, they had the second most passes that went for 20+ yards and had the most yards produced by throws that traveled more than 20 yards downfield in the NFL.

So as the Vikings get healthier when they return from the bye week, should they continue to grind clock in the same way that they have through the first five games or do they need to open the game up more and look for an explosive passing attack rather than the current high completion percentage game with lots and lots of rushing?

There are plenty of examples of teams who have taken the path of grinding on offense and relying heavily on a beastly defense.

Last year the Denver Broncos were 10th in time of possession and Bo Nix was 7th in yards gained on passes between 0-9 yards through the air and 6th behind the line of scrimmage. They were 6th in turnover percentage (in a good way) and they had the No. 3 defense in the NFL.

They ended up going 14-3 and coming within a Bo Nix ankle injury and bad Sean Payton fourth down decision from going to the Super Bowl.

The Bears and Texans had similar strategies. While the universe enjoyed watching Caleb Williams emerge, the Bears were 7th in time of possession, 22nd in pass:run ratio (meaning they ran a lot) and they had the fewest turnovers in the NFL. Chicago’s defense wasn’t great but they did lead the NFL in takeaways.

Houston was No. 2 in total turnovers, fourth in time of possession and they were No. 2 in points allowed and No. 1 in yards allowed defensively.

None of these three teams from last year’s postseason were special at quarterback. Williams and Nix were tied for the 13th best PFF grade and CJ Stroud was 32nd of 43. They were all serious contenders in the playoffs.

But there is something to be pointed out about their offenses: Chicago was 9th in EPA, Denver was 11th and Houston was 21st.

Here’s the other realities of the Vikings’ situation in comparison to teams that have actually made the Super Bowl: Over the last 10 years, 19 of the 20 teams to make the Super Bowl have had a top 10 total passing EPA. The only exception had a running back that went for 2,000 yards.

Also 18 of the 20 teams scored at least 400 points.

The Vikings’ defense is playing at a historically good rate and controlling the football by running, winding clock and completing short passes to put together long drives is going to help them significantly. But the offense needs to be good enough to take care of business when called upon. For example, the Broncos got 33 points against the Bills in the Divisional Round. The Texans, on the other hand, couldn’t produce enough to beat the New England Patriots.

The Vikings are set to play against Jared Goff, Josh Allen, Brock Purdy and Jordan Love in the coming weeks. Those are quarterbacks who have the capability to keep their own teams on the field for long periods of time and put up big offensive numbers. At some point, winning a shootout is going to be required.

That’s where it becomes vital to balance each game individually based on what’s needed to win. We know that O’Connell’s offense is capable of pushing the ball downfield and Murray completed three of his four attempts past 20 yards last week. They need to have that button to push when it’s called upon.

Thus far, we haven’t seen it, partly because they haven’t needed it and partly because they haven’t had the healthy bodies to do it.

We are really going to learn what the offense is capable of doing when it’s closer to full strength with Jordan Mason in the backfield and Jefferson and Addison in the lineup at the same time with Murray. They may also need more help via Nolan Teasley as well.

So the answer is that the Vikings’ playing style generally is a model to win a lot of games but the offense has to meet a certain threshold and the defense has to continue to play at the same level and remain healthy.

If they can continue to control the ball and time of possession while sneaking in more explosive plays and move up to around the 10th-14th best offense in the second half, they should be able to enter the playoffs as a contender. If it continues to look like this, then could look much more like last year’s Eagles, who were 19th in scoring, 5th in points allowed, 12th in time of possession and were eliminated by the 49ers in the first round.

Read more

By Matthew Coller

The Minnesota Vikings advanced to 5-0 with a win over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. Let’s have a look at the film and numbers from the game…

What went right

Murray “playing point guard”

Over the last two weeks, Murray has been a marksman when it comes to completing passes underneath. Against New Orleans, he went 11-for-11 on passes between 0-9 yards for 66 yards, per PFF.

Are underneath throws difficult? Not always but they do take good timing and decisiveness, as demonstrated by a couple plays early that got Murray. The first came right after TJ Hockenson was lost for the game. He found Gavin Bartholomew on a quick strike for a first down. As you can see, his arm is coming back before the tight end gets out of his break and the ball is on him right when he turns around, leaving no time for the Saints to react.

For whatever reason, Murray always seems to have a good feel for his tight ends’ routes in the middle of zone defenses. He did it early in his career and especially with Trey McBride recently.

Later in the game, we saw a similar play to the other side, where Bartholomew pivoted away from the closest defender and Murray put the ball right into his hands for a first down.

Bartholomew did a terrific job providing a security blanket for Murray, catching five passes for 33 yards. Kevin O’Connell said on Monday that Hockenson had been a big part of the gameplan coming in, so they didn’t have to totally sacrifice that because of the 2025 sixth-round pick’s preparedness and Murray’s timing and trust.

One thing that everyone has wanted to see in recent Vikings history is a quick game that involves Justin Jefferson more often. While only three of his receptions came under 10 yards through the air, there were signs that it’s possible to connect Murray’s dart throwing underneath and Jefferson’s route running.

This completion is a staple concept for KOC with two receivers stacked and one running a deep corner and the other a quick out route. Murray is bang on with the timing and accuracy and Jefferson gets a positive gain.

It’s safe to say that over the last two weeks, O’Connell and Murray have gotten on the same page. When they talk about completions helping Murray get into a groove, you could see it on Sunday.

Murray pushing the ball downfield

While underneath throwing was key and Murray did miss a couple opportunities deep, he finished 5-for-9 on throws past 10 yards with 110 yards and a touchdown.

The touchdown was pretty well analyzed but there was another throw to Jefferson downfield that stood out because of the concept and execution.

On this play-action pass to Jefferson, the Vikings are in a pistol formation with the fullback Max Bredeson to Murray’s left and a tight end on that side as well. They run play-action and the corner stays home on cover-2 and the deep safety ends up as the only guy on Jefferson. Murray gets back around to Jefferson and hits him right on the money about 25 yards from his target and takes a shot.

Using a million deep concepts with Murray would probably be a mistake because he doesn’t always trust the tight-window throws (and since he has zero Turnover-Worthy Plays in the last three games, you don’t exactly want to put too much risk in his hands) but he’s proven to be able to drive the ball with his arm strength early in his time as a Viking. They should be able to pick their spots downfield, especially to Jefferson.

The screen game arrives

Do you believe in miracles?

The Vikings ran eight screens for 54 yards, including this one early in the game to Bartholomew.

Center Blake Brandel got out in space and made a key block and Bartholomew’s youthful speed kicked in for a chunk gain.

If the Vikings are going to keep the train on the tracks with Murray, they will need more where that came from (and they can’t fumble like Myles Price did in the red zone).

The O-line battled

Quick game certainly helped but Kyler Murray’s average time to throw was 4.48 seconds on the drop-backs where he was pressured and he was only under pressure 13 of 39 drop-backs. Those are great numbers for the Vikings’ banged-up offensive line.

Their most impressive play was Jeshaun Jones’ long reception in the second half after the Saints tied the game. Not only did the O-line give Murray about seven seconds to find his man downfield, but Joe Huber TKO’d the Saints edge rusher by looking to help on a four-man rush where Blake Brandel totally eliminated his man.

Will Fries and Ryan Van Demark got dinged in their PFF grades for a few pressures but considering Van Demark was going against Chase Young for much of the day, giving up only two pressures is a good showing for a backup tackle against a top-notch player.

Murray’s scrambling and playmaking

When things did break down, Murray was ready to make plays. Alec Lewis of The Athletic pointed out that Murray’s 20.8 mph scramble for a first down was the fastest of any ball carrier for the entire Sunday of football. He totaled 10 attempts for 51 yards but three of them were kneel downs, so it was even better than that.

The most impressive play of the day was probably one where he threw the ball rather than running. On third-and-11, Chase Young won instantly but Murray flipped out of the pocket in an eyeblink and bought time for himself and created a window to dump it off to DeeJay Dallas.

Let’s keep in mind that Young is one of the biggest freaks in the game. There were reminders throughout of why Murray was able to run for 800+ yards in a season once and why his athleticism made him a Heisman and top draft pick. This was one of those plays. There are only a couple QBs in the NFL that aren’t sacked on this play.

Aaron Jones’ toughness, run blocking

There aren’t enough words to praise how much Jones fought during this game. He pushed through and made some difference-making rushes. In total, gaining 113 yards on 25 rushes with two carries for 10+ yards.

He couldn’t have done it if the offensive line didn’t create space for him. Here’s an example of everyone getting involved to give him a positive run. Brian O’Neill and Will Fries double team block the DT way off his spot and Ben Yurosek rushes up to take the linebacker, who he moves out of the way as well. Joe Huber hangs onto big rookie Christen Miller so he doesn’t knife in and blow up the play.

There are so many plays of Huber fighting hard in this game. He gives them a chance to survive Jackson’s absence.

Our next run play is an interesting blocking concept where the tight end comes all the way behind the O-linemen to hit the nose tackle and Fries goes directly for the linebacker (or box safety).

The rest was Jones just being willing to fight harder than anyone should reasonably battle while in his physical condition. He stayed upright through a leg tackle and then pushed forward for an extra couple yards. Amazing performance.

Read more

By Brian Murphy

Lance a few boils, look the other way, and this is exactly what the Minnesota Vikings are supposed to look like. Never mind your delicate sensibilities.

They went into the Superdome on Sunday, welcomed Justin Jefferson back from an ankle injury, watched Kyler Murray continue to find his footing and allowed Brian Flores’ defense to terrorize another opposing quarterback into seeing more ghosts.

They ran the ball effectively, made big plays when they needed them and put down New Orleans 23-13 like any respectable team would with a mangy dog like the Saints. Now 5-0 entering a prescient bye, the trend lines are finally pointing upward in the uber-competitive NFC North just as their forgiving schedule gets real.

Naturally, they also fumbled twice in the red zone, handed New Orleans a defensive touchdown and briefly managed to transform a game against a struggling opponent -- stop me if you’ve felt like this for a month – into a hostage negotiation.

Only the Vikings. And how apropos that another contextual snapshot of what this franchise so desperately longs was taken at the Superdome, where Minnesota has experienced so much postseason magic and heartbreak.

Not Jefferson, of course, the hometown hero and former Louisiana Tiger whose return to his old stomping grounds came off an ankle injury that had prevented Minnesota’s star receiver from truly connecting with Murray.

The duo took care of that with a beautiful pitch-and-catch to the back of the end zone for Jefferson to give the Vikings a third-quarter lead. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, here. Just start unpacking the reasons to be encouraged by this team.

The Vikings have spent five weeks demonstrating that their defense and special teams can carry an enormous burden. Sunday offered another tantalizing glimpse of what might happen if the offense finally gets out of its own way.

Murray’s 15-yard dime to Jefferson put the finishing touches on an impressive drive the speedy quarterback kept alive with an 18-yard scramble that stirred embers from his dynamic running-and-throwing history in Arizona.

Jefferson finished with six catches for 79 yards and a touchdown. Murray went 12-for-12 for the first time in his career and completed 19 of 27 for 229 yards without a turnover, supplementing that with 51 yards on the ground.

Moreover, Murray looked comfortable for the first time this season and is beginning to resemble the player Minnesota believed it was getting when it signed him in March. He was accurate, decisive and increasingly dangerous outside the pocket.

Murray found contributions from a supporting cast featuring backups and emergency reinforcements, with T.J. Hockenson leaving early because of a concussion.

This is what the offense was supposed to look like.

And yet, Minnesota once again spent much of the first half conducting a clinic on how to waste scoring opportunities.

Aaron Jones fumbled in the red zone, New Orleans recovered, and the Vikings came away with three points from an opening drive that consumed nearly 13 minutes of game time. Penalties and stalled possessions followed. The Saints took a 7-3 lead after converting two fourth downs on a drive that exposed a rare crack in Flores’ armor.

Jones, who returned from his costly turnover after being listed as questionable with a knee injury, finished with 113 rushing yards on 25 carries. A warrior teammate for the ages.

His 10-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter restored Minnesota’s lead after the Vikings had watched another promising possession end in disaster.

Myles Price, the emerging special-teams star who had already delivered a 43-yard punt return, caught a short pass late in the third quarter and promptly fumbled. Saints safety Jonas Sanker scooped up the precious cargo and raced 87 yards for a touchdown, tying the game at 13.

The Vikings had outplayed New Orleans for most of the afternoon, yet gifted the Saints their biggest highlight without requiring anything from overwhelmed rookie quarterback Tyler Shough and their anemic offense.

Minnesota could turn a routine trip to Target into an eight-episode psychological thriller. Fortunately, Flores has built a defense that apparently considers such nonsense a personal challenge.

New Orleans managed 142 total yards, nine first downs and Shough’s 96 passing yards. Byron Murphy Jr. intercepted him twice. The Vikings swarmed and harassed him into fruitless scrambles and pressured throws whenever the Saints weren’t being flagged for holding.

That’s the sort of confidence this defense has earned.

Minnesota entered Sunday allowing an NFL-low 12.8 points per game. It left New Orleans having reinforced that reputation, even while surrendering an offensive touchdown after the Saints converted those fourth downs and another score on the fumble return.

The distinction matters. New Orleans’ defense scored once, but its offense spent most of the afternoon getting bullied.

The Saints had four first downs across six possessions after their lone offensive touchdown. Minnesota managed only one sack, but its pressure was relentless and befuddling per usual.

The unit is playing the kind of football that can carry a team deep into January. It is aggressive, opportunistic and increasingly convinced that the next mistake belongs to the other guy.

Meanwhile, Will Reichard deserves another mention, because of course.

The third-year kicker with Lake Superior coursing through his veins made all three field-goal attempts, each from at least 40 yards, including a 55-yarder that stretched the lead to 10 in the fourth quarter. In a game littered with offensive miscues, Reichard once again was the reliable adult in the room.

Speaking of adults in the room, the Vikings eventually won comfortably enough, but not before coach Kevin O’Connell reached into his grab bag of trick plays and pulled out clown suits that should have stayed draped on Matt Nagy and Dan Quinn.

It involved Murray throwing to Jefferson and Jefferson attempting to lateral it back at midfield. Only the pass went directly into the cinder block mitts of Saints defensive lineman Colby Wooden, who lost the ball into the grateful hands of Murray.

The 8-yard loss went down as a fumble, recovery and reminder that KOC can only juggle chainsaws for so long before there is true bloodshed.

Pick all the nits you want, and there are plenty for local fans and national observers to pluck, but the Vikings joined the San Francisco 49ers as the NFL’s only 5-0 teams.

No small accomplishment in a league designed to humble everyone eventually. They have won through injuries, offensive inconsistency and enough self-inflicted wounds to make Larry David blush.

The encouraging part is that the offense looks like it is ascending, in the cliched parlance of our times. Murray is playing with more confidence. Jefferson is back. Jordan Mason is coming back. Jones is productive despite his knee trouble. And the defense is making life miserable for quarterbacks of all stripes.

The overarching concern is that Detroit, Buffalo, Green Bay and San Francisco won’t be nearly as forgiving when the Vikings grind into November. The red-zone fumbles, procedural penalties and ill-advised play calls simply have to stop.

A defense can cover for a multitude of sins, but asking it to deliver a masterpiece every Sunday is a dangerous way to operate. And, frankly, it’s greedy.

Perhaps this is a legitimate Super Bowl contender coming together in real time. Maybe it’s a flawed team riding a spectacular defense until some big-boy teams expose all the cracks.

Everything is in play. Compelling as always.

By Matthew Coller

Here’s something to keep in mind over the next two weeks: You want your team to be in the middle of conversations amongst the NFL about whether you are “real contenders” or not. Lemme tell ya who they aren’t putting in that A1 debate topic: The Titans.

So Minnesota Vikings fans can prepare themselves for their squad’s offensive statistics to be quoted over and over and for TV loudmouths and big-brain X’s and O’s writers to be answering that question as the Vikings sit atop the NFL mountain through the first month-and-a-half of the season.

When it comes to whether the Vikings can win the Super Bowl or not, that question seems premature. Can we talk about it in December? What we can say in terms of their validity as contenders is that we know it takes certain things to get there.

Usually you have to have a good offense. They took steps toward that against the New Orleans Saints in their 23-13 victory in which the Vikings held the ball for nearly 40 minutes and gained 364 yards — their highest total in a victory since Week 17, 2024.

Usually you have to have an elite defense. On Sunday, the Vikings gave up 3.3 yards per play, held Saints QB Tyler Shough to under 100 yards passing and picked off two passes. That’s the second straight week that they held the opposing QB under 100 yards and they rank No. 1 in the NFL in Expected Points Added.

Usually you need good special teams. On Sunday, Will Reichard was flawless, hitting two big 50-plus yard kicks and Myles Price had a 43-yard punt return.

On the other side of the coin, normally Super Bowl teams don’t make drive-killing mistakes. The Vikings did that three different times in the red zone against the Saints, with an illegal formation and two fumbles. Usually they aren’t just having good days offensively against opponents who are struggling either. Normally they also put together more than 1.5 performances on offense that look like the offense is in command over five games.

But if we’re going to make every game a referendum on whether a team is “for real” or not, one thing to take away from the Vikings’ victory over the Saints at the Superdome is their ability to battle through some very difficult circumstances. That can carry over week after week.

The Vikings entered the game with their starting left tackle, left guard, RB1, WR2 and TE2 injured and all of them are good players. Christian Darrisaw is a top-notch left tackle, Donovan Jackson is a rising star, Jordan Mason averaged 4.8 YPC last year, Jordan Addison has two seasons over 850 yards to his name and Josh Oliver is the best run blocking TE in the NFL (and a low-key good pass catcher).

And then they lost tight end TJ Hockenson to a concussion three plays into the game. Last week, Hockenson became Kyler Murray’s favorite target by picking up 13 receptions.

No matter how many miscues or many players were out of the lineup, Murray and the offense battled their way to enough production to win the game.

There was no drive where that was more on display than after Price fumbled, allowing the Saints to tie the game at 13-13 with 2:34 remaining in the third quarter.

They followed up that mistake with a Murray 32-yard throw to Jeshaun Jones, who was elevated from the practice squad and has spent the last two seasons grinding away on the PS hoping to get an opportunity to see the field.

On that play, Murray had good pocket presence but also received strong blocking from the whole O-line. Backups Ryan Van Demark and Joe Huber held strong. Huber is playing his third game and Van Demark is a career backup.

The next play was a 19-yard run by Aaron Jones. Sometimes there’s no other way to describe someone than with every possible sports cliche. Jones showed his heart, toughness, grittiness, drive, desire, never-give-up attitude and on and on. He’s been battling a knee injury while taking all the snaps as Mason has been out with a thumb injury. With his physical state, ripping off a 19-yard run where he’s bouncing off guys and spinning seems impossible, but he did it.

On third-and-1, Bartholomew made a big play, catching a 2-yard pass from Murray to set up first-and-10 at the goal line. He went from TE3 to TE1 in an eye blink — and this is essentially his rookie year after missing all of last season.

Then Jones finished it off by blasting a Saints safety at the 3-yard line and barrelling into the end zone.

They didn’t know it yet but that score put the game away. The defense didn’t allow the Saints to come anywhere close to the end zone after that.

Most times the resilience of a team starts with its quarterback and that was the case on Sunday. Despite being down two key weapons and two offensive linemen, Murray was in total command. He was accurate throwing the ball, including on a brilliant touchdown pass to Justin Jefferson. He made plays with his legs, including a scramble to set up a late field goal after a botched trick play set the Vikings back out of range (maybe). He had zero turnover-worthy plays and wasn’t rattled by the noise or the mistakes by his teammates that cost them getting in the end zone.

Murray just kept battling. He was on point on numerous third downs, converting 9-of-18 on the day to keep drives rolling and the defense off the field.

Sunday’s game was a vision of Murray as the team’s field general that came to life.

And in order to have resilience, you need to have a super power. That super power is the connectivity and scheme of the Vikings’ defense. They slammed the door shut on the Saints’ run game, giving up 3.3 YPA. They shook Shough to his core as he checked down and scrambled like he was being chased by goblins and werewolves. It looked like there were 15 Vikings players on the field against the Saints.

This is who the Vikings have been so far through the first five games, just in a lot of different ways. Carson Wentz came off the bench and played well enough to win in the first week. They played in a rain storm in Chicago and won with defense and a blocked kick. Murray struggled in Tampa Bay and the defense picked him up. Jefferson was out for two games and they found a way.

What does that mean for the bigger picture? Only that we know it exists and they’re likely to need a lot more of it. Even if everyone gets back to full health, the schedule offers adversity in a bottle with the Lions’ incredible offense, MVP Josh Allen, a trip to Mexico City vs. the 5-0 49ers and a trip to Lambeau still to come (the Packers crushed Chicago on Sunday).

Outside of that, all we can say is that it’s been an exceptional display of a team finding ways to win.

It also has to continue to get better with Murray under center. Mistakes must decrease significantly. Murray must be consistent into the second half of the season, which has been a struggle in his career.

It’s only been five games but it has felt like a full season’s worth of games. When they come out of the bye week, we’ll start to get the answer to the big question. For now, they couldn’t be in any better spot than at the top of the NFC.