By Matthew Coller
MINNEAPOLIS — If anybody deserved a 13-catch day on 13 targets for 119 yards and a game-sealing reception, it’s TJ Hockenson.
The Minnesota Vikings’ tight end has been through the wringer over the past couple seasons since he was a fantasy football darling in 2023. He suffered a torn ACL late in the ‘23 season that set him back on the start of the 2024 season and then when he returned QB Sam Darnold had already built chemistry with all his other weapons and often overlooked his tight end.
Then last year, Hockenson was forced to take on a role that is normally fit for guys who have 25 pounds on him as a blocker, grinding out run blocks on tough edge defenders and chipping in pass protection because of the issues with Christian Darrisaw’s knee recovery.
Last year, Hockenson only had 51 receptions for 438 yards and the trend of QBs having trouble finding him due to either Kyler Murray’s injury or ineffectiveness carried over to the beginning of this season. He entered Sunday’s game with just nine catches for 76 yards.
The first half of the Vikings’ gnarly 15-10 victory over the Miami Dolphins was more of the same as Murray could not find a groove. Penalties and sacks piled up and the Vikings either punted or kicked field goals on all of their six drives in the first 30 minutes.
But during the final drive of the first half, Murray hit Hockenson in space for a 20-yard gain that set them up in field-goal position and then converted a third-and-3 to Hock to make it a chip shot for Will Reichard to close the half.
They seemed to find something in that drive because in the second half Murray utilized Hockenson constantly to control the clock and keep the sticks moving.
In the fourth quarter, Murray went 6-for-6 throwing to Hockenson including two enormous plays that closed out the game and help the Vikings command the football on nearly 40 of the game’s 60 minutes.
The first throw came on second-and-7 with 3:01 left. Murray dropped back and delivered a perfect touch pass right over the head of defender Jordyn Brooks. Hockenson reached up over the linebacker and brought in the ball for one of the most impressive grabs he’s made in some time in purple.
“TJ was winning, and TJ is winning within the rhythm of the quarterback so he can start building that rapport,” O’Connell said. “For TJ to be manning the middle of the field and being a security blanket but also able to attack versus all that shell coverage, attack the middle of the field at the second level as well, which we saw a few times today. So TJ was huge.”
Then the Vikings faced third-and-5 with 2:07 left at the Miami 10-yard line. Murray got the ball into Hockenson’s hands and he had an easy route to the end zone. However, he elected to slide down at the 1-yard line to allow the Vikings to kneel out the clock and win the game.
O’Connell said that the type of coverage that the Dolphins were playing — two-high safety shells — allowed Hockenson to get a lot of opportunities. The Vikings went into the game expecting a chance to work their tight end the ball often.
“I challenged him at the beginning of the week, kind of knew with [Josh Oliver] going down and how we were going to handle the week at that position…I told him it’s going to be a huge week for you, and I know you’re going to respond,” O’Connell said. “This is a guy that does everything the right way.”
Murray said that he had a sense going into the game that his tight end was poised for a breakout.
“I’m super happy for [TJ], I think I said before the game that I felt like he was going to have a big game in our meetings,” Murray said. “Love having a big friendly safety blanket in [TJ] at tight end, quarterback’s best friend and today he showed why.”
There is no question the Vikings’ offense was not where it expected to be on Sunday against a team that entered 28th in points allowed but Murray has been known during his career as a quarterback who leans on the tight end. Throwing to Hockenson in the second half especially was a sign of progress that the offense sorely needed.
When it came to the offensive issues in the first half, there were some pretty clear problems.
“Just too many negatives, too many,” O’Connell said. “I think we had eight offensive penalties. It’s still some pre-snap things. I think we lost out on an explosive by an illegal formation penalty….my expectation is we get the cleaner execution. And there are some cadence things going on that we have to continue to figure out what the root of that is. And then, obviously, some of those negatives just on the plays themselves.”
Murray took responsibility for the issues with pre-snap flags.
“I put that on me, all 11 guys got to be on the same page but it starts with me,” Murray said. “So we’ll be better in that. It’s unacceptable.”
But in the end the offensive numbers looked better than they have during most of the Vikings’ 9-game win streak going back to last year.
Murray completed 73% of his passes for 247 yards, Aaron Jones popped off for 94 yards on 20 carries and Jordan Addison had an enormous 27-yard catch that was emblematic of the type of play that Kevin O’Connell wants to see from his offense.
“It felt like a lot of confidence in attacking a void and vacancy, which is a big part of this offense: conviction,” O’Connell said of the throw to Addison.
“[Linebacker] Jordyn Brooks was the defender right there, kind of had to hold him with my eyes and body posture,” Murray explained of the throw. “Being able to sneak it behind him. [Addison] obviously running a great route, ripping through there. You know, just making a play. It’s something that we practice. We executed in the moment when we needed it the most.”
As the Vikings head to New Orleans, they do so with some confidence in where they can go, particularly with a defense that has been nothing short of spectacular (and allowed 85 yards passing to Malik Willis.
However, they may have to keep the momentum going without a lot of key pieces. Darrisaw suffered an injury early in the game that was initially determined to be a neck issue and he was cleared by the independent neurologist for a concussion but then after returning to the game he showed symptoms after a hit and was evaluated for a concussion and did not return.
Also left guard Donovan Jackson suffered a knee injury and did not come back to the game. He is having “imaging” done on the knee to determine the severity.
Also O’Connell said that they are hoping Justin Jefferson can return to practice this week. It’s unclear what his chances are to play vs. New Orleans.
“I know he made great progress last week,” O’Connell said of Jefferson’s health situation. “We’re going to allow that to be a medical thing from a standpoint of if he’s able to start getting some limited work in, we’ll see how he does throughout the week. I don’t have any real projection on whether we’ll have him or not.”
Despite the injuries and unproductive first handful of quarters of the Murray era, him finding some comfort with the offense may have been the biggest development of the day.
“Today I definitely felt like the game was moving slower. I was a little more in control. Not perfect by any means, but to be able to get that many reps like I did today, play four quarters again, see defenses, see coverages, see guys move around and get to field zones and man coverage, all that is, you can’t put a price tag on playing.”
The broadcast kept mentioning how KOC said this week was “Operation: Get Kyler Comfortable.” That was a failure for 3 entire quarters. Glad to see Hock provide a spark — but throwing repeatedly to him is not going to scare defenses. It’s probably what defenses want Kyler to do.
I know it was against a bad team and it only looked good, not great, for half a game at best, but I think we have to be encouraged a little bit by what we saw at the end of the day. My main worry at this point now is the health and production of the offensive line. O’Neill had a bad day, two starters hurt. Could go south if those guys don’t get healthy and play well down the stretch. You gotta hope that Kyler will continue to get more comfortable and it’ll take at least one more noticeable step forward once JJ gets back.