By Brian Murphy
There is not enough whiskey in Ireland to numb Vikings fans into processing what happened Sunday.
You could try, but how do explain turning a psychological siege into a party?
You could pour one after Kyler Murray threw a balloon-ball interception on his first reclamation pass as a Viking, then take another when he left the game after 11 snaps with a concussion following a dirty hit by Minnesota’s archrivals.
You could chase that with something stronger after Jordan Love started carving up Brian Flores’ defense and Green Bay built a 22-10 lead that dragged a needle across your favorite vinyl.
By then, responsible adults would have gone home and centered the ashes of another lost season in a decorative urn on the mantel.
Instead, the Vikings scored 29 straight points and won 39-22. With a backup quarterback. Again.
Of course they did.
Nothing simple. Nothing predictable. Perennially on the knife’s edge. Pure Vikings.
The afternoon began with the Murray coronation. Minnesota’s latest free-agent quarterback was supposed to provide the mobility, improvisation and electricity missing from Kevin O’Connell’s offense since Sam Darnold went west for his pot of gold.
The reboot lasted three drives.
His first pass was intercepted. Then he took a hard hit while scrambling, was knocked out of the game with a concussion and left the entire season’s quarterback narrative hanging from a thread.
Welcome to Minnesota, Kyler.
Carson Wentz, meanwhile, was standing on the sideline after being named the No. 2 quarterback earlier in the week, the spackled-together afterthought who was a spectator during the preseason like all of us to the Murray-J.J. McCarthy fugazi camp competition.
By lunchtime Sunday, Wentz was the most important man in Minneapolis.
Love was having his way with the Vikings despite missing Josh Jacobs in the backfield and with Green Bay’s defense sans Micah Parson. Love was magnificent early as he found Christian Watson slicing through the Minnesota secondary and the Packers took control. But they could not deliver the knockout blow.
Wentz and the Vikings hung around long enough to tip-toe into Green Bay territory before the end of the first half. A Packers defender jumped offside. Suddenly, Wentz had a fistful of house money.
He used the free play to fling a ball toward Justin Jefferson in the end zone, and the superhero receiver obliged with another incredible leap and grab for a 39-yard touchdown that jolted U.S. Bank Stadium from its wake.
Still, Green Bay led 22-10 with five minutes left in the third quarter. Dread was palpable. But the Vikings kept chopping and clawing their way to T.J. Hockenson’s 16-yard touchdown reception.
Green Bay was determined not to fold until its self-destruction made it inevitable. In the fourth quarter, Love and the Packers drove into Minnesota territory in the fourth quarter with a chance to take an 8-point lead.
However, after the Vikings jumped offside on Trey Smack’s 40-yard field goal, coach Matt LaFleur vaporized the three points and decided to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the Minnesota 17.
Even referee Shawn Hoculi seemed perplexed at LaFleur’s roll of the dice, clicking on his microphone to inform the world that the Packers coach had elected to “take the points off the board” and accept the dubious penalty.
Love was stuffed, the momentum shifted once again and the Vikings haphazardly drove 83 yards thanks to the generosity of Green Bay’s undisciplined defense.
No officiating martyrdom this week, folks, or you lose all street cred. The Vikings grabbed every golden horseshoe Green Bay tossed them, including three third-down reprieves.
Jonathan Ford jumped offsides. Javon Bullard’s illegal-contact penalty erased a third-down stop. Chris McClellan’s late hit on Wentz negated another. Suddenly, Jordan Mason ripped off 28 yards to the Packers’ 11.
On third-and-5, Evan Williams intercepted Wentz in the end zone, apparently ending the drive. Except Xavier McKinney was flagged for illegal contact, so the interception was wiped and the Vikings were spoon-fed another first down.
Aaron Jones scored on the very next play, the go-ahead score punctuated on the ensuing 2-point conversion when Wentz connected with Jefferson, who hunted the pylon like a pelican dive-bombing the Gulf.
And then Flores’ defense, which had spent much of the afternoon getting its teeth kicked in, reclaimed its identity and did what it was designed to do
The emerging Dallas Turner got home again on Love, who fumbled. Andrew Van Ginkel recovered and Minnesota was in business again.
Later, the unsurprisingly unretired Harrison Smith got a hand on another Love pass, James Pierre grabbed the deflection and the Vikings put the finishing touches on an unlikely salvation and season-opening victory.
Worth remembering more than Wentz’s three touchdown passes or Jefferson’s eight receptions for 92 yards and two scores is that O’Connell and his regiment absorbed yet another quarterback injury and emotional haymaker but didn’t panic.
They trailed by 12. They stayed with the run game. Wentz found Hockenson and Jefferson when it mattered. And the Packers handed them the rest.
It was not particularly logical or even Vikings-esque in that they discovered an inventive way to win instead of lose.
Nobody knows what Murray’s season looks like now. Nobody knows how long the concussion keeps him out. Nobody knows whether Wentz can turn a heroic afternoon into something more sustainable.
We certainly don’t know what to make of designated No. 3 quarterback J.J. McCarthy now sitting behind him as next man up after being drafted two long years ago to be the franchise quarterback.
Those are next-week problems. Sunday was about something simpler.
The Vikings got punched in the mouth by Green Bay. They staggered. They bled. They looked lost.
But they got up and started punching back using brains and brawn they may not have known they had.
If Wentz keeps oiling his hinges, taking his Lipitor and feeding Jefferson, the Vikings should be able to slither through early season uncertainties for once.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin was collectively calling in sick Monday, taking PTO Tuesday and will probably roll into work Wednesday still wearing Sunday’s regret.
And the Vikings are 1-0 and sitting atop the NFC North because of a Week 1 tiebreaker no one will remember.
Because of course they are.