What. A. Win.

JJ McCarthy leads the Vikings to incredible victory at Ford Field. The season is back on.

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By Matthew Coller

DETROIT — Now THAT was the Minnesota Vikings team that we expected in 2025.

Through the lens of their victory against the Detroit Lions, the explanation for the first seven weeks of the Vikings season looks so much more simple: It was the injuries.

The absences of JJ McCarthy, Christian Darrisaw, Andrew Van Ginkel, Harrison Smith, Blake Cashman, Aaron Jones and a host of other players tricked us into thinking that this team was nothing like we expected them to be. In reality, we just needed to see the real version of them with all those players in the game.

While the quarterback play was occasionally spotty when it came to accuracy and execution, McCarthy looked like the QB that everyone thought he would be coming out of the win over Chicago. His receivers made great plays. He was tough as nails. He was a gamer. He fought through the difficult moments and keep grinding the offense to points, no matter how many times the Lions hit him. In the biggest moment, on third down with the team one first down away from victory, he made a perfect pass to Jalen Nailor to ice it.

Justin Jefferson had to make some spectacular catches, including a one-handed touchdown. Kevin O’Connell had to dial up some open receivers. Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason had to rip off some good runs. The offensive line had to give McCarthy some time. But we knew that all of those things would have to happen for McCarthy to win. When it did, suddenly they were the group that we saw in training camp — the one we praised and projected to win double-digit games.

Apparently it was always in there. They just needed everyone to be in the lineup.

You can say the same thing about the defense. The Lions have historically shredded the Vikings’ D — and the game looked like it was going that way early as Detroit moved the ball easily en route to two touchdowns. But Brian Flores came up with the type of adjustment that you’d expect from him and blitzed the face off of Jared Goff. Van Ginkel, Cashman and the much-debated defensive tackles were in the QB’s face all day and the Vikings slowed Jahmyr Gibbs enough to force Detroit into passing situations.

How many times have we said that the defense’s woes might be a product of circumstance? It really, really looked that way on Sunday.

One game does not make the Vikings into a Super Bowl contender but it certainly opens the door for something special happening with this team. Before Sunday’s game, there was no arguing that they had a chance to beat good teams considering their performance versus good clubs. Now they have that argument.

The Vikings will return to US Bank Stadium to play the Baltimore Ravens with a ton of confidence that they can get enough out of McCarthy to win. They can move the ball with his ability to dodge rushers. They can give him time to throw and grind on offense with a healthy offensive line. They can actually get ahead and allow the defense to use all of its blitzing powers.

The other argument going into this season was that the Vikings had a good enough coaching staff to elevate McCarthy and maximize the defensive talent. They did that for 60 minutes against a legitimate Super Bowl contender in Detroit on the road. They have to keep doing it week after week going forward.

The entire organization was desperate for a win like this. They got it.

Paired with a Packers loss, the season looks has a lot of juice left.

What a difference a week makes, huh.

Here’s how it went down…