The Vikings didn’t just beat the Bears on Sunday afternoon. They left Week 2 with a 9-3 win, sole possession of first place in the NFC North, and enough momentum to let the imagination run wild.
That’s what happens when a team opens 2-0 and the division starts breaking its way. Minnesota beat Green Bay in Week 1, watched Detroit fall to Buffalo on Thursday night, and now sits alone at the top of the North. With Tampa Bay, Miami, New Orleans, and Indianapolis next on the schedule before a Week 8 trip to Detroit, the runway is there for Minnesota to keep building its lead.
And yes, that means the overreactions are flying.
Dallas Turner is making the kind of early-season noise that gets people talking about awards they normally wouldn’t mention in September. The Vikings’ 2024 first-round pick came into the season with real buzz after posting a career-high eight sacks and 42 pressures in 2025, according to Pro Football Focus. Then he followed up a nine-pressure opener against the Packers with an even louder performance against Chicago.
Turner played the fourth-most snaps of his career, 59, and turned that into 11 pressures against the Bears, per PFF. He had never reached more than five pressures in a game last season. The headline plays were the sacks, including the one that ended the game as time expired in the fourth quarter.
DALLAS TURNER WALKOFF SACK FOR THE VIKINGS pic.twitter.com/8wGRHUIMKW
That kind of start puts Turner on pace for 170 pressures and 25.5 sacks over 17 games. That pace probably won’t hold, but it has already pushed him into the Defensive Player of the Year conversation. Only two Vikings have ever won the award: Alan Page in 1971 and Keith Millard in 1989.
Turner is tied with Broncos edge rusher Nik Bonitto for the eighth-best 2026 DPOY odds at +2500 on FanDuel Sportsbook. He’s well behind Aidan Hutchinson (+500) and Will Anderson Jr. (+550), but he also leads all edge rushers with 20 pressures, which is one of only six player totals in double digits. He has four more pressures than the next closest player.
If he keeps this up, he’s not going away.
Ivan Pace Jr. also made a stronger case for himself in Week 2. He barely showed up on defense in the opener, which fit the way Minnesota used him against Green Bay.
Pace, who entered the league as an undrafted free agent, started 75% of his appearances in his first two seasons, but last year he made only six starts in 17 games and spent a lot of time on special teams. Against the Packers, he played 26 special teams snaps and just 10 on defense.
That changed against the Bears. Pace logged 14 defensive snaps, including his first three pass-rushing chances of the season.
He made those reps count, finishing with a pressure and a 77.4 pass-rush grade from PFF. Dating back to Week 18 against Green Bay last season, Pace has two pressures in his last three games, which is his best stretch in nearly a year.
He also made a real impact when Blake Cashman left the game. Pace came in, wrapped up D’Andre Swift near the goal line, and helped set up Jalen Redmond’s forced fumble.
Big Time. Jalen Redmond popped it loose.@rodgers_isaiah jumped on it. 📺: @NFLonFOX pic.twitter.com/ZHTgPUtKFJ
If Pace keeps playing like that, Minnesota won’t have much choice but to find him more snaps. Brian Flores could easily trim a handful of reps from Cashman, who has now played 65-plus snaps in back-to-back games after averaging 60.8 in 2025. That’s not a massive jump, but the Vikings may be smart to spread a few of those snaps to Pace moving forward.
The other overreaction is the simplest one: why not think Minnesota can hang onto the NFC North all the way to the end?
The schedule helps. Tankathon lists the Vikings’ remaining slate as the fourth-easiest in the league by win percentage at .400, behind only the Jaguars (.345), Texans (.345), and Bengals (.367).
Green Bay sits tied for fifth-easiest at .414, Detroit is 10th at .448, and Chicago is 18th at .533. Minnesota is also already 2-0 in the division, while the Packers and Bears are 0-1 and the Lions have yet to play an NFC North opponent.
There’s also the matter of what Minnesota still hasn’t shown. Kyler Murray played only 11 offensive snaps in the opener before leaving with a concussion, so the offense hasn’t really been seen in its full form yet. The encouraging sign is that Kevin O’Connell expects Murray to clear concussion protocol early this week, according to ESPN’s Kevin Seifert.
Kevin O’Connell says that Kyler Murray remains on track to be cleared from concussion protocol early this week.
Carson Wentz has handled the job well in relief, but Murray is the quarterback who gives the Vikings their best chance to win the division. Minnesota has already beaten the Bears and Packers without him, and it has every reason to feel good about its chances against Detroit after sweeping Dan Campbell’s team 2-0 last season.
DraftKings Sportsbook has the Vikings as +194 favorites to win the NFC North entering Week 3. That number looks pretty good now, and it could look even better if Minnesota keeps stacking wins, especially inside the division, this early in the year.
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Vikings Young Talent Is Already Separating After Ugly Week 2
The Vikings may have escaped Week 2 with an ugly 9-3 win over the Bears, but the bigger takeaway is how quickly some of the rosters younger pieces are starting to sort themselves out. Minnesota sits atop its division after a game that was more grind than glamour, and that usually gives a coaching staff a clearer read on who can be trusted when the offense is sputtering and every possession matters. Banks was active with six tackles, while Donovan Jackson kept building on a strong start at guard, giving the Vikings reasons to feel good about a couple of key developmental spots.
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Rob Brzezinski's Tough Call Helped Spark The Vikings Pass Rush
The Vikings decision to move Jonathan Greenard to the Eagles on draft weekend was not the kind of deal that promised an immediate payoff. It brought back two late third-round picks and, as interim general manager Rob Brzezinski acknowledged, it did not make the roster better right away, which is often the uncomfortable part of any front-office gamble.
Dallas Turner has since turned that patience into something more tangible for Minnesotas defense. His rise as a leading pass rusher has given the Vikings a fresh edge off the line, and it has helped frame Brzezinskis hard call as one of those moves that can look far more sensible once the season starts unfolding, even if the full story is still being written. [Read more 🡒]