The Vikings don’t look like a team that can simply line up and outgun people right now, and Sunday’s win over Green Bay made that pretty clear. With Kyler Murray sidelined by a concussion, Kevin O’Connell leaned into a survival formula: run the ball, protect it, and let Brian Flores’ defense turn the game into a mess for the other side.
That approach produced a strange but effective mix. Minnesota finished with 27 quarterback drop-backs and 34 rushing attempts, even though Green Bay had the lead for much of the afternoon.
Flores, meanwhile, sent blitzes on 87% of Jordan Love’s pass attempts, according to Pro Football Focus. It wasn’t always pretty, but it helped the Vikings come away with a 17-point win after ESPN’s gamecast had them with less than a 10% chance to win late in the third quarter.
The run game never really found a smooth rhythm. Minnesota averaged 3.9 yards per carry, and a big chunk of that came from Jordan Mason’s 28-yard burst.
There were plenty of snaps where the Packers’ fronts won at the line and forced the Vikings into one- and two-yard gains. Still, the bigger picture was favorable: no turnovers from Wentz, his lone interception wiped away by a penalty, and nearly 33 minutes of possession for a team that has had trouble controlling games under O’Connell.
The defensive gamble had its own ugly stretches. Love burned the Vikings for an 81-yard touchdown and hit other big plays into the space the blitzes created, finishing with 387 passing yards.
But Minnesota kept squeezing the game in other ways. The defense sacked him four times for 34 lost yards, forced two fumbles, including one Andrew Van Ginkel recovered at the goal line, and picked him off late.
Green Bay also went just 3-of-15 on third or fourth down.
That is the kind of football Minnesota may need to keep playing as long as Murray is out. The schedule doesn’t get softer, either, with Chicago next after the Bears scored 59 points against Carolina in their opener. If the Vikings are going to keep surviving, it will have to be with the same blueprint: control the ball, win the turnover battle, and steal field position with plays like Myles Price’s 68-yard return and the kicking of Will Reichard.
O’Connell has been talking all offseason about not needing 300-yard passing days to win. Last season’s 5-0 finish showed the Vikings they can get there in other ways.
Sometimes that means leaning on Flores’ defense for sacks and stops. Sometimes it means waiting for a special teams spark.
And sometimes it means winning ugly while the offense figures itself out.
Wentz handled the job better than the setup suggested he might. He had barely any practice reps all summer because of the quarterback competition, but he still completed 12 of 19 passes and threw two excellent touchdowns.
At the same time, the reasons he is a backup showed up too. He was sacked three times, completed only two passes on eight pressured drop-backs, and took some heavy shots that had him hobbling up from the turf.
He also had one of those panic moments that have followed him for years, throwing the ball straight to the other team in the end zone in the fourth quarter. A flag saved him there. Since 2021, Wentz has 21 interceptions in 31 starts.
Chicago’s defense may not exactly be a terror after allowing Bryce Young to have a career day on Sunday, but that doesn’t change what the Vikings need to do. Against the Bears, they still should be built around ball control and field position.
Chicago’s offense under Ben Johnson has given Minnesota problems before, and last year the Vikings had a game with J.J. McCarthy where they fought all the way through before a long kickoff return set up the winning field goal.
That kind of game is the model now.
For Minnesota, the next step is simple to say and harder to execute: run the ball better and clean up the line play. PFF had the Vikings 24th out of 30 teams in Week 1 run blocking before Monday night. The secondary has to tighten up too, because Green Bay found too many open receivers, and Caleb Williams can make defenses pay when plays break down.
No one knows what this will look like once Murray is back. Judging his season by 11 plays would be foolish.
But the Vikings may be stuck living in this version of themselves for a while: aggressive on defense, willing to grind on offense, and hoping the breaks swing their way. For now, though, the important part is much simpler.
They beat the Packers, and in a division this tough, that kind of win matters even when it comes wrapped in chaos.
In Other News...
Kevin OConnell May Be Making The Change Vikings Fans Needed
Kevin OConnell kept the focus squarely on wins after the Vikings comeback against the Packers, and that approach matters for a team that has spent enough time getting talked into the wrong priorities. Minnesotas head coach has long been known for his offensive background, but the message coming out of this one was less about style points and more about sticking with what can actually travel in a tight game. Even with the run game not always looking smooth early, the Vikings still handed it off 27 times, a sign OConnell was willing to stay patient rather than abandon the plan at the first sign of trouble.
For Vikings fans, that kind of steadiness is part of the appeal as the 2025 season takes shape around J.J. McCarthy. OConnell has already shown a willingness to adjust the offense for his quarterback, and the bigger question is whether he keeps leaning into the practical side of coaching instead of chasing appearances. If this is the version of OConnell Minnesota gets more often, the Vikings may be set up for a more grounded and sustainable stretch than the one fans have seen in the past. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Fans Are Melting Down After Vikings Win For One Reason
The Vikings comeback against Green Bay had plenty of football reasons behind it, starting with a second-half rally after the Packers had pushed out to a 12-point lead. Minnesota kept hanging around, the Packers kept giving away ground with their own mistakes, and the game turned into the kind of late mess that can flip a divisional result in a hurry.
Even so, it was the fourth quarter sequence that had Packers fans grinding their teeth after the final whistle. Several penalties from Shawn Hochulis crew helped set up Minnesotas go-ahead drive, adding another layer of frustration to a loss already defined by Green Bays late offensive line collapse and the self-inflicted errors that let the Vikings back in. [Read more 🡒]
Vikings Head Into Bears Showdown With One Huge Problem
The Vikings head to Chicago for a Week 2 NFC North test with plenty already hanging over the matchup. They got through their opener with Carson Wentz at quarterback after Kyler Murray went down, but Murrays availability this week is still unresolved, leaving Minnesota to sort out its plan on the fly while trying to stay on schedule early in the season.
Chicago enters the divisional game with a real buzz after Caleb Williams delivered a strong Week 1 showing and helped move the betting market in the Bears direction. Minnesota now faces the kind of road game that can reveal a lot quickly, especially with the Bears favored and the Vikings still waiting on clarity at the most important position on the field. [Read more 🡒]