The Vikings left New Orleans with a 5-0 record and a bye week to breathe, but they did plenty of work the hard way before getting there.
Minnesota opened the game short-handed on offense, already missing Christian Darrisaw, Jordan Addison, and Donovan Jackson. Then T.J.
Hockenson left on the second snap, and the night got even thinner. Still, the Vikings came out sharp enough to build early momentum, only to keep handing it back with mistakes.
They settled for an early field goal, moved back into the red zone, and then watched Aaron Jones put the ball on the ground. That turnover flipped the feel of the game and helped the Saints answer with a long drive.
The first half kept swinging on self-inflicted damage. Minnesota tacked on another long field goal right before halftime to trim the margin to 7-6, then took advantage of a fumble on the opening kickoff of the second half.
That’s when Jefferson hauled in an insane grab over three defenders. But just when the offense looked ready to stretch the lead after an interception, Myles Price’s fumble-six tied things right back up.
From there, Jones helped rescue the afternoon. He answered his earlier mistake with a touchdown run, Will Reichard stayed perfect, and Minnesota pushed ahead 23-13. Another Shough interception essentially ended it, and the Vikings head into the bye still unbeaten.
The first number that jumps off the page is 209:24. That’s how long Minnesota went before trailing again, dating back to Week 1 against the Green Bay Packers, when they led in the fourth quarter.
For most of this game, the Vikings controlled the flow. They dominated the opening quarter until procedural penalties and turnovers got in the way again.
The same issue has shown up repeatedly this season: the offense struggles to get lined up, struggles to get calls in, and burns timeouts or stalls drives before they really start.
Then there’s the quarterback work. Kyler Murray completed 20 straight passes, including his final eight from the previous week, before finally missing.
That stretch was one of the cleanest parts of Minnesota’s first-half offense. Murray and Kevin O’Connell looked synced up early, moving the ball for 119 yards on the first two drives before Jones’ fumble changed the tone.
Even with sacks showing up at awkward times, Murray kept making plays with limited help. He found Tai Felton, Ben Yurosek, Gavin Bartholomew, and Myles Price for useful gains while working without Addison and Hockenson.
Murray also gave Minnesota a layer it needed badly: movement. He had three big third-down scrambles that kept drives alive.
When the pocket didn’t hold, he used his legs to turn bad looks into new life. On multiple third downs, coverage held up and Murray still found a way through it.
On third-and-11, he slipped out and hit DeeJay Dallas for a first down. Just as important, defenses had to account for the threat of him running, which created easier windows for other receivers.
The turnover story was brutal. The Vikings fumbled twice in the red zone and gave the Saints 13 points off those mistakes.
Jones’ early fumble helped lead to the first touchdown, and Price’s fumble set up the defensive score. Minnesota’s defense and special teams did their part to create short fields and force chances, but the offense kept undercutting the advantage with procedural penalties and turnovers.
Jones still deserves his share of the spotlight. He became just the sixth running back to record 75 touchdowns with an eight-yard run into the end zone, and he finished with 25 carries for 113 yards.
With Jordan Mason likely back after the bye week, Jones should slide into a smaller role, but that doesn’t erase what he’s done. He’s played through injury, carried the load, and given the Vikings a back they can trust when the offense starts to wobble.
That matters even more in this version of the offense, because Jones has let Minnesota keep leaning into its run-first identity instead of forcing everything onto Murray while the quarterback keeps learning the system. The Vikings beat the Saints, but the bigger story was the same one that’s followed them all season: enough talent to control a game, and just enough sloppiness to make it interesting.
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