The Vikings edged the Jaguars 12-7 on the scoreboard, despite a dominant defensive performance that was helped by the return of Blake Cashman.
Minnesota’s offense moved the ball and ran a whopping 82 offensive plays, including three that resulted in interceptions by Jacksonville inside the Jaguars 30-yard line.
John Parker Romo scored the first points of his career, going 4-for-4 on field goals from 45, 33, 34 and 29 yards in his first regular-season game.
According to NFL Media Research, that was the first instance in 148 games since 2010 in which a team did not score a touchdown and committed at least three turnovers and won.
Congrats to Justin Jefferson for moving past Adam Thielen for fourth on Minnesota’s all-time receiving yardage list.
Kudos to the Minnetonka Blues, the 2024 Vikings Special Olympics Unified Flag Football Team that represented Minnesota well with sportsmanship and playmaking in a 33-18 victory against a team sponsored by Jacksonville on Saturday. The squads followed the exciting game with a great lunch and arcade games and bowling. Participants were recognized on the video board before Sunday’s game. We’ll have more recap content on this soon.
I was traveling separately from the team charter for this trip, and there were so many fans along the way. Fans of other teams commented about how well Vikings fans show up.
Lastly, thank you to our veterans. I’m so appreciative of the freedoms we experience because of the service of others. We will have some Veterans Day content this week. Because of an odd scheduling quirk, the Vikings won’t host their Salute to Service home game until Dec. 1.
Let’s get to some questions.
Hey Guys,
Great defense. Embarrassing and disappointing offense. The offense couldn’t score a TD all game and failed to seal the game multiple times. Very lucky to win this game at all. Here are my 3 Ups and 3 Downs for the game:
UPS:
1. Game-opening three-and-out for the Vikings defense. Followed by a nice opening drive that stalled out and resulted in a Romo FG.
2. John Parker Romo and Jake McQuaide — nice job executing our FGs.
3. The defensive play all game. Especially the fourth quarter fumble recovery and interceptions. Too bad our feeble offense refused to seal the game at least three times.
DOWNS:
1. The Mac Jones-led first quarter TD drive for the Jags. Followed by three Darnold interceptions — two of them in the red zone, the last one to open the third quarter. Darnold keeps throwing to covered receivers? So Disappointing.
2. Poor call (again) on a third-and-short during the end of the half 2-minute drill? Instead of handing it off to Aaron Jones for a first down run or dumping it off short to T.J. Hockenson, the call goes way down field to a covered receiver and an incompletion?
3. Our red zone offense from soup to nuts — the execution, the calls, the interceptions. Can’t score a TD to seal the game in the late fourth quarter? I expect so much more.
I am worried about our offense and Darnold after this game. Looking forward to the Titans.
Respectfully,
— Jeff Ludwig
That was a solid start by the Vikings, who forced a quick three-and-out on one of seven Jaguars possessions that gained 15 or fewer yards (out of 10 possessions).
Romo and McQuaide answered the bell less than a week after their signings. The job Ryan Wright did as the holder for those field goals also deserves a hat tip.
The defense showed its gratitude to the offense for winning the time of possession 42:19 to 17:41 by showing some explosiveness and an ability to rachet up the pressure on a backup quarterback. Jacksonville ran just 16 offensive plays in the second half, and three of those were turnovers.
The Jaguars did pop for a couple of explosive plays on their second possession, but Minnesota was able to make some adjustments after that and put together a performance that looked more like the defense did earlier in the season.
All three of Darnold’s interceptions were among the nine targets to Jefferson, who finished with five catches for 48 yards. The first was on a slant, and the defensive back made a nice play on the football to tip it. Foye Oluokun snared the deflection. Most would say the other two picks resulted from trying to force the ball to a top playmaker.
It was really good to see Darnold build on his chemistry with Hockenson in their second game together. Hockenson caught eight passes for 72 yards on nine targets and helped convert four consecutive third downs during the 17-play drive in the second quarter that lasted more than 10 minutes of game time.
The Vikings offense and Darnold know they can do better in the red zone (and have already this season) than the 0-for-5 showing.
Well, I’m back and I’m not happy. Why does it seem that we play down to the competition no matter how many people say, ‘It’s a professional football team. Everybody’s good.’ — Not when you’re 2-7 and missing most of your starters. Starting to look like the Vikings of the past, which is not good. The way they play right now, not going anywhere in the playoffs as usual. And again getting very stagnant on offense. O’Connell’s play calling is head scratching. Two weeks in a row they try reverse in a red zone and lose yards. Next week is another game we should win easily, but if we struggle again, it’s not looking good for the tough games down the road. Defense keeps bailing them out, and I’m grateful the defense is good, but the offense has to do their part. Dominant stats but not good enough for when you have to play good teams in the playoffs you have to get touchdowns not field goals. I know Jefferson is the greatest receiver in the league, but there are other guys you gotta throw the ball to. QB forces to him too much. It’s good to get a win, but we gotta be better than this. Frustrated and still suffering till we win a Super Bowl.
— Frankie in CT.
The Jaguars do have some talented players, and although they fell to 2-8 on the season, that was the sixth time Jacksonville has lost by five or fewer points this season.
Minnesota won so many statistical measures that could have made the score lopsided, but the Jaguars, who entered the game with two interceptions on the season, made plays from their shell defense to keep points off the board.
I don’t know all that goes into concepting a trick play for a particular opponent or what motivates the timing of one, but Sunday’s ill-fated attempt resulted in a loss of 7 by Jalen Nailor, who could have thrown the ball away but played it a little safer. That play occurred on the snap that followed a fourth-and-1 conversion on a sneak by Darnold. It depleted the momentum, but the Vikings did take a 9-7 lead at the end of the drive.
I’ve been defending Darnold all season. Even preferring him over J.J. McCarthy to start, play well and allow J.J. to sit and learn. Sam’s had a good year so far, at least the numbers show it that way; however, his accuracy has wavered. Interceptions aside, Darnold missed on several passes. Was high on more than one. Behind open receivers on others. Good catches were made, but my point is, if he’s hitting receivers on the money in stride, I’m not bringing this up. But here we are two games in a row with poor accuracy. That’s what worries me most. That and, of course, throwing INTs in the red zone. Sam has to fix that, and O’Connell needs to assist with more high probability play calls. Defense played lights out, best performance of the year, in my opinion. Evening up the turnovers in the final quarter was clutch. Sam’s gotta protect the ball better next week in Tennessee so we can keep up with Detroit. A lot of games left. Let’s keep positive Vikes!
SKOL!!!
— J.B. Brunet
Aside from the picks, there seemed to be a few that Darnold would like back. Such is life on a 24-for-38 day (63.2%, noticeably lower than his season hit rate of 69.5% through Minnesota’s first eight games of 2024).
O’Connell reiterated his confidence in Darnold, and Aaron Jones did after the game, as well. O’Connell credited Darnold for some of the other things he did at the line of scrimmage when the Vikings made checks into different offensive plays.
All results are independent of each other, but the important thing is the Vikings got another win by having two phases of the game compensate for the offense’s giveaways.
It looked like Minnesota was going to get some help from Houston, who led Detroit by 16 points at halftime but fell to the Lions 26-23. Detroit prevailed despite a rough first half from Jared Goff, who had been playing the position nearly perfect in recent weeks but went 15-for-30 with five interceptions on Sunday Night Football.
Big-time oscillating emotions watching the game. A frustrating, agonizing win. Beats a frustrating and agonizing loss.
Question. Any specific reason for the turnovers in the red zone? From a fan’s perspective, it looks like just bad judgment vs. incredible defensive play.
On the positive side, good thing for a defense that can dominate weaker offenses. And hopeful regarding the untimely and number of interceptions that this is just a bad stretch.
On the negative side, if the offense doesn’t stop playing offensive football the next two games might be the last two wins. The offense has no issue moving the ball. Problem is the untimely turnovers. The game should not have even been close.
Rant over. A new week. A new opportunity to improve.
SKOL!
— Noel in Bayfield, Wisconsin
There’s probably a little bit of play call and more of the decisions made regarding where to go with the football.
Jacksonville did make plays on those end zone INTs. The first looked like it may have been trapped, but that pass was well off the mark. The second one, I think someone in the press box actually said “interception” while the ball was still in flight. Sure enough, that was the result.
We’ll see how things look at Tennessee in Week 11 and if Minnesota can close out a sweep of the AFC teams on its schedule (Texans, Jets, Colts, Jaguars and Titans).
The Vikings have outscored the first four AFC teams 34-7, 23-17, 21-13 and 12-7 (a combined 90-
A beautiful win. It wasn’t beautiful to watch at times, especially the third pick. That one had me screaming at the TV, and the cat jumped off my lap. The fourth pick that was overturned by penalty just had me shaking my head. What gave me hope was the offense moving the ball and defense playing lights out. This win feels different to me because they won where they had no business winning or losing the game. Who coined the phrase “Just win baby!’?
I do have a question, why do you think O’Connell calls plays without hiding his mouth like most coaches in the NFL do? Isn’t it a competitive advantage to doing so?
Thanks for letting us fans express our opinions.
— Al Lindberg in Denmark, Wisconsin
Hopefully the cat was able to unwind and return by the end of the game, especially in time for the Vikings to force turnovers and for Camryn Bynum to do the Raygun tribute.
Former Raiders Owner Al Davis famously coined the “Just win baby” mantra.
I’m not quite sure how coaches decide their approach of trying to cover their mouths but sometimes do so while holding up their call sheet. Cameras are really good these days.
Coach O’Connell, I KNOW you are run adverse on third-and-2, third-and-3, and if I know, your opponents know. And look at your results, and not just today.
Our top opponent, Detroit, is a team that keeps you guessing, running more often than most teams. Seems to be hurting the team’s results.
— Kevin (St. Paul native, now in Florida)
After getting Aaron Jones back in the game from a chest injury, he rushed for 5 and 4 to set up a third-and-1, but Minnesota opted for a pass play, and Darnold was sacked, which forced a punt with 2:42 remaining and gave Jacksonville one more opportunity.
Sometimes a look by the defense will prompt a change at the line of scrimmage, but it would be nice on a third-and-1 to run for a conversion.
Well, I was wrong. The Vikings did win another game. In fact, they won two since my very pessimistic prediction. An ugly win against Jaguars, but the team showed toughness and resilience on a day when the offense was not at their best even though the stat sheet shows the Vikings with way more yards and time of possession. Just no points to show for it. They almost (but not quite) beat themselves in this one.
7-2 is something to be proud of. SKOL
— Curt F. in Valdosta, Georgia
A team can’t get to 8-2 without getting to 7-2, and I do believe what the defense was able to do instills confidence in the completeness of this team, even if the offense had a shaky day.
First off, congratulations to the team on gutting out the win. I thought the team played tough as a whole and there are a lot of praises to be passed around.
That said, Darnold’s play for the second straight week is just unacceptable. He himself has said so in press conferences, as well as saying he has made “bad passes,” “forced throws,” “underthrown” receivers and missed open targets. I give Sam all credit for owning these issues and taking responsibility, but when does it move from owning it to fixing it? Empty talk at the press conference doesn’t win football games. The mistakes he made against the Jaguars were the same ones he made against the Colts, and I didn’t see much to suggest his play changes in the heat of the game.
We are in a stretch of the season where we should have a real good chance to stack up some wins. Our QB can’t be (literally) throwing them away.
— Mike in Arden Hills
I do believe the way Darnold peppered the tight ends was encouraging, especially with the ability to move the chains, but there were also some missed opportunities. I also believe he is committed to finding the fixes.
It’s an ongoing process for a QB in his first year in this system