On Sun, Nov 9, the Minnesota Vikings hosted the Baltimore Ravens in a high-stakes game between two teams who have stumbled in their first-half schedules but each having a good chance to increase their odds of making it into the playoffs with another win. The Vikings were coming off an incredible win on the road over the Detroit Lions and currently stand at 2-0 in NFC North division play. J.J McCarthy made a successful return to the field with a three-TD performance and got some help from the Brian Flores defense, which contained Detroit’s dangerous offensive assets. As for Baltimore, they started out with a horrid record of 1-5 due to a few bad game performances and no Lamar Jackson available for a few of them. But after their bye week, the Ravens started winning a couple of games in beating the Chicago Bears at home and getting a Thursday night road win over the Miami Dolphins that featured Jackson’s return. Both of these teams were mostly healthy, with Aaron Jones being the only major unknown for Minnesota but he was good to go. Baltimore was in second place in the AFC North and seeking to get closer to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the division standings along with making strides in a mostly weak AFC playoff picture. For the Vikings, they needed to win this game so they could keep up with the other three teams in the NFC North, with a couple of consecutive in-division games on-tap coming up in the next two weeks for Minnesota. At 4-4 and in a super strong NFC playoff contender field, the Vikings had to get a huge win in an inter-conference game against an opponent who used to go by a different franchise name but they have been known by their current moniker for the past 30 years. With nearly similar shades of purple to them(a different hue of it), this game was undoubtedly a Purple Reign battle and whoever won it would benefit greatly in the standings for this week. So, let’s get into it.

Baltimore received the ball to start the game with Justice Hill returning the ball to the 31-yard line. On the first play from scrimmage, Jackson threw an incomplete pass towards Zay Flowers, with the pass being defended by Jonathan Greenard. On second down, Jackson scrambled up the middle but got caught by Blake Cashman for no gain. On third down, Jackson threw the ball to tight end Isaiah Likely, who caught the ball but was tackled down short of the line to gain by Isaiah Rodgers. On fourth and short, Baltimore opted to punt the ball with Jordan Stout booting the ball down inside the Vikings’ 10-yard line and Myles Price ran back with the ball for only a five-yard return.

On their first drive of the day, the Vikings’ offense started with a couple of plays involving Aaron Jones. On the third play of the game, McCarthy threw the ball to Justin Jefferson, who made the catch for a 10-yard gain and a first down. After a couple of more plays run through Jones, on third and long McCarthy launched a deep pass to the guy who he connected with for a game-sealing play last week in Jalen Nailor, who made a huge catch over cornerback Aholi Gilman and nearly ran all the way for the touchdown but was tackled short at the 4-yard line. The Vikings were in perfect position right away, as Kevin O’Connell called a timeout with the offense not organized in getting downfield. On 1st & goal, McCarthy handed the ball off to Jones, who ran it in for a big opening-drive touchdown. It was Jones’ first touchdown of the season and the extra point by Will Reichard was good to make this a 7-0 lead early for Minnesota, which is getting off to better starts in first halves in the past two games.

The Ravens responded with a solid drive with some short runs by Derrick Henry setting up some clutch chain-moving passes by Jackson to targets such as Mark Andrews, Zay Flowers and DeAndre Hopkins. After a couple of incomplete passes in field goal range, the Baltimore kicking unit came out and kicker Tyler Loop made a 44 yard field goal to make this a 7-3 score in favor of the Vikings. On the next offensive drive, a couple of tough runs by Jones, including one that had him lose five yards, led to an odd third down play where McCarthy threw a backwards pass to Jefferson, who in turn was not able to run forward and hurled the ball back towards his fellow “JJ”. McCarthy ran forward in trying to pick up the first down, but ended up being tackled a couple of yards short of the line to gain. A trick play that nearly worked led to a punt by Ryan Wright, who had a good kick that was fair caught at the Ravens’ 15-yard line. The first quarter ended with an empty-handed drive from Baltimore, which had a false start and a pass for negative yardage to Henry back them into a hard third down where Jackson threw a pass to Andrews that only went six yards. A bad punt by Stout gave the Vikings great field position at their 43-yard line to start out the second quarter.

The offense would have some yardage gained with a couple of passes completed by McCarthy to Jones and Nailor for a first down in field goal range. After a couple of ineffective runs, a false start penalty on Blake Brandel occurred on third down. On the longer third down play, McCarthy passed it to Jefferson, who was taken down by cornerback Malaki Starks for a gain of five. The field goal unit came on to have Reichard attempt a 49-yard field goal, which he made to rebuild the Vikings’ lead to seven points. The next drive for the Ravens was a three-and-out, with an incomplete pass on third down to Hopkins being defended by Andrew Van Ginkel. The Vikings got the ball back at their 16-yard line, with a good run by Jones and a McCarthy pass to Jefferson for a first down occurring. Before their next play, the Minnesota offense got set back five yards again by a false start on Brian O’Neill. After an incomplete pass to Jefferson, McCarthy found Adam Thielen for a nine-yard catch for his first reception in a while. On third down, McCarthy aimed a deep pass towards Jefferson, but the ball was intercepted by Ravens cornerback Geno Stone, who ran the ball back but would be ruled down by contact at the spot where he picked off the ball. A tough interception thrown there by McCarthy, who has thrown at least one interception in each game he has appeared in so far this season.

Baltimore took advantage of an illegal contact foul on Byron Murphy with a strong run by Henry and a couple of big runs by backup running back Keaton Mitchell fueling the Ravens into the red zone. The Vikings’ defense held their ground with a third and short stop on Henry forcing the clock down. O’Connell didn’t call any of the Vikings’ remaining timeouts, as the Baltimore offense could have gone for it on fourth down. But they elected not to as John Harbaugh called a timeout and the field goal unit for the Ravens came on to have Loop kick a chip-shot 28-yard field goal, which he made to make the lead for Minnesota go down to 10-6. The Vikings offense came back on after Price took a touchback in the end zone. On the first play from scrimmage, McCarthy threw a pass to Jordan Addison for five yards, but on the next couple of plays McCarthy threw two straight incompletions, including a ball that was batted down at the line of scrimmage on third down. On fourth down with under 50 seconds left, Wright booted the ball deep into Baltimore territory, but Ravens kick returner LaJohntay Wester ran the ball back to the 25-yard line to give his team better field position.

With around 30 seconds left and two timeouts left, Jackson threw a good pass to Justice Hill for 12 yards and a first down in bounds. Harbaugh called his team’s second timeout of the half and on the next play Jackson passed it to Isaiah Likely, who went out of bounds for an 11-yard gain. Being near field goal range with around 20 seconds left in the half, Jackson threw a good pass to Flowers, who caught the ball and scampered all the way to the Vikings’ 25-yard line, where he stepped out of bounds for a big first down. Now in field goal range, Baltimore simply needed to gain enough yards for Loop to be more comfortable. After the Vikings called timeout, the next play featured Jackson stepping back into the pocket. But charging the super-mobile QB was Dallas Turner, who sacked Jackson down at the Minnesota 35-yard line. But a flag was thrown for roughing the passer due to Turner’s body weight landing down on Jackson. The controversial foul had the ball positioned half the distance to the goal line from the line of scrimmage and an automatic first down. After that tough foul called on Turner, the Ravens’ field goal unit came on and Loop made a 30-yard kick for his third field goal of the half. Down by one point now, Baltimore had taken advantage of its defense putting pressure on J.J McCarthy, who wasn’t looking as comfortable so far as he did in Detroit. The first half ended with a weak kickoff return by Price and the Vikings were up 10-9 at the break. In spite of a good opening drive, Minnesota didn’t have a good rhythm going offensively. A deep bomb pass being intercepted on a double coverage pass towards Jefferson was a miscalculation by McCarthy, who made some good completions to get himself over 100 yards passing in the half(a couple of good long ones to Nailor mainly making up the bulk of the yardage). The Brian Flores defense was containing Baltimore’s ground game, but Lamar Jackson was doing a good job passing the ball against the not-so-strong secondary for the Vikings. Getting the ball first to start the second half, the McCarthy-led offense needed to re-establish itself and gain some momentum for the defense to take advantage of. The Ravens ground game wouldn’t stay dormant for long, so a good score out of the locker room was what the home team had to achieve.

The second half started with a kickoff return of 22 yards by Price and a massive run by Jones, who gained 17 yards on the first play from scrimmage. After another Jones run for a gain of five yards, McCarthy threw a solid pass to Addison for four yards at midfield. On third and short, McCarthy launched another deep pass from the pocket downfield and the ball was meant to be caught by Jefferson, who instead stepped on the foot of Ravens star safety Marlon Humphrey, who ended up intercepting the pass. Humphrey ran the ball back to his team’s 29-yard line as McCarthy made another mistake in the air. This was specifically a bad play call by Kevin O’Connell, who decided to go for a deep pass instead of running the ball on third and short. O’Connell figured that if the pass was incomplete, the offense would go for it potentially on fourth down. Or not. Either way, it was a bad play call that would come back to haunt the Vikings in this second half.

The Ravens benefited from a pass interference call on Harrison Smith as the very next play was a Jackson completion to Flowers for a 22-yard gain and then a good pass to tight end Charlie Kolar for a gain of 23 yards got Baltimore into goal-to-go range. The Brian Flores defense held its ground in the red zone again as Jackson threw a couple of incompletions after a run for no gain by Henry. The field goal unit came out again and Loop kicked a 22-yard field goal that gave the Ravens their first lead of the day at 12-10. The Vikings did well not to give up a touchdown after a turnover by their young QB and their next possession could hopefully lead to a score that would put them ahead for good. Well, the ensuing kickoff showed a horrid result as Myles Price received the kick barely inside the end zone and decided to run the ball back. But when Price got caught, a couple of Ravens defenders jarred the ball out of his grasp and the ball was loose. Price’s knee hadn’t touched the turf when the fumble happened and a massive pile of white and purple jerseys converged around the ball. After breaking up the dog pile, the referees determined that Keonte Jackson of the Ravens had recovered the ball. A horrible dynamic kickoff mistake by Minnesota and now Baltimore had a chance to score a touchdown off the third turnover of the game by the Vikings. A couple of Jackson runs occurred to start the drive and placed the ball in the red zone right away. Jonathan Greenard suffered a shoulder injury that forced him to exit the game, and on third and short, Mark Andrews took the snap in trying to do a “tight end Tush Push” but he instead pitched the ball backwards to Jackson, who ran for a good gain of three yards and a first down as a running back. On the next snap, Jackson threw a good pass to wideout Rashod Bateman, who nearly got into the end zone but picked up a first down inside the one-yard line. On the next play, Jackson handed the ball off to Justice Hill, who ran the ball in for a touchdown. The extra point by Loop was good and Baltimore had taken a 19-10 lead and had scored 13 points off three Vikings turnovers.

The ensuing kickoff was a near disaster again for the Vikings as Price lost control of the ball again at the 27-yard line and Tavierre Thomas tried to recover the ball but was unable to do so as another skirmish for the ball occurred. Thankfully, the football was recovered by Ben Yurosek at the 33-yard line as Minnesota nearly avoided another kickoff return catastrophe. On the first play from scrimmage, McCarthy handed the ball off to Jordan Mason, who ran for 13 yards and a first down. Before the next play, a flag was thrown for a false start on Yurosek, who has been getting more snaps as a tight end due to Josh Oliver being out with a foot injury these past two weeks. Being five yards back, the Vikings regained some yardage as McCarthy completed another pass to Adam Thielen, who gained seven yards before being tackled by Roquan Smith. McCarthy then had a short pass to Mason pick up six yards and on third and short, McCarthy tried to find Thielen again but the pass was broken up by tall safety Kyle Hamilton. On fourth and short, O’Connell decided to keep the offense on and go for it, as McCarthy stepped back to pass and threw the ball towards Addison but the pass was broken up by Chidobe Awuzie. However, there was also a flag on the field but it wasn’t on Baltimore. It was a personal foul for an illegal blindside block on Thielen, who was furious at the foul that he was called for on the line of scrimmage for laying down a good block on Hamilton. That 15-yard penalty was enforced from the previous spot and have the Ravens offense start their next drive in Vikings’ territory. Another missed opportunity due to a false start foul hurt the Vikings’ chances of coming back in this game.

The Baltimore offense didn’t gain any yards on their short drive, but they were on the edge of field goal range for Loop, who would be attempting a super-long 56-yard field goal. The ball was snapped and the hold was down, and the kick by Loop went up, but glided wide left of the goalpost and was no good. The Vikings had good field position on their next drive and looked to take advantage of it. Three consecutive good plays that picked up first downs pushed the Vikings to the edge of the red zone. But a false start penalty on Christian Darrisaw pushed them back five yards and three straight incomplete passes by McCarthy forced the field goal unit onto the field. Reichard attempted a 43-yard field goal and made it, as the Vikings were now down 19-13. However, one of the plays where they could have scored a touchdown on was a pass towards Jefferson in the end zone that was broken up by Alohi Gilman. The defense now needed to stand its ground again before Baltimore gained more momentum than they already possessed.

Unfortunately, to end out the third quarter the Ravens started getting their ground game going as Derrick Henry started running for good chunks of yards for first downs. To start out the fourth quarter, Henry got a lot of carries that put Baltimore into the red zone. A good run by Jackson that nearly resulted in a touchdown put the Ravens at the two-yard line, with Jackson on the next play throwing a solid pass to the back of the end zone, where Andrews got both of his feet down for a massive touchdown. Instead of settling for an extra point, Baltimore elected to attempt a two-point conversion in looking to push their lead to a more secure position of 14 points. They succeeded as Jackson found Bateman in the end zone and the Ravens were now up 27-13 on the Vikings. Another double-digit deficit facing them in the fourth quarter on their home field, Minnesota desperately needed a strong drive that ended with a touchdown.

After a kick return by Price(that he didn’t fumble), the Vikings got off to a great start on this offensive drive by having a run by Mason for 12 yards and then getting a free five yards on a pass interference foul on Roquan Smith. After McCarthy got sacked for a loss of three yards and a short pass to T.J Hockenson to make up some of that lost yardage, on third down McCarthy threw a deep bomb to Jefferson, who was unable to catch the ball but he drew another flag for pass interference on Awuzie that gave the Vikings a first down at the Baltimore 20-yard line. A run by Mason for one yard and a McCarthy pass to Nailor for six made this a third and short situation. McCarthy threw the ball towards Addison, but the pass was broken up and incomplete. On fourth down, O’Connell decided to have the offense go for it in order to pick up three yards or more for a first down. Sadly, McCarthy couldn’t complete a short pass to Jefferson and the offense came up empty-handed in the red zone, which continues to be a kryptonite for the offense. Thankfully, a sack on Jackson by Jonathan Allen backed up Baltimore’s offense and forced them into another three-and-out. The punt by Stout went out of bounds at the 35-yard line and with around five and a half minutes left in regulation, this was really the last chance for the Vikings’ offense to do something in this game.

Unbelievably, on the first snap McCarthy got flagged for a false start(a rare one on the QB), but on the next play he passed the ball up the middle to Addison, who gained 26 yards in getting into Ravens’ territory. Another flag on Baltimore for pass interference(on Roquan Smith again) gave the Vikings a first down at the plus 35. After another incomplete pass towards Addison, on second down McCarthy threw the ball to the middle towards Addison again, but the pass would be intercepted by R. Smith at the 21-yard line. But as is the standard with all turnovers, the replay center reviewed the catch by Smith to see if he “survived the ground”. The same stupid provision of the catch rule that hurt Minnesota in three straight games(costing them a potential victory in Week 7, robbing Isaiah Rodgers of an early pick-6 in Week 8 and denying Jefferson a catch due to a coach’s challenge by Dan Campbell) helped them here, as the ruling on the field was changed to an incomplete pass due to Smith not securing the ball enough for it not to hit the turf. Even though he had both hands on it, the tip of the ball hit the ground and was ruled incomplete. I don’t know what they’re drinking or eating at the replay center in New York, but it’s clear that a lot of catches on balls that go down to the ground are being reversed this year. A lot more than in previous seasons. With McCarthy being spared of a third interception thrown in this game, he refocused his efforts to try and lead the offense into the end zone. Another incomplete pass to Jefferson on third down forced another fourth down conversion attempt, with McCarthy scrambling to the right and throwing the ball right at the line of scrimmage downfield to Nailor, who nearly lost control of the ball but came down with it for an incredible catch that gained 28 yards and gave the Vikings a first down inside the ten-yard line. A two-yard scramble by McCarthy on first & goal led to two straight incomplete passes. On fourth & goal(after another false start on O’Neill), the Minnesota offense went for it again as McCarthy scrambled to the right and threw a pass to the back of the end zone, where Nailor caught the ball and got both of his feet down in bounds for an amazing touchdown. The Vikings were now down by one possession, but instead of kicking the extra point the offense stayed on to go for two. I guess O’Connell wanted to respond to Baltimore’s successful two-point conversion earlier in the fourth quarter with an attempt of his own to get the Vikings back down by six points. McCarthy stepped back to pass and he threw the ball towards Jefferson, but the pass was incomplete and the two-point conversion failed for the Vikings. Now down by eight, if they somehow got the ball back, Minnesota would need a touchdown and a two-point conversion just to tie the game.

The Ravens would start this huge drive at their own 17-yard line following a flinch on the dynamic kickoff by one of their kick return blockers. A run by Jackson for six yards was followed by a timeout taken by O’Connell, who wanted to preserve as much time as he could for the McCarthy-led offense. On second down, Henry ran the ball for three yards in nearly picking up a first down, with O’Connell calling the Vikings’ second timeout. On third and short, Jackson handed the ball off to fullback Patrick Ricard, who gained three yards and got a huge first down. O’Connell called the Vikings’ final timeout of the second half, with only the two-minute warning as a means of stopping the clock available for the defense. Another first down by Baltimore would mean certain defeat, with a first down run by Henry going for no gain as Cashman had a huge tackle at the line of scrimmage. On second down, a near mistake occurred for Baltimore as Jackson had trouble handling the snap in aborting the ball but Flowers recovered the fumble and ran forward for a gain of six yards from the line of scrimmage. The two-minute warning came and the fate of this game(or whether the Vikings’ offense would get the ball back) hung on a third down coming up. A potential pass play was something for the Brian Flores defense to watch out for, as the Ravens sought to close out the game in their own special fashion. On third and four, Jackson scrambled and looked to pass the ball to Charlie Kolar, but the ball was deflected by Van Ginkel at the line of scrimmage. The pass was incomplete and it was fourth down. With the clock stopped, the offense would have more time to work with following the punt. The punt by Stout traveled 50 yards, with Price returning the ball for 12 yards but the return was negated due to a holding foul on Dwight McGlothern. The foul was assessed half the distance to the goal line and the Vikings would be starting this TD+2-PT conversion or bust drive at their eight-yard line.

McCarthy started this all-passing drive with an incompletion to Jefferson, then ran with the ball himself for a big gain of 26 yards and a first down in bounds. With the clock running, the offense hurried up to the line of scrimmage and McCarthy completed a pass to Hockenson for four yards, but T.J was tackled down in bounds. McCarthy had to take the next snap quickly, with him attempting to throw the ball towards Nailor, but he would have his pass deflected by Dre’Mont Jones at the line of scrimmage. Before the third down play, the eighth false start of the game was called on the Vikings’ offense and it was the third one on Brian O’Neill. An unacceptable mistake in a tight situation with under one minute left. On third and longer, McCarthy had to scramble again as he went to the left for seven yards but was taken down in bounds. With the clock running, the offense was unable to spike the ball on fourth down as McCarthy got everyone organized and scrambled in the pocket out of control in looking to throw a pass for a first down that got out of bounds. But instead he threw the ball to Jones, who dove for it in bounds and he was unable to make the catch. The game was over as the Baltimore offense came out to take one last knee and the Ravens had won the game by a final score of 27-19.

A tough loss for the Vikings, who fall to 4-5 and remain in last place in the NFC North standings. The defense did all it could to contain Jackson, who had a good second half in gaining a lot of yards on the ground and in the air. Derrick Henry was held in check as he only had 75 yards on 20 carries. But the Vikings’ offense struggled as McCarthy took on a pass-heavy burden and not enough rushing plays were called by O’Connell, whose playcalling abilities have to be called into question after this game. One of McCarthy’s two interceptions came on a deep pass on third and short(one yard away from the line to gain), with a potential running play on a handoff to Jones, Mason or even C.J Ham being a good idea in spite of the Ravens defensive front line being kind of tough to run through. The kickoff fumble by Price made matters worse as it was not a good day for the special teams’ group. Also, deciding to go for two in the fear of avoiding overtime(where the rules are more complicated now) when you are down eight points on the scoreboard is kind of dumb as well. As an NFL head coach, you always have to think ahead I guess. Well, here’s some food for thought here. Placing a total of 42 passing attempts on what is in essence a redshirt rookie QB is not a winning formula. McCarthy only completed twenty of those passes for 248 yards(a career high in passing yards due to a couple of deep completions to Nailor) and one touchdown pass paired with those two interceptions. Only 18 combined rushing attempts on the day for Minnesota, which has seemingly shifted away from a run-centric offense to a pass-centric offense. But for a young quarterback, running the ball to set up the passing game would be a better strategy going forward for the Vikings, who have now lost three of their first four home games at U.S Bank Stadium in 2025. A disturbing trend that continues in the past several years for the Vikings, who inexplicably committed eight false start penalties, which is the most for a NFL team in a home game since 2009. The Big Bank should cause the opposing offense to flinch, something which the Ravens did not do so much, not the other way around. Aaron Jones accused the Baltimore defense of simulating McCarthy’s snap count at the line of scrimmage post-game, something that is illegal to do for a defense in the middle of a game. But that rule is better enforced in the college ranks than it is in the NFL. Either way, the offense has to be better in efficiently executing drives and being too reliant on the defense for turnovers to bail them out is an unfortunate defect that has to be dealt with sooner than later.

The next game for the Vikings will be a second straight home game, this time a huge divisional matchup against the Chicago Bears, who overcame a double-digit margin on their home field in the wintry conditions in beating the New York Giants by a score of 24-20. At 6-3, the Bears sit two games ahead of the Vikings and are currently the 6 seed in the NFC playoff picture. Having beaten Chicago in Week 1, the Vikings look to sweep the season series over their ursine rivals in gaining a head-to-head advantage over one of the NFC North teams and increasing their division game record to 3-0. But the Bears are better than what they were early on in the season, having won six of their last seven games after starting out 0-2. Being tied with the Detroit Lions for second place in the division(potentially for first place if the Green Bay Packers lose their Monday night football home game against the Philadelphia Eagles), Chicago has been powered by their new offensive scheme under head coach Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams has had a sophomore surge as the QB. Along with a solid defense, the Bears are seeking their first division title since 2018 and first playoff berth since 2020. So, this Week 11 game will be a huge opportunity for the Vikings to keep their playoff hopes alive and for J.J McCarthy to hopefully prove himself worthy of getting another win against his hometown team. Also looking for his first win at home in his NFL career, McCarthy will look to harness his alter-ego on gamedays known as “Nine” and make some better throws to his top targets, as the Vikings seek to improve their odds of making it to the playoffs in the second straight season for the first time in more than 15 years. For now, they are under .500 and seeking more luck in one-possession games where they have won some and lost some so far in 2025.