On Sun, Oct 4, the Minnesota Vikings hosted the Miami Dolphins in a Week 4 game at U.S Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The Vikings were coming off a hard-earned victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where they had barely won in spite of some offensive futility from Kyler Murray, who struggled to guide the offense down the field on a consistent basis. Part of that was due to Justin Jefferson suffering an ankle injury on the first drive and not returning. For this game against the winless Dolphins, Jefferson would be sidelined following a week of limited practices. So, without their biggest offensive piece, Minnesota had to find a way to score enough points against a respectable Miami defense coordinated by Jeff Hafley, who took the head coach job down in South Florida after service as the defensive coordinator of the Green Bay Packers for a few seasons. The Dolphins also lost their best offensive player in De’Von Achane to a torn ACL in a Week 3 home opener loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. With Malik Willis as their starting QB, Miami is projected to have one of the worst records in all of the NFL this season. But they still were hungry for their first win and the Vikings would be unwise to underestimate them. Let’s see how this game between two teams who faced each other in Super Bowl VIII transpired at the Big Bank.
The game began with Minnesota winning the coin toss and electing to receive the opening kickoff, which Myles Price returned for a good amount of 48 yards. On his first play from scrimmage, Murray got sacked for a loss of eight yards by Zach Sieler. Aaron Jones ran the ball for two yards and on third and long, Murray completed a short pass to DeeJay Dallas, who gained 10 yards and was short of the line to gain. An opening drive punt occurred as Johnny Hekker filled in for Brett Thorson for the second straight week and booted a ball that went off the hands of Dolphins’ punt returner Malik Washington and it rolled into the end zone where it was recovered for a touchback. It was a near muffed punt recovery touchdown opportunity for the Vikings, who were aided by an illegal block foul on Miami. The opening drive for the Dolphins began with Willis completing a pass to receiver Will Kacmarek for 15 yards, but the Brian Flores defense did well to contain the Miami offense on the next set of downs. The ensuing punt by Bradley Pinion was returned by Price for a good gain of 36 yards all the way to the Dolphins’ 38-yard line.
With good field position, the Minnesota offense was aided by an offsides foul on Chop Robinson and Murray scrambled for an eight-yard gain for a first down. However, the offense went backwards as Donovan Jackson got called for a holding foul and Brian O’Neill committed a false start. But Murray completed a short pass to Jauan Jennings for eight yards and dumped off a short pass to Price for only one yard. The field goal unit came on for the Vikings and Will Reichard made a 47-yard field goal to give them an early 3-0 lead.
The next drive for the Miami offense featured a first down run by Ollie Gordon for 12 yards and a first-down scramble run by Willis following a neutral zone infraction called on Dallas Turner, who ended up sacking Willis following a completion of 16 yards to Washington. The third down sacked forced the Dolphins to punt and the next Vikings drive started at the 21-yard line. Jones had a couple of runs set up a Murray pass on third and short to Jordan Addison, who caught the ball and got the first down barely by a matter of inches. Murray then completed another pass to Addison for a large gain of 21 yards, but there was a flag on the field for an illegal formation on the offensive line. That penalty in effect ended the drive as the Minnesota offense could not advance any further and Murray got sacked on a third down drop back by Josh Uche.
Into the second quarter, the Dolphins got a couple of rushing plays and on third down, Willis scrambled with the ball and he threw it deep down the right sideline, where Chris Bell made the catch and ran with it all the way into the end zone for the touchdown. But there was a flag on the field as the side judge on referee Adrian Hill’s crew had his hat off and it was determined that Bell’s foot was on the sideline and since he was the first one to touch the ball after it was thrown, a flag was thrown onto the field for an illegal touching of the ball penalty. The touchdown was negated as the Vikings were bailed out by the sneaker of Bell barely being on the white out of bounds line.
On the next Minnesota drive, a couple of 15-yard plays by Murray and Jones got the team into field goal range and Reichard made a 50-yard field goal to push the lead up to 6-0. There were some struggles with the offensive line of the Vikings as Jackson had to exit the game with a knee injury and Joe Huber entered to play at left guard. But the defense coordinated by the former Miami head coach in Flores, who was coaching in his first game against his former employer, made a big play on the next drive as after an unnecessary roughness foul on Domonique Orange hitting Willis out of bounds, Turner came in and hit Willis while he was throwing the ball. The pass was initially ruled incomplete, but Kevin O’Connell challenged the call on the field and after review, it was announced that the ruling on the field had been changed to a fumble as Turner jarred the ball out of Willis’ right hand with his helmet and there was a clear recovery of the ball by Blake Cashman, who was credited with the fumble recovery for Minnesota. A good turnover there but the offense went three-and-out despite the good field position given to them.
The Dolphins’ offense had another inefficient drive as an offensive holding foul held them back and an incomplete pass on third down by Willis ended the drive. On the ensuing punt, Pinion kicked the ball down to the 24-yard line, but there was a penalty marker on the field. The call was a personal foul on Ivan Pace Jr for roughing the kicker as Pace had rolled into Pinion’s plant leg and brought him down. However, the penalty was negated due to replay assist observing that Pace had managed to get a finger to deflect the ball when it was punted by Pinion. Another lucky break from the refs for the Vikings there.
With less than three minutes until halftime, the Minnesota offense sought to go on a good two-minute drill drive. The drive started with Murray throwing a deep pass to Addison, who caught the ball for a gain of 19 yards and a first down. Before the two-minute warning, Murray took a disorganized snap and scrambled with the ball for a smooth gain of six yards. After the two-minute warning, Jones ran for a gain of three yards and then picked up a first down on a two-yard carry. With the clock ticking down to one minute, Murray completed a pass to Hockenson that gained 20 yards into field goal range for a first down. O’Connell called the team’s first timeout of the half and then on the next play, Murray dropped back in the pocket and was sacked again by Sieler for a loss of seven yards. Another timeout was called by O’Connell and on second down, Murray aimed to the left and found Tai Felton for a gain of 14 yards. With a no huddle formation, on third down in the red zone, Murray threw the ball up the middle and it was caught by Hockenson for a gain of four yards and a first down. O’Connell called the final timeout of the half for the Vikings and an opportunity to get a touchdown presented itself. But Murray was pressured and threw a ball out of bounds for an incomplete pass. The field goal unit came on with four seconds left and Reichard made a 33-yard kick to put Minnesota up 9-0 at the half.
With no touchdowns scored by the offense since the second quarter of the Week 3 game in Tampa, the efficiency of the offense was a prime concern. Murray was doing his best with no Jefferson on the field, but he was still struggling with staying in the pocket too much and getting sacked a few times. The flow of the offense was centered on the running game of Jones and Murray finding prime targets such as Addison and Hockenson. The defense was continuing its run of dominance so far in this season, with them giving up only one touchdown in the past two and a half games. Being fortunate to avoid a couple of mishaps such as a deep pass touchdown that was negated by an illegal touching foul and a nearly fatal roughing the kicker foul that could have given the Dolphins more time to go on a scoring drive near the end of the half. In the second half, there would be adjustments made by both teams and the Murray-led offense had to find a way to stay on the field in order to not fatigue the Brian Flores defense too much.
The second half started with Miami getting the first possession and they immediately got a big play with Gordon running the ball for a long gain of 51 yards into the Vikings’ red zone. At the 11-yard line, the Dolphins were on the verge of scoring a touchdown, but they were unable to do so as Willis threw an incomplete pass on third down. The field goal unit for Miami came on and Riley Patterson made a 27-yard kick to put the road team on the board.
With more pressure on them to score a TD, the Minnesota offense had its opening drive to the second half start out with two passes by Murray to Hockenson for a first down. Jones then ran for a big gain of 19 yards into Dolphins’ territory and another run by Jones for eight yards led to an illegal contact penalty on JuJu Brents for an automatic first down. The Vikings were set back by an offensive pass interference foul on Jennings and after a third down scramble by Murray that ended well short of the line to gain, the field goal unit would trot onto the turf and Reichard made a 41-yard field goal to keep his active streak of not missing a single attempt since Week 8 of last season going strong.
The next drive for Miami was a three-and-out as Kyle Van Noy made a big third down tackle on Jaylen Wright. The Vikings also went three-and-out on their ensuing drive as Murray got sacked by Robinson on a third and short dropback. Being sacked four times wasn’t good for Murray’s rhythm in this game. A poor punt by Hekker gave the Dolphins good field position from their own 45-yard line and they took advantage of it swiftly. Willis completed a pass to Washington for 17 yards and a first down, then Gordon ran for a nine-yard gain and Willis and Washington hooked up again for a 17-yard gain into the Minnesota red zone. With time ticking down on the third quarter, Gordon ran the ball into the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown. The PAT from Patterson was good and Miami was now squarely in this game being down just two points.
The crucial drive for the Vikings began with Murray finding Hockenson for an eight-yard gain heading into the fourth quarter. On a third down conversion at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Murray passed the ball to Hockenson again and he caught it for a six-yard pickup and a first down. Murray completed his next two passes to Hockenson as well, with a 14-yard gain on the fourth consecutive completion to the starting tight end leading to another first down. Murray would find other targets such as Addison for four yards and Price on a short pass for five yards. The Price reception came just inches short of the line to gain and on fourth down in field goal range, O’Connell decided to keep the offense on the field to go for it. Murray handed the ball off to Jones, who ran through the trenches and picked up three yards for a huge first down. On the next play, Murray found Jones on a short pass for a gain of 11 yards and a first down in the Dolphins’ red zone. In the red zone, the drive stalled as Murray threw two passes to Jones that were both short of the line to gain. The third down pass to Jones ended with the ball being forced out of Jones’ hands by Uche and the ball went out of bounds. Reichard came on to attempt his fifth field goal of the game and he made an easy 29-yard chip shot to give Minnesota a slightly more comfortable lead.
The drive took eight and a half minutes off the game clock and the next drive for Miami was short lived as Willis threw a deep ball on third down that was defended by Harrison Smith and nearly picked off by him for an incomplete pass. With under six minutes left in regulation, Pinion punted the ball back to the Vikings, who would be forced into their own 20-yard line by a blindside block foul on Jeshaun Jones. The big drive began with a 14-yard run by Jones for a first down and Murray heaved a big pass up the middle that was caught by Addison for a gain of 27 yards into Dolphins’ territory. After a false start foul on Caleb Tiernan, Demond Claiborne got a carry for eight yards and Murray threw a deep pass to Hockenson for a gain of 22 and a huge first down in the red zone. With the clock ticking under three minutes, a timeout was called by Hafley after another false start on Huber. Murray completed a pass to Hockenson, who was tackled down in bounds by Jacob Rodriguez. Hafley called another timeout and on second down, Jones ran up the middle for a gain of five yards. Even though the two-minute warning was approaching, Hafley decided to call his team’s final timeout. On third down and with a chance to seal off the game, Murray looked to the left and threw the ball to Hockenson, who caught it for his 13th reception of the game and he picked up the first down, but instead of going into the end zone for the easy touchdown, he went down at the one-yard line. An incredible strategic play there by Hockenson, who could have scored a TD but ensured that Miami would not get another possession in this low-scoring game.
Murray knelt with the ball three times in victory formation and the game was over. The Vikings had won a nasty defensive game by the final score of 15-10. Even though they did not score a touchdown in any of their drives, the Minnesota offense was steady in not turning the ball over and Murray completed 27 passes out of 37 passing attempts for 247 yards. His last pass could have resulted in a touchdown, but the main receiving target for Murray in this game decided to do what was best for the team. Hockenson had one of the best receiving games in his career as he matched his professional best in 13 catches and caught all of his 13 targets thrown to him by Murray for 119 receiving yards. The only other players with multiple receptions were Addison and Jones, who both had four catches each. To go with his 34 receiving yards, Jones had a stellar day on the ground as he ran for 94 yards on 20 carries. The B-Flo defense had another dominant performance in holding an opposing offense to 10 points or fewer and Turner had the biggest day of all with two sacks and a forced fumble. The special teams had a second straight good week as Reichard made five field goals to account for all of the scoring in this game.
For the second time this season, the Vikings managed to win a game where they did not score a single touchdown. The concerns about the offense are justifiable, but with Jefferson on the mend, it is clear that having the best asset in the skill players group available will more than likely improve the offensive efficiency of the team. Murray sorely needs Jefferson back healthy and that could happen next week against the New Orleans Saints at the SuperDome. The Vikings remain atop the NFC North with a 4-0 record, with the Chicago Bears lurking one game behind them at 3-1. The Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers are both 2-2 and Minnesota is one of three remaining undefeated teams in the NFL after four weeks of play in the 2026 season. The Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers are the other two teams. With one game left before a much-needed Week 6 bye, the Vikings have won nine straight games dating back to last December and with their second nine-game winning stretch in the past few seasons, they are looking like a formidable force on the defensive end of things. The offense needs some work, but with some fine-tuning and improved playcalling and player availability, the outlook for the Minnesota Vikings will improve in due time. With the schedule becoming more difficult after the bye week, the time to make those improvements is imminent and winning in any way possible is preferable to losing in a heartbreaking fashion.
Leave a comment