On Sun, Oct 11, the Minnesota Vikings played against the New Orleans Saints in a road game at Caesars SuperDome in New Orleans. The Vikings were coming off a victory against the Miami Dolphins that didn’t feel as hard-won with the final score being 15-10. The offense with Kyler Murray at QB tried to progress in scoring and they closed out the game strong with two efficient long drives. But the Minnesota offense hadn’t scored a single touchdown since Week 3 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the second quarter. The player who made that touchdown catch was Jordan Addison, who was inactive for this game against the Saints with a hamstring injury sustained in practice. Thankfully, one key player who was making his return from an ankle injury was Justin Jefferson, who would be playing in a “homecoming” game in front of his family members. A native of St. Rose, Louisiana, Jefferson had the chance to play in front of a full-capacity crowd in New Orleans as a professional player for the first time after he only played in front of a few thousand fans in his rookie season in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions. With Jefferson back, Murray could finally have some more snaps with the top piece in the offense. In spite of Addison missing the game, the Vikings did not activate Odell Beckham Jr to play in the game despite elevating him from the practice squad after signing him four days prior to this game. This Week 5 matchup against a 1-3 Saints team would be a chance for Minnesota to start 5-0 for the second time in three seasons and a powerful defense and solid special teams unit could hopefully be supplemented by an improved offense. Let’s see if that was the case in this game down in the Bayou.
The game started with the Vikings getting the first possession and Aaron Jones ran for six yards on the first play. On second down, Murray threw a short pass up the middle to T.J Hockenson, who was taken down by Pete Werner for a gain of seven and a first down. But on the tackle, Hockenson’s head hit the SuperDome turf and he was in serious pain, as he was checked on by the training staff. Hockenson was put into the concussion protocol and just like that, Murray was now playing without his prime target from the week before. Murray adjusted and found other targets such as Ben Yurosek(making his season debut) for ten yards and Tai Felton for a good completion of 23 yards into scoring range. Murray was sacked by Carl Granderson for a loss of ten yards, but he threw a dump-off pass to Gavin Bartholomew, who gained 13 yards on the play. A third down pass by Murray to Jefferson for a first down was negated due to an illegal shift foul on Ryan Van Demark, who was starting at left tackle in place of Christian Darrisaw, who was out with a concussion. Murray threw another short pass to Demond Claiborne, who gained six yards but was short of the line to gain. The field goal unit came on for Minnesota and Will Reichard made his 32nd consecutive field goal attempt by nailing a 40-yarder. An early 3-0 lead for the Vikings featured Murray completing a pass to five different receiving targets in continuing his efficient throwing in completing a high amount of passes dating back to the fourth quarter of the Dolphins game.
The opening drive for the New Orleans offense was short-lived as Tyler Shough threw a short pass to Alvin Kamara for a loss of five yards and a six-yard run by Kamara was followed by an incomplete pass from Shough. The ensuing punt by former Vikings punter Ryan Wright was booted 56 yards down the field and it was retuned by Myles Price for 14 yards. Starting their next drive from the 30, the Minnesota offense continued using a short-pass strategy with Murray extending his streak of consecutive completions to 18 in a row dating back to the previous game. After completing a first down pass to Bartholomew, Murray started finding Jefferson, who caught a short pass for five yards and then he caught a ball on a deep route for a gain of 19 yards. Kevin O’Connell called a timeout after the second completion that put the offense into field goal range and a couple of runs by Jones picked up a first down into the Saints’ red zone. Murray threw a short pass to Price on a second and six play that came up a yard short of the line to gain. Before a third and short play, O’Connell had to call another timeout to prevent a delay of game foul. On the third down play, Murray handed it off to Jones, who ran up the middle and had enough yardage for the first down, but the ball got knocked loose out of his grasp. It was a fumble and it was recovered by Chase Young, who ran it back for 27 yards before being tracked down by Felton. Jones had committed his first fumble of the season as Khristian Boyd had forced it out and the Vikings offense missed a big chance to score a touchdown once again.
The first quarter ended with New Orleans picking up a first down on a 14-yard completion from Shough to Chris Olave. A few run plays opened up the second quarter as CJ Donaldson and Kamara ran following a false start foul. The third down run play by Donaldson came up short and on fourth down, Kellen Moore kept his offense on the field to go for it. Shough threw a quick pass that was caught by Olave for a gain of five yards and a first down. Another third down play for the Saints came up a yard short as DeVaughn Vele was tackled by Blake Cashman after catching a ball from Shough. On fourth and short, the Saints went for it again and Shough found Vele for a completion of four yards and another first down. Kendre Miller then ran the ball five times in a row and picked up a first down inside the ten-yard line and after being stuffed by Levi Drake Rodriguez on second and goal, Miller ran the ball into the end zone on third and goal. New Orleans had scored a touchdown off the red zone fumble by Jones and the PAT by former Vikings kicker Daniel Carlson(lasted just two games in the 2018 season) was good. Minnesota was down 7-3 after a 15-play drive that went more than seven minutes from the Saints offense.
The next drive for the Vikings was a dull three-and-out as Jones had three straight run plays that did not generate a first down. Brett Thorson was back after missing a couple of games with a hamstring injury and he punted a ball down to the New Orleans 21-yard line. The Brian Flores defense locked in and also forced a three-and-out from the Saints. Wright punted the ball down to the ten-yard line, where Price ran the ball back for a stellar return of 43 yards. Despite the great field position in New Orleans territory, the Murray-led offense squandered it as Van Demark got called for a holding penalty and Murray could not gain enough yards to overcome the loss on the field.
With three minutes left in the first half, the Minnesota defense forced a three-and out and forced Juwan Johnson out of bounds to stop the clock on third down. The two-minute drill drive began at the 31-yard line as Murray completed a pass to Price for nine yards and on third and short, he launched a deep pass to Jefferson, who made the catch for a good gain of 21 yards for a first down near field goal range for Reichard. With only one timeout left, the Vikings went no huddle and Murray got sacked in the pocket for a loss of eight yards, forcing O’Connell to call the final timeout. On the next play, Murray threw a short pass to Jefferson, who regained all of the yardage that was lost on the sack. With time ticking down and the ball being back in field goal range, Murray decided to spike the ball on third down and the field goal unit came on with a few second left. Reichard attempted a long 54-yard field goal and the kick was good as Minnesota was down 7-6 at halftime.
The Vikings were continuing to struggle offensively even though Murray was looking better and his streak of consecutive completions had come to an end. Losing Hockenson on top of no Addison and a completely new left side of the offensive line was no easy task. But Murray was trying his best and that red zone fumble by Jones was costly. Meanwhile, the New Orleans offense only had one good drive and that was the one off the fumble by Jones. Other than that, the Brian Flores defense was doing well against a Saints offense with a slightly higher efficiency rating than the previous two opponents for Minnesota. The offense just needed to find a way to finish a drive in the end zone, with the drought being eight quarters long dating back to Week 3 against the Buccaneers. Murray was doing well in spreading the wealth and with good time, he would eventually lead a touchdown drive or two. The result of this game hinged on that happening.
The opening kickoff of the second half was kicked off the tee by Reichard and caught by Saints’ kick returner Jayden Price, who ran with it to the left. But as Price was running with it, the ball got punched out of his grasp by Jake Golday and the ball rolled forward, with plenty of Vikings’ special teamers jumping onto it. Ultimately it was Jeshaun Jones who recovered the fumble as the Minnesota kick defense unit had forced a turnover. The Murray-offense had great position now and the drive started with two ineffective plays. But on third down, Murray scrambled outside the pocket and ran all the way for an 18-yard gain into the red zone and a first down. Jones lost two yards on a run and Murray completed a pass to Bartholomew for six yards. On third down, Murray scrambled around in the pocket and threw a ball into the end zone, where Jefferson was being covered by three Saints defenders. But the ball still found a way into his grasp as Jefferson caught the ball in the back of the end zone while getting both of his feet down in bounds. An amazing touchdown catch by the homecoming Viking and he did the “Gritty” for the third time this season. The PAT by Reichard was good as the Vikings had retaken the lead in thrilling fashion.
Following the kickoff fumble, New Orleans had a clean return on the next kickoff to the 27-yard line. The drive began with Shough throwing a 16-yard pass to Olave for a first down, then another first down was picked up on a Shough short pass to Johnson past midfield. A pass by Shough to Vele for a first down was negated due to an offensive holding foul on Donaldson. A false start set the Saints back further and then on the second and super long play, Shough threw a pass down the left side of the field that was intercepted by Byron Murphy Jr, who returned the ball 14 yards into New Orleans territory. A second consecutive turnover forced by the defense as Murphy had a clutch pick there.
The next drive for the Minnesota offense began with a Murray scramble that ended with a slide, then Jones picked up six yards. On third down, Murray threw an incomplete pass and there was a flag on the field for offensive holding on Will Fries. Instead of declining the foul, Moore enforced it due to the possibility of the Vikings going for it on fourth and short. On third and long, Murray ran outside the pocket and he threw a short pass to DeeJay Dallas, who caught the ball and ran downfield all the way to the 27-yard line for a clutch first down. Murray picked up another first down with his legs on another third down scramble into the red zone. Shortly after that, the offense got called for a delay of game and Murray threw a ball towards Jauan Jennings in the end zone that was barely incomplete. On third down, Murray passed the ball to Myles Price, who caught it and he got tackled at the New Orleans 12-yard line. But the ball was forced out of Price’s grasp by Martin Emerson Jr and recovered by Jonas Sanker, who ran back with the ball all the way to the other end zone for the 88-yard fumble recovery touchdown. Barely escaping Felton’s attempt to take him down, Sanker had the second score of the game for the Saints that occurred due to a Vikings fumble in the red zone. A massive error there for Minnesota, but thankfully Carlson missed the PAT wide left to keep the score tied at 13 apiece.
After that rough fumble, the Murray-led offense sought to have a bounce back drive. It got off to a great start when Murray threw a deep pass to Jeshaun Jones, who caught the ball wide open in New Orleans territory for a big gain of 32 yards and a first down. Aaron Jones then had a strong run of 19 yards to get the ball back into the red zone and to begin the fourth quarter, Murray threw a short pass to Bartholomew on a third and short that resulted in a first down. On the next play on first & goal, Jones got the ball and ran it down the middle, with him powering through a New Orleans defender and lunging to reach the ball over the goal line. It was a touchdown as Jones had redeemed himself from his previous fumble in the first quarter. The extra point by Reichard was good as the Vikings had reclaimed the lead once again.
The Brian Flores defense locked down the New Orleans offense as they forced a three and out and then the Minnesota offense drove down the field with strong runs from Jones. In spite of a failed trick play attempt when Murray threw a backwards pass to Jefferson, who nearly made a fatal mistake in throwing the ball back to Murray and it was nearly picked off by Saints defensive tackle Colby Wooden, the offense got into field goal range and Reichard drilled a long 55-yard kick to extend the lead to ten points.
With seven minutes left, the NOLA offense tried to run plays on an up-tempo basis to get into scoring range as Shough completed four straight short passes. But the B-Flo defense held its ground and a fourth down pass from Shough to Johnson ended one yard short of the line to gain as Murphy made a clutch tackle in touching Johnson. The Saints got the ball back with less than four minutes left and Shough got sacked by Andrew Van Ginkel to open up the desperation drive. Shough then threw a deep ball down the field on third down that was picked off by Murphy, who had his second interception of the game. The offense sealed off the game on a clutch 15-yard run by Jones and just like the week before, Murray knelt down three times in a row in victory formation.
The Vikings had successfully defeated New Orleans 23-13 and had a good combination between the defense, offense and special teams propel them to victory. Scoring a touchdown off the kickoff fumble at the start of the second half was huge for the offense as Murray had his best game as a Viking thus far. Completing 24 of his 30 passes for 229 yards, Murray also utilized his running skills with ten rushes that picked up 51 yards. Jones took on a big load once again in the running game as he ran the ball 25 times for a total of 113 yards and a rushing touchdown. Jefferson tallied six catches for 79 yards to lead the receiving department and ten different players made a reception for the Vikings in this game. Five of them had one catch each, but each of those receptions showed Murray’s improvement while having fewer main targets to throw the ball to. The Minnesota defense did its job well in having its fourth game of holding an opponent under 20 points. Technically, the Saints only mustered seven points offensively as the fumble recovery touchdown counted towards the defense. The Vikings’ offense has now surpassed Reichard in terms of having more points through five weeks in the season. Reichard had enjoyed a slight edge over the offense due to the touchdown drive drought that ended with Jefferson’s stellar catch in the third quarter.
With a bye week on tap for Week 6, Minnesota will look forward to its next game in two weeks at home against the Indianapolis Colts. Following that game, the schedule will enter its hardest stretch for the Vikings as they will face a lot of teams with high-leverage offenses in the Detroit Lions, Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers. A road game at Lambeau Field against the Green Bay Packers won’t be an easy task either. November will be the hardest month of the season, with this undefeated team having to prove how powerful they are against more worthy opponents. For now, another 5-0 start under O’Connell is satisfactory for the Minnesota Vikings, who sit two games ahead of the other three teams in the NFC North division.
This was also the first regular season win for the Vikings at the SuperDome since Oct 5, 2008, when Adrian Peterson and Gus Frerotte led the team to an overtime victory over the Drew Brees-led Saints by a final score of 30-27. Minnesota also won a playoff game in New Orleans in the 2019 NFC Wild Card Round when Kirk Cousins threw a game-winning touchdown pass to Kyle Rudolph in overtime. Having won three consecutive games against New Orleans, the Vikings have the current edge in this Mississippi River rivalry that dates back to the 1970s. Having a Louisiana native in Jefferson perform well in this rivalry makes things much more sweet for the fans of the Minnesota Vikings in the modern era.
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