On Sun, Oct 25, the Minnesota Vikings hosted the Indianapolis Colts in a home game at U.S Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The Vikings were coming off their Week 6 bye and were getting some of their key players back from injury. Jordan Addison and Jordan Mason were returning from injuries that kept them out for one or more games. Kyler Murray would now lead an offense that was at full strength while on the other side, the Brian Flores defense was very healthy as well. Minnesota would host a Colts team that fired its general manager in Chris Ballard following a 26-20 loss to the Tennessee Titans on their home field. Indy had Daniel Jones as their QB and with other good offensive players like Jonathan Taylor, Keenan Allen and others, the Colts were desperate for a victory.
The game started with the Vikings offense on the field first and a good kickoff return by Myles Price put the ball at the Colts’ 47-yard line. Aaron Jones ran for seven yards on his first run, then he ran forward for two yards. On third and short, Murray handed the ball off to A. Jones again, but Jones got stuffed for no gain. On fourth down, instead of having the field goal unit coming onto the field, Kevin O’Connell kept the offense on and drew up a fourth down play. It turned out to be another ho-hum run by Jones, who got tackled behind the line and a turnover on downs was the result of the opening drive for Minnesota.
The Indianapolis offense had good field position for their opening drive and they got an immediate boost when D. Jones completed a third down pass to Allen for 13 yards and a first down. Jones completed another third down pass to Josh Downs for a first down, then on the next play, Taylor ran through the line of scrimmage and dashed down the field for a 38-yard touchdown. The extra point by Spencer Shrader was good and the Colts had a surprising 7-0 lead over the Vikings early on.
The next offensive drive for Minnesota began on a bright note when Murray completed an 11-yard pass to Addison for a first down and then another first down was awarded on a defensive holding foul on Cam Taylor-Britt, who was starting at cornerback in place of an injured Sauce Gardner. But the Vikings were stopped when Murray threw an incomplete pass towards Justin Jefferson. The punting unit came on and Brett Thorson pinned the Colts down in their territory. The Indy offense went three-and-out on their next drive, with two Jones passes defended by Blake Cashman.
The third offensive drive for the Vikings began with a Murray incomplete pass to Mason, who then ran for his first carry since Week 1 for three yards. On third down, Murray threw a short pass to Justin Jefferson, who made the catch but was taken down one yard short of the line to gain. On fourth and short, the offense stayed on as Murray attempted to sneak the ball himself for enough yardage for a first down. The ruling on the field was a first down for Murray, who passed the ball on the next play to T.J Hockenson for a gain of six yards. Mason then ran with the ball for a good gain of 12 and a first down. With the ball in solid field goal range, the offense kept pushing forward with Murray completing a nine-yard pass to Addison and a short run by Mason picked up another first down. The ball was in the red zone following another Mason rush and Murray completed a seven-yard pass to Jefferson on a third down for a first down.
The first quarter ended and the next one began with a third down pass play from the 10-yard line where Murray aired out the ball towards the end zone towards Hockenson, who was covered by Taylor-Britt. The ball was caught by Taylor-Britt, who was unable to get both feet down in bounds. Following the incompletion, the field goal unit came on for Minnesota and Will Reichard made a 29-yard field goal that tied Gary Anderson’s franchise record for most consecutive field goals made without a miss. The 15-play drive that lasted over six minutes ended with a productive field goal for the Vikings, but a touchdown was preferable in this case.
The next drive for the Colts was short-lived as a first down run by Seth McGowan was followed by Jones getting split sacked on third down by Dallas Turner and Harrison Smith. The punted ball by Rigoberto Sanchez was stopped from going into the end zone and the Minnesota offense was pinned deep in their territory. Despite the bad field position, a first down was picked up on a Murray pass to Jefferson for 21 yards. Murray then found Gavin Bartholomew for a good pickup of 17 yards and then threw a good pass to Jauan Jennings, who made a rare catch for a gain of 14 and a first down into Indy territory. Mason ran for three yards and then after Murray threw a ball past him, on third down Murray passed the ball to Jefferson again for a gain of ten yards and a big first down. The offense could not gain any yards from there as Murray threw a pass on third down towards Jefferson that was batted away by Charvarious Ward and incomplete. Reichard came on to the field looking to set a new franchise record for the most consecutive made field goals without a miss and he attempted a 47-yard kick that he easily made. With 36 consecutive makes dating back to almost one year beforehand, Reichard was the all-time Vikings leader in consecutive made field goals.
The Colts’ offense came onto the field with around six and a half minutes left in the first half and they proceeded to use the running game to pick up good yardage against the Brian Flores defense. On a fourth and short from the Minnesota 45, the offense stayed on for Indy and D. Jones did a QB sneak that successfully picked up a first down. The drive continued past the two-minute warning after Jones completed a pass on third down to Allen for ten yards. Another third down play occurred as Jones found former Vikings wide receiver Laquon Treadwell for a gain of 12 yards out of bounds into the red zone. With only one timeout left, O’Connell couldn’t stop the clock so easily as Taylor and McGowan ran the ball up the middle. Jones picked up a first down on another short run and Shane Steichen called his team’s first timeout with 33 seconds left. On first and goal, the Colts got backed up on a holding foul by Tanner Bortilini and after a short pass by Jones to Alec Ogletree, Jones got sacked by Cashman for a loss of 11 yards. Indianapolis let the clock run down and Steichen called a timeout with a few seconds left on the clock. The field goal unit came on and Shrader attempted a 43-yard kick, which he made to end the half out strong for the Colts.
The 10-6 tally on the scoreboard was less than ideal for the Vikings, who had a couple of offensive drives end in field goals but they were not doing enough to get a touchdown. The Indy defense was doing well defending some of the passes from Murray, who was doing well in finding Jefferson and Hockenson. Utilizing Mason in the backfield was also efficient but there needed to be a drive that eventually ended in the end zone. Meanwhile, the B-Flo defense was spending a lot of time on the field with the Indy offense using a good combination of running the ball to prevent Daniel Jones from throwing the ball. As long as the defense could contain the running attack from the Colts, they could force Jones into an uncomfortable position. The second half would show which team was more willing to make more big plays to win the game.
The half began with Indy getting the ball first and they started from the 16-yard line following a holding penalty on the kickoff return. Taylor picked up a first down on a 12-yard run, but D. Jones got sacked in the pocket by Eric Wilson and Jalen Redmond for a loss of ten yards. Jones then got sacked on a second straight play by Cashman and the drive was essentially done. Sanchez booted the ball down the field to the 39-yard line, where Price fair caught the ball. The Vikings’ offense went three-and-out on its first drive of the second half as Murray tried to scramble for a first down and got tackled well short of it. The punt by Thorson went down to the 14-yard line, where Downs got tackled by DeeJay Dallas and a holding foul on the Colts backed the ball up even further.
The next drive for Indianapolis was a long one as they overcame an offensive holding foul and converted on a third down pass from Jones to Deion Burks. McGowan then had a couple of efficient carries that picked up good yardage into Minnesota territory. But the Vikings stopped the Colts on a third down incomplete pass from Jones and on fourth down, the field goal unit came on to have Shrader attempt a long 56-yard field goal. Shrader had a made kick streak of his own going, as he had made 22 consecutive attempts after nailing the kick at the end of the first half. The ball was snapped and held down, with Shrader kicking the ball up but it knuckled way too far to the left and it went wide of the goalpost. The kick was no good as the Murray-led offense would have incredible field position for their next drive. The only question was: could the Vikings score a touchdown with it?
The crucial drive began with a few good runs from Mason, who picked up nine yards on one run and three on two other ones. The third quarter ended with Murray getting sacked for a loss of one yard by Taylor-Britt. It was third down when the fourth quarter began and Murray needed to make a big play to pick up first down yardage. Upon taking the snap, Murray looked to pass but then he scrambled down the field and ran all the way down into the red zone for a big gain of 35 yards. Murray was tapped out of bounds by former Minnesota safety Cam Bynum and he had picked up a huge first down. Following an injury timeout, the Vikings were right where they wanted to be and they wasted no time as Murray threw a pass to the left near the end zone and Hockenson caught the ball and reached it over the goal line. It was a touchdown and Minnesota was finally ahead in this game. The PAT by Reichard was good as the Vikings scored their first touchdown at U.S Bank Stadium since the Week 1 comeback victory over the Green Bay Packers. The Week 4 victory over the Miami Dolphins featured no touchdowns from the home team and Murray had finally led his first TD drive on his new home turf.
The next drive for Indy began with a Jones pass to Ogletree for nine yards, then Taylor ran up the middle for a six-yard gain and a first down. The Brian Flores defense bore down on Jones and made him throw a couple of incomplete passes to conclude the drive. Sanchez booted the ball down to the ten-yard line, where Price returned it for 12 yards.
The first play of the next drive for the Vikings began with Murray pitching the ball to A. Jones, who ran with the ball for a big gain of 17 yards and a first down. But Jones got dinged up on the play with his leg being wobbly and the athletic training staff tended to him on the sideline. After a run by Mason for no gain, Murray threw the ball downfield and it was caught by Hockenson for a gain of 22 yards and a first down in field goal range. Mason ran with the ball for a gain of four that was brought back on a false start foul on Christian Darrisaw. Murray then got sacked by Adetomiwa Adebawore for a loss of two yards. On third down, Murray tried to throw a deep pass to Addison, but it was incomplete. On fourth down, the field goal unit came on for Reichard to attempt a long 59-yard kick, similar to many attempts that Reichard has made so far this season and throughout the entirety of his field goal make streak. The ball was snapped and held down by Thorson, with Reichard kicking it. But the ball was blocked by Grover Stewart, thus bringing Reichard’s field goal streak to an unfortunate end. This blocked kick was huge, since the Colts now had great field position and a chance to either tie the game or retake the lead.
From their 49-yard line, Indy immediately got into Minnesota territory and Taylor picked up a first down. But the Vikings would stop the Colts rushing attack on a third down stuffing of McGowan by Kyle Van Noy and Josh Metellus. With the down and distance being fourth and two, the field goal unit came on for Indy in spite of Shrader missing a kick earlier. Steichen could have chosen to keep his offense on the field to go for it, but instead the Colts were looking to tie the game up. This was a 48-yard kick from Shrader, who kicked the ball more cleanly this time. But it sailed wide right of the post and it was no good. Another special teams error for Indy and the Vikings were fortunate once again to have a chance to benefit from it.
With a little over four minutes left, the offense came on and Mason started the drive with a seven-yard run. Murray tried to complete a pass to Jefferson but it was incomplete. However, there was a flag on the field for illegal contact on Ward of the Colts and it was an automatic first down. At midfield, Mason ran for two yards and then Murray threw a short pass to Jennings, who caught it and ran with it for 20 yards for a huge first down. With the two-minute warning approaching, Murray got sacked by Adebawore for a loss of eight yards on a play where the ball should have been handed off to Mason. Steichen called the first timeout for Indy and on second down, Murray threw a deep pass that was caught by Addison for a gain of 34 yards and a first down, but there was a flag thrown for offensive holding on Blake Brandel. A huge potential game-sealing play that was negated by a penalty. On second and super long after the two-minute warning, Mason ran with it for a good gain of 12 yards to get back into comfortable field goal range. On third down, Murray attempted to pass the ball and he tried to find Tai Felton, but the ball was batted down and incomplete. The Colts still had one timeout left as Reichard came on to kick a 52-yard field goal. This time, the kick was not blocked and it curved through the uprights. The Vikings were up by six points, but Indy still had one last chance to win the game.
With one and a half minutes left on the clock, McGowan returned the ball to the 31-yard line and the drive began with a D. Jones completion to Downs for a gain of 13 yards and an immediate first down. In no huddle formation, the Colts looked to run their next play fast, with Jones taking the snap and looking to throw the ball downfield. However, Jones threw a pass into double coverage that was intercepted by Harrison Smith, who had his first pick of the season and the 40th one of his career. Smith went down at the Indy 41 and it was game over. The Brian Flores defense had secured another victory with a clutch turnover and perfectly timed indeed. Murray knelt down with the ball twice and the clock expired as Minnesota had won its sixth game of the season to remain undefeated. It was the eleventh consecutive victory for the Vikings dating back to Dec 2025 and they maintained their high position at the top of the NFC North standings.
In spite of the slow start to the game, the Minnesota offense got into a groove and scored valuable points when it needed to. Murray was steady despite only completing 14 of 24 passes for a meager 150 yards. The biggest play that Murray made was his big scramble at the start of the fourth quarter that set up his TD pass to Hockenson. Murray did not need to pass the ball as much with Mason back in the lineup and leading the way with 68 rushing yards. The wealth was spread again to six different receivers as Jefferson and Hockenson led the way in catches and receiving yards. Two big catches by Jennings helped on scoring drives that ended in field goals for Reichard. As for the Brian Flores defense, they pressured Daniel Jones all game long as they sacked him four times. Cashman had the biggest performance of them all with 12 tackles and two sacks on Jones.
With their first 6-0 record since the 2009 season, the Vikings are now the only undefeated team left in the NFC after the San Francisco 49ers were defeated by the Atlanta Falcons. In terms of the NFC North, Minnesota is a game and a half ahead of the Chicago Bears, who won on Thursday Night Football over the New England Patriots. As for their next opponent, the Vikings will take on the Detroit Lions at Ford Field, where the Lions won on a game-winning kick over the Green Bay Packers. At 4-2, Detroit is two games back of Minnesota and they have a much more difficult offense to defend against. The Murray-led offense will need to step up eventually and start scoring in a more consistent fashion with the tough opponents on the Vikings’ schedule in November. This upcoming month will test the mettle of this team and will show the rest of the league how good they really are. But for now, winning in any way possible will do for the Minnesota Vikings, who are seeking to shock the league and go on an incredible run to glory.
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