In my team exec years, I always loved winning our game before the bye week. It gave us a rare two weeks to enjoy a victory.
As great as the Vikings feel about winning in New Orleans on Sunday with the offense joining the defense and special teams as equal contributors, the team feels even better that they hit the bye as one of three remaining unbeaten teams. The 5-0 Vikings hold a two-game lead over the Lions, Packers, and Bears in the NFC North.
Kevin O’Connell and the team also are pleased with the timing of the bye. When T.J. Hockenson left the Saints game in the first series due to concussion protocol, the offense was missing four starters—Hockenson, wide receiver Jordan Addison (minor hamstring injury), tackle Christian Darrisaw (concussion protocol), and guard Donovan Jackson (out for at least the regular season with a knee meniscus tear). Running back Jordan Mason also has been on IR with a thumb injury.
O’Connell said Monday that Mason will return for the home game against the Colts after the bye and he’s hopeful Hockenson, Addison, and Darrisaw also will be back in the lineup. That will further fortify a Vikings offense that is coming off their best performance of the season with 364 total yards as Kyler Murray had his best game as a Viking in his fourth start (24 of 30 for 229 yards, one TD and no turnovers plus 51 important rushing yards including an 18-yard scramble on the third quarter touchdown drive to take the lead).
Justin Jefferson again proved how valuable he is with a great game in his homecoming to New Orleans and his return from a sprained ankle (six catches, 79 yards, and one amazing back-of-the-endzone TD catch). And other than a red zone fumble in the first quarter that cost the team points, Aaron Jones had another stellar game with 25 carries, 113 yards, and the game-winning TD on an 8-yard run early in the fourth quarter.
Jones will now share the load once again with Mason as the schedule toughens (after a winnable game against the Colts who were beaten 34-22 by an average Steelers team in Pittsburgh on Sunday, the Vikings have their toughest four-week stretch of the season—at Detroit, home vs. Buffalo on a Monday night, at Green Bay (who should have Micah Parsons by November 15), and vs. current fellow unbeaten San Francisco in Mexico City on Sunday Night Football. If the Vikings beat the Colts and split the next four games to stand 8-2, they’ll be in great shape as the schedule then eases somewhat to make a solid run at the division title and the NFC’s top seed.
1. The Vikings defense dominated another young QB: the Saints came into the game with the ninth-ranked offense led by second-year QB Tyler Shough (who was previously averaging 301 passing yards per game this season, third most in the league) and last year’s second-team All-Pro WR Chris Olave who ranked second in receiving yards (491) through the first four weeks.
Brian Flores dialed up a 90% blitz rate in the first half and 60% over the entire game. Shough was discombobulated as every QB has been this season against the Vikings D. He dumped the ball off so quickly that he was only sacked once but couldn’t make enough big plays down field to Olave (only four catches for 46 yards). Shough was held to 96 passing yards and was intercepted twice in the second half by Byron Murphy and threw short of the sticks to tight end Juwan Johnson on a fourth down stop by the D (with Murphy making the tackle).
Blake Cashman and Eric Wilson continued to shine at inside linebacker with QB pressures and run stops and the secondary led by Murphy’s two picks didn’t allow a completion over 16 yards.
The defense held the Saints to 142 yards with only 55 rushing yards (3.2 yards per carry) which was an improvement over last week against Miami when Ollie Gordon ran for 100 yards including the 53-yard TD. That’s good news with three-time Pro Bowler Jonathan Taylor of the Colts up next (but the Steelers held him to 45 yards rushing on 15 carries Sunday).
The Vikings defense hits the bye ranked first in fewest points allowed (12.8 per game which should be less since the offense gave up six points on Myles Price’s bad red zone fumble on a reception that was returned 87 yards for a TD by Jonas Sanker).
Other impressive defensive stats: second in takeaways (10) that contributes to a league-leading plus 6 turnover ratio, third in yards allowed, first in lowest third down conversion rate (22% after holding the Saints to 2 of 10), and third in sacks (17). It will be fascinating to see what happens when the defense faces three top-10 offenses in Detroit, Buffalo and San Francisco. 2. The special teams came through again: Will Reichard continued his outstanding kicking with field goals of 40, 54, and 55 yards to run his streak to 34 straight. And a key play in the game was a forced fumble by rookie Jake Golday on the opening kickoff of the second half that was recovered by Jeshaun Jones to set up the TD pass to Jefferson that put the Vikings up 13-7.
3. Murray played well but he did miss Gavin Batholomew on a flea flicker and Jauan Jennings on a deep route (he was open on the left side and Murray threw incomplete to the right).
O’Connell said he made a bad call with 9:17 left on the gadget play with Jefferson throwing back to Murray that was in the hands of Colby Wooden but he dropped it. The Vikings were having great success running Jones in that series and the play lost 11 yards and could’ve been a disaster if Wooden had made the play as Reichard kicked a 55-yard field goal three plays later for the 10-point lead.
4. The offense did a fine job on third down by converting 9 of 18 (including three rushing first downs by Murray) which helped create a big 40-20 advantage in time of possession. The Vikings ran 68 plays compared to 43 by the Saints.
5. Tackle Ryan Van Demark and guard Joe Huber played well according to O’Connell although Van Demark had a holding penalty and an illegal formation call that wiped out a big gain. He does seem to be an upgrade over recent backup tackles for the Vikings.
Bartholomew did a nice job stepping in for Hockenson with Josh Oliver (torn biceps) already lost for the season. Bartholomew, a sixth-round pick in 2025, had five catches for 33 yards.
6. The penalty situation was much better in the loud Superdome as the Vikings had only four penalties for 30 yards after a bad game at home against the Dolphins (11 penalties for 85 yards including four false starts).
Around the NFL Observations in Week 5 1. I had a hunch the Packers would knock off the Bears and they did in dominating fashion with the 31-7 win at Lambeau. Jordan Love had a huge game with 367 passing yards and two scoring tosses to Christian Watson. The Packers defense intercepted Tyson Bagent twice and Case Keenum once. The Green Bay win was good for the Vikings as it opened up a two-game lead in the NFC North.
The Lions defense finally showed up with five sacks while it was another impressive performance by Detroit’s offense with Jared Goff throwing three TD passes and Jahmyr Gibbs running for 151 yards (two TDs) in a 45-21 road beatdown of the Cardinals.
The Bears are at Atlanta next Sunday with starting QB Caleb Williams expected back from the hamstring injury he sustained in the Week 2 loss to the Vikings. The Packers host the Cowboys on Sunday night but Parsons will not make it back for this game against his former team as he had hoped due to being in the final stages of recovery from his ACL injury. The Lions join the Vikings on a bye.
2. It was a wild week around the league. The 49ers beat the Seahawks 32-29 in Seattle with a controversial finish in which Cooper Kupp was ruled to be just short of a fourth-down conversion. Sam Darnold threw two picks in the loss as the 49ers opened up a two-game lead over the Seahawks in the NFC West.
In a game in London, the Jaguars had a 53-yard kickoff return from ex-Viking Ameer Abdullah after the Eagles made the mistake of kicking off to him following a go-ahead field goal with 8 seconds left. Cam Little then booted the 57-yard game-winner to boost the Jags to 4-1 and drop the Eagles to 2-3.
An even more bizarre finish occurred in Washington as Jayden Daniels didn’t spike the ball with the Commanders in field goal range for an overtime winner and time expired with a 27-27 tie between the Commanders and the Giants. It was a huge mistake by Daniels and his coaches and leaves Washington 1-3-1 while the G-Men lead the suspect NFC East at 3-1-1.
Jeff Diamond is a former Vikings GM, former Tennessee Titans President and was selected NFL Executive of the Year … More about Jeff Diamond
My Other Reactions for the 5-0 Vikings and the Victory Over Saints
