Darren Hails returns with a bumper edition covering the Minnesota Vikings news from Thursday, 10 September to Wednesday, 23 September 2026. Two divisional wins, one ridiculous comeback, one properly ugly afternoon in Chicago and a starting quarterback who has only played 11 snaps. It’s been a quiet fortnight, really.
Right, first the excuse.
Last week’s Scroll didn’t happen because I was lucky enough to be in Minnesota for the home opener against Green Bay. I didn’t get home until Thursday, by which point the usual writing window had gone and my body clock was still somewhere over the Atlantic.
There are worse reasons to miss a deadline. There are also worse games to fly several thousand miles for.
The Vikings trailed the Packers 22–10 late in the third quarter, had already lost Kyler Murray to a concussion and had spent much of the afternoon looking like they might spoil my entire trip. They then scored 29 unanswered points, turned U.S. Bank Stadium into complete chaos and won 39–22.
A week later, they went to a wet and miserable Soldier Field and beat Chicago 9–3 without scoring a touchdown.
Those games had almost nothing in common, apart from Minnesota finding the plays it needed and me being rather pleased with the final scores. The Vikings are 2–0, both wins have come inside the NFC North and Murray has taken only 11 snaps.
I don’t think anybody had that particular route to a perfect start on their prediction sheet.
I chose a sensible game to cross the Atlantic for
Murray’s first pass as a Viking was intercepted. A few plays later, he slid at the end of a scramble, took a late hit and left the game with a concussion.
It was a horrible way for his debut to end. It also left Carson Wentz walking into the first quarter of the season opener after spending most of August preparing as the backup to the backup.
For a while, the game continued to drift away. Green Bay led 22–10 with just over five minutes left in the third quarter and had outplayed Minnesota for long stretches. Then Myles Price returned a kickoff 68 yards, Wentz found T. J. Hockenson for a touchdown and the whole afternoon changed.
The fourth quarter was one of those spells where every play seemed to make the stadium louder. Green Bay took a field goal off the board after a Vikings penalty. From Section 138, I screamed at the defense to make the [insert expletive of your choosing] Packers pay for being so greedy. They duly obliged, stopping Love on 4th-and-one. Minnesota answered with an 83-yard touchdown drive. Andrew Van Ginkel forced a Jordan Love fumble, Jordan Mason scored from the 1, Harrison Smith tipped a pass into James Pierre’s hands and Justin Jefferson finished the lot with his second touchdown of the day.
Minnesota scored 29 straight points after falling 22–10 behind. Wentz became the first reserve quarterback since Fran Tarkenton in the Vikings’ inaugural game to throw three touchdowns without an interception in a season-opening win.
There was plenty to clean up. Green Bay gained 419 yards to Minnesota’s 239 and found far too many openings before the defense took over. The run game never properly settled and Murray’s interception was exactly the sort of mistake the offense was built to avoid.
I just found it difficult to worry about any of that while walking out of U.S. Bank Stadium after beating the Packers by 17 points. Analysis has its limits.
Wentz made the backup decision look very sensible
The Vikings spent the end of preseason refusing to create much drama around Wentz being placed ahead of J. J. McCarthy. It took 11 regular-season snaps for that decision to become extremely relevant.
Wentz completed 12 of 19 passes against Green Bay for 133 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. He wasn’t perfect, but he kept the offense functioning until the game opened up, then took advantage of it. His connection with Jefferson was especially useful: seven completions from eight targets for 83 yards, including a 39-yard touchdown on a free play.
Chicago asked for something completely different. The rain, wind and state of the Soldier Field turf made ambitious passing football a fairly daft idea, so Kevin O’Connell kept the throws quick and the reads clear. Wentz finished 11 of 20 for 143 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions. When he released the ball quickly, the offense generally stayed on schedule. When he held it, the whole thing became much less comfortable.
That’s fine. Wentz wasn’t signed to create a quarterback controversy after one-and-a-bit matches. He was signed so the season wouldn’t collapse the first time Murray missed a game. Minnesota has now won twice with Wentz playing nearly all the quarterback snaps, and he’s thrown three touchdowns without an interception.
The Packers comeback showed his ceiling as the backup. Chicago showed the more ordinary version: protect the ball, make enough throws and allow the rest of the team to win the game.
McCarthy moved up to QB2 while Murray was out, but nothing about the last fortnight changed the wider order. Murray is the starter, Wentz is the experienced insurance and McCarthy is still being developed. For once, the quarterback depth chart has done exactly what a depth chart is meant to do.
Flores has stopped being a preseason theory
We spent the summer wondering whether Brian Flores could replace several established defenders with younger, cheaper players and still create the same problems for quarterbacks.
Two games in, the answer looks encouraging.
The Packers moved the ball, but went 1-for-4 in the red zone, 3-for-12 on third down and failed on both fourth-down attempts. Flores blitzed relentlessly, Blake Cashman repeatedly arrived through the middle and Dallas Turner produced a career-high 10 pressures, according to Next Gen Stats.
Turner followed that with two sacks and four quarterback hits in Chicago, including the final play of the game to seal the victory. The Bears had one second left, needed a touchdown and tried to block him with tight end Colston Loveland. Turner drove through him, brought down Tyson Bagent and then ran the length of the pitch in celebration. I’m not sure the extra sprint was necessary after playing in that weather, but I enjoyed it.
The progress is bigger than one edge rusher. Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins and Levi Drake Rodriguez played well against Green Bay. Jalen Redmond forced D’Andre Swift’s goal-line fumble in Chicago, while Domonique Orange and Caleb Banks are already rotating into meaningful snaps. Banks had six tackles against the Bears after Ingram-Dawkins was injured and began to look much more like a first-round pick than a player trying to survive his first NFL week.
Chicago reached the Minnesota red zone three times and scored no points from those visits. Redmond’s punch at the 1 prevented a probable touchdown, Byron Murphy intercepted Caleb Williams and Turner ended the final threat himself.
Smith has already justified his late return as well. His deflection created Pierre’s interception against Green Bay, and his movement around the line in Chicago helped Flores keep changing the picture. He doesn’t need to play every snap or become the version of himself from 10 years ago. If he can still organise the defense and steal a possession, that’s enough.
Minnesota has allowed 25 points across two games. The young defensive front hasn’t simply survived; it’s been one of the reasons the Vikings are unbeaten.
Chicago was ugly in exactly the right way
The Bears game won’t be making many end-of-season highlight compilations, unless somebody has a real passion for wet socks and field goals.
It was still a good win.
Chicago had scored 59 points in Week 1 and rushed for 291 yards. Minnesota held the Bears to three points, 297 total yards and 92 rushing yards from D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai combined. The Vikings didn’t turn the ball over, committed only three penalties and accepted that the weather had changed the sort of game they needed to play.
That last part is worth appreciating. O’Connell is an offensive coach with Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and T. J. Hockenson available. It would have been very easy to keep throwing because that’s what the offense is supposed to do. Instead, Minnesota ran the ball 34 times and threw it 20.
Aaron Jones carried 23 times for 105 yards. There wasn’t one enormous run hiding an otherwise average day. He kept finding four or five yards, finished through contact and gave the offense somewhere safe to go when everybody in the stadium knew another run was coming.
Jones’ 23 attempts were his most in a game as a Viking. The offensive line, tight ends and receivers all contributed. Addison had a quiet day as a receiver but made himself useful as a blocker, including on the late run design that used his motion, Hockenson’s pin block and Christian Darrisaw pulling into space.
This was the run game promise from the summer finally appearing in a match where Minnesota genuinely needed it. Not flashy. Not especially modern. Just useful.
The concern is how often the Vikings can ask Jones to do it.
The backfield is already being stretched
Jordan Mason went onto injured reserve after having surgery on his thumb, removing the more physical half of the planned running back partnership for at least four games.
Jones took the extra work in Chicago and handled it brilliantly, but he was then held out of Wednesday’s practice with a knee injury. DeeJay Dallas, who had already replaced some of Mason’s snaps, was limited by a toe problem.
Minnesota has added Jaret Patterson to the practice squad, with Jerome Ford and Demond Claiborne also available, but this isn’t how the rebuilt run game depth was supposed to look after two weeks. Jones is 31. Asking him for another 23 carries every Sunday until Mason returns would be a fine way to turn one injury problem into two.
The timing is frustrating because the Vikings have run more often than they’ve passed in both games. That commitment has helped Wentz, reduced the number of obvious passing downs and given Flores’ defense a chance to rest. Murray should benefit from the same shape when he returns.
O’Connell now has to preserve it without pretending every replacement back offers the same thing. Dallas can help in the passing game and on special teams; Claiborne gives them speed; Patterson and Ford add experience. None is Mason, and none should be asked to carry Jones’ full job if his knee needs managing.
Special teams has earned its own section
Special teams is usually the part of a weekly review that gets one paragraph at the end. It’s done far too much over these two games for that.
Price’s 68-yard kickoff return changed the mood against Green Bay and gave Wentz a short field for the Hockenson touchdown. In Chicago, Will Reichard scored all nine points, Brett Thorson handled three clean holds in dreadful conditions and repeatedly helped Minnesota in the field position battle.
Isaiah Rodgers then blocked Cairo Santos’ 23-yard attempt with the Vikings leading 6–3. Earlier, he’d recovered Redmond’s fumble at the goal line. The block earned Rodgers NFC Special Teams Player of the Week, and apparently he had told special teams coordinator Matt Daniels before the season that he planned to block three this year. One down, then.
There is an awkward bit. Thorson injured his right hamstring in Chicago, so Johnny Hekker has returned to the practice squad. The veteran lost the summer competition but already knows the operation and can take over as Reichard’s holder if required.
That’s a sensible bit of roster planning. It’s also another reminder that the opening fortnight has taken a physical toll despite the perfect record.
Jefferson passed Moss almost in the background
Justin Jefferson caught eight passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns against Green Bay, matching his touchdown total from the whole of last season in one afternoon.
Those catches left him level with Randy Moss on 587 receptions for the Vikings. His first catch in Chicago, a 30-yarder down the sideline, moved him into second place on the franchise list.
Passing Moss in any Vikings receiving category should never feel like a small note, but that’s how quickly Jefferson has changed the standard. He’s reached 588 catches during his seventh season and now trails only Cris Carter.
The nice part of the last two weeks is that Jefferson has contributed without the offense becoming desperate. Wentz trusted him when the Packers gave him single coverage, but Minnesota didn’t spend the Chicago game forcing targets into the rain simply because the biggest name needed numbers.
There will be afternoons when Jefferson has to take over. There should also be games where seven catches for 97 yards in horrible weather are more than enough. The milestone belongs in the article; the offense not needing to stop for it is a positive as well.
Murray gets another chance to start his season
Murray has cleared the concussion protocol and will start against Tampa Bay. In practical terms, his season begins again on Sunday.
We learned almost nothing about his fit against Green Bay. He threw an interception under immediate pressure, converted a third down, scrambled and was injured. Eleven snaps can’t answer an entire summer of questions about how O’Connell will use his movement, how often he will play from under center or whether he can consistently find Jefferson and Hockenson between the numbers.
The two wins have removed some of the pressure from his return. Murray doesn’t have to rescue an 0–2 team or prove the Vikings chose correctly in one afternoon. He can borrow the useful bits from Wentz: protect the football, trust the run game, take the simple completion and let the defense carry its share.
Tampa Bay is 0–2 after one-score losses to Cincinnati and Cleveland, so the Buccaneers will hardly be treating this as a gentle Sunday afternoon. Baker Mayfield has beaten Minnesota in both of his previous starts against the Vikings, while Todd Bowles will test a quarterback returning from concussion with pressure and disguised coverage of his own.
The bigger question might be what Murray has around him. Jones, Dallas and Thorson all appeared on Wednesday’s injury report. Mason remains on injured reserve. The Vikings spent the summer building an offense that would make the quarterback’s life easier, and some of that support has already been knocked about.
The game kicks off at 9:05pm on Sunday in the UK and Ireland. Two divisional wins have put Minnesota in an excellent position. Now we finally get another look at the quarterback the whole plan was built around.
What we know after two weeks
The Vikings can win in more than one way. They can ride a mad fourth-quarter surge with the U.S. Bank Stadium crowd roaring behind the defense, or they can spend three hours in the rain and accept that nine points will do. Wentz has proved the backup plan is real. Flores’ defense looks fast, deep and unpleasant to play against. The run game has finally carried a difficult afternoon, and the special teams unit has changed both results.
We still have no proper answer on the Murray offense. That’s the strange bit. Minnesota is 2–0 and 2–0 in the division, yet the largest question from the entire offseason has barely moved.
I’ll happily take that sort of uncertainty. Tampa Bay is where the delayed evaluation of the Murray offense finally begins, and it’s much easier to be patient with two divisional wins already in the bank.
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