The performance put on by Brian Flores’ crew Sunday afternoon in New Jersey was flat-out historic.
It extended Minnesota’s streak of games without a touchdown pass allowed to six, tied with the 1969 Vikings defense for the most in a single season in the franchise’s books. The active run dates to Week 11 against Chicago and includes holding Caleb Williams, Jordan Love, Sam Darnold, Jayden Daniels/Marcus Mariota, Dak Prescott and Jaxson Dart out of the end zone. Together, those passers posted a 64.5 rating.
Minnesota, by the way, can tie the best streak in the Super Bowl era with a “No-Fly” end zone on Christmas Day. The 1988 Browns, 1976 Steelers and 1972 Packers had streaks of seven consecutive games.
Furthermore, the Vikings limited Dart to 13 net passing yards. The 25th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft was 7-for-13 with 33 yards — he lost 20 on five sacks — and an interception secured by Byron Murphy, Jr.
Again, that made history as the fewest permitted by a Purple defense in more than 50 years.
The lowest net passing total given up by a Vikings defense was minus-7 to Archie Manning at New Orleans on Nov. 16, 1975. Manning actually threw for 62 yards and a TD in a 20-7 loss but nine sacks amounted to 69 lost yards. The second fewest was 1 on Dec. 3, 1972, throughout a 23-10 win over Chicago and lefty QB Bobby Douglass, who had two completions, including one for points, for 8 yards but was sacked thrice for a loss of 7. The third-best coverage performance for Minnesota occurred Oct. 3, 1971, during a shutout of Buffalo and future league MVP running back O.J. Simpson. In that contest, Bills QB Dennis Shaw had as many completions (12) and interceptions (2) as Vikings QB Norm Snead but passed for only 67 yards and lost 59 via seven sacks. (FYI, Snead aided a 19-nil thumping with a rush TD.)