special teams<\/a> proved to be plenty capable of carrying the load in the meantime, the offense was so stagnant during the game against Miami on Oct. 4 that boos were audible from the home crowd despite the Vikings leading the entire afternoon.<\/p>\nBut Murray found a rhythm in the second half of that game and maintained it the following week in New Orleans. Over the last six quarters, he\u2019s 40 for 48 for 364 yards, no turnovers and the touchdown throw to Jefferson. He also revived his ground game with 10 rushes for 51 yards, one of the assets that gave the Vikings confidence they would be able to restore a productive offense with Murray after McCarthy\u2019s inconsistency and injuries contributed to the rough 2025 performance.<\/p>\n
Even more encouraging Vikings coach Kevin O\u2019Connell and his staff has been the way Murray played over the last two weeks with multiple regulars missing to injuries.<\/p>\n
Promising young left guard Donovan Jackson (knee) is likely out for the rest of the regular season, along with No. 2 tight end Josh Oliver (biceps). Standout left tackle Christian Darrisaw (concussion) was hurt against Miami and inactive at New Orleans, along with No. 2 wide receiver Jordan Addison (hamstring). No. 2 running back Jordan Mason (thumb) has missed the last four games. Top tight end T.J. Hockenson (concussion) exited after the second play in New Orleans.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were doing some shuffling within the lineups, but we\u2019ve had a lot of practice at that, and he just kind of stayed the course,\u201d O\u2019Connell said. \u201cTremendous poise all day long \u2014 decision-making, using his athleticism.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Vikings were determined to field a deeper bench this year<\/p>\n
By signing Murray and bringing back Carson Wentz, who capably directed two victories in Murray\u2019s absence, the Vikings were serious about raising the floor in a quarterback room that was hampered by injuries and McCarthy\u2019s inexperience. The Vikings similarly struggled in 2023 after Kirk Cousins tore his Achilles tendon.<\/p>\n
But that wasn\u2019t the only position they were concerned about. The offensive line in particular needed to be deeper, after constant shuffling for injuries last year. They\u2019ve already had to replace Jackson, but Joe Huber has stabilized that spot. Ryan Van Demark has subbed effectively for Darrisaw, too.<\/p>\n
Tight ends Gavin Bartholomew and Ben Yurosek each played career highs in snaps in New Orleans with Hockenson and Oliver out. Myles Price, Tai Felton and Jeshaun Jones contributed at wide receiver with Addison sidelined, and veteran Odell Beckham Jr. was recently signed to the practice squad.<\/p>\n
On defense, the return of safety Harrison Smith and the late addition of edge rusher Kyle Van Noy have helped minimize the loss of newcomer Jamal Adams to a season-ending injury in the first exhibition game and given the group more overall experience. Rookies Caleb Banks and Domonique Orange are getting their feet wet on the interior of the defensive line. Special teams stalwart Ivan Pace is the ideal blitz-driven backup to linebackers Blake Cashman and Eric Wilson.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been a real commitment to getting football players who are smart, tough, love playing football, love practicing, love improving,\u201d O\u2019Connell said. \u201cThen do we have a mentality of a sense of team \u2014 doing things for the greater good of the team, doing things for the guy next to me?<\/p>\n
\u201cThey can be cliches until you start seeing some of these things play themselves out and help you be a 5-0 football team.\u201d<\/p>\n
*Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray (1) passes against the New Orleans Saints during the first half of an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1029003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2073],"tags":[7,233,259,2529,6,234],"class_list":["post-1029002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-minnesota-vikings","tag-football","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-minnesotavikings","tag-nfl","tag-vikings"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117449998156228039","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1029002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1029002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1029002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1029003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1029002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1029002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1029002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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