Minnesota Vikings News and Links: Three In A Row?

The win vs the Bears in those conditions was what the team needed. They were fortunate to get the punch out on the goal line for sure. But that was a well timed punch so it was just not blind luck. A little luck though. If the Bears score, I am not sure the offense would have done much. I am not sure what the offense will do vs the Bucs because Kyler has only had 11 snaps with one bonehead throw that resulted in a pick. I think he will be aight and not do anything dumb. The offense really needs to get going

though. It has been horrid every since training camp. The only positive stuff I read about came from practices.

As we all know, the injuries to QBs around the NFL has made for speculation (Gary Myers) about JJ being traded which now has been aggregated into a “rumor”. All these sites just latch onto anything and report stuff like it is really real. I am not convinced that any team wants him to be honest. He is third string now. If there is a team that would take on his remaining salary this year and next, what would they realistically give up? It is just something to talk about I guess.

Here is a video where Brian Baldinger gives Caleb Banks huge flowers and it was deserved. Banks was doing some work against the Bears and against All Pro Joe Thuney. I think Banks and Big Citrus will be a problem for teams.

Even though the Bucs have not won a game yet and will be chomping at the bit on Sunday, the butt kicking that got coming is still coming. They will have to wait until the next week to get a win right?

Minnesota Vikings News and Links

NFL Power Rankings entering Week 3: Are the Vikings the best team in the NFC North?
https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/article/nfl-power-rankings-week-3-are-the-vikings-the-best-team-in-the-nfc-north-032818598.html

A wellness check on the NFC North after two weeks doesn’t give particularly optimistic results. The Detroit Lions’ defense is in major trouble and the issues might not be easily fixable. The Chicago Bears’ defense isn’t much better, and the offense feels a little more vulnerable after scoring only three points in Week 2. The Green Bay Packers’ defense has been average but the offense might be falling apart at the seams.

Then there are the Minnesota Vikings.

The Vikings are undefeated despite getting 11 snaps from Kyler Murray so far this season. He is expected to return from a concussion in Week 3. At this point it might not matter who the quarterback is.

The Vikings allowed three points to a Bears offense that was the talk of the NFL after scoring 59 in Week 1. Defensive coordinator Brian Flores is proving to be a mad scientist. He blitzed Caleb Williams on 27 of his 33 dropbacks (81.8%), according to Next Gen Stats. A week ago, the Vikings blitzed on 40 of Jordan Love’s 46 dropbacks (86.9%), according to Pro Football Focus. At this point opponents should assume Flores is blitzing at about an 80% rate, which is astonishing in the NFL. But it has been successful.

The Vikings’ offense hasn’t been good. It’s last in the NFL in yardage gained. But presumably Murray will be better than Carson Wentz. And the Vikings are 2-0 with both wins coming in division games already as their offense catches up.

There’s a lot of season to go, but the Vikings are in good shape. Don’t forget they were 14-3 two seasons ago with competent quarterback play and 9-8 last season without it. Perhaps everyone should have taken the Vikings more seriously coming into the season. If Murray can play at an average level, perhaps Minnesota is surprisingly the best team in the NFC North? They’re certainly in the best shape early this season, even if by default.

Here are the NFL power rankings after Week 2 of the NFL season:

Minnesota Vikings (2-0, LW: 17)
Edge rusher Dallas Turner seems to be having a breakout in his third season. He leads the NFL in pressures (20), QB hits (8) and PFF’s pass rush productivity score. With the Bears at the 12-yard line, trailing 9-3, Turner had a sack on the final play of the game to seal the win. Turner was the 17th pick of the 2024 NFL Draft and he is playing up to that draft status.

“DT being our closer, finishing the whole thing,” Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell said after Sunday’s win. “DT just keeps showing up.”

Lunchbreak: The Athletic Highlights Vikings Defensive Trends
https://www.vikings.com/news/lunchbreak-the-athletic-highlights-defensive-trends

They’re worth examining, and that’s what Ted Nguyen of The Athletic did Tuesday.

They include Minnesota’s fanatical blitz rate and the fear it has created in opponents, Kansas City’s explosive rushing attack and Patrick Mahomes operating from under center, and Cincinnati’s impressive defense, anchored by veteran acquisition Dexter Lawrence.

Nguyen wrote the following:

Their 75 percent blitz rate after two weeks would be by far the highest ever if it sustains. One could assume the number will regress closer to Flores’ 48 percent range, but with Flores, who really knows? Opposing offenses certainly are confounded. After a first half in which Packers QB Jordan Love connected on a couple of heaves in Week 1, the Vikings defense has allowed six total points in six quarters.

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Flores isn’t just sending all-out pressure. These are targeted blitzes aimed at weak points in the offense. They’ll overload certain sides of the protection and create free rushers even when they don’t have a numbers advantage. When the Bears went max protect (seven blockers), the Vikings rushed four, meaning they had seven defenders dropping to defend only three receivers. That’s why Caleb Williams had to hold the ball so long on those plays.

Coller: Breaking Down Whether the 2-0 Vikings Are Good or Simply Lucky
https://www.si.com/nfl/vikings/onsi/coller-breaking-down-whether-2-0-vikings-good-or-simply-lucky-01m357khheq8

There has been a boatload of attention on the performance of the defense and Dallas Turner’s ascent to stardom in the first two weeks. There has been endless praise for defensive coordinator Brian Flores. There has been a spotlight on Carson Wentz’s fill-in performance and lack of turnovers and there’s been widespread celebration of the fact that head coach Kevin O’Connell has run the ball with conviction.

There has been less discussion about the fact that the Vikings only rank ahead of the Falcons in terms of passing yards per game thus far. Or their 29th-place ranking in first downs, 25th in rush yards per attempt or 25th-ranked in yards allowed on defense.

The sustainability of the ways in which they have won isn’t being talked about much either. Opponents have gone just 1-for-7 in red-zone touchdowns against the Vikings through two games, which is an impossible rate to keep up. Last year, they were the No. 2 red-zone defense, allowing a 42.9% touchdown rate.
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That conversation begins with the defense. Certainly, the Vikings won’t be able to stop opposing offenses on six of every seven trips into the red zone, but Flores’s defense is now going on Year 4 of causing complete chaos for opposing offenses, and this appears to be his most complete unit from a personnel standpoint.

The Vikings have spent several seasons putting together the defense, from signing players like Blake Cashman, Andrew Van Ginkel, Eric Wilson and Isaiah Rodgers to developing Turner and Levi Drake Rodriguez. Everyone who started Sunday’s game against the Bears has been in the defense for multiple years, giving Flores the tools to operate however he desires.

So Flores’s strategy of sending multiple rushers and covering up the back end with zones, which are sometimes challenging from a communication standpoint, is something the Vikings can keep doing on a weekly basis and cause miscues from the offense.

Good or lucky, what happens next will hinge on the Vikings’ offense
We can pretty much toss out the Vikings’ offensive numbers for the first two weeks because of the circumstances.

Wentz was forced to come off the bench with zero practice with the first team and found a way to play competent football against the Packers. Then his second start took place in a driving rainstorm with plenty of wind to boot.

It’s easy to forget that Kyler Murray was Pro Football Focus’s 11th-ranked QB in 2024 and ninth in ESPN’s quarterback rating stat that year as well. He has been responsible for elite seasons for receiving weapons like DeAndre Hopkins and Trey McBride.

Nobody thinks Murray will suddenly be Josh Allen in the Vikings’ offense—even O’Connell is emphasizing that he doesn’t try to play hero. But he can be much, much better than the Vikings’ 31st ranking in passing yards per game. Even as a prominent running team, the Cardinals were 18th in passing yards in 2024, and they didn’t have Justin Jefferson or anyone close to him.

How the Vikings’ DL culture is fueling early 2026 success: Enter ‘Young Nasty University’
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7624570/2026/09/24/vikings-defense-orange-banks-redmond-rodriguez-young-nasty-university/

“It’s YNU,” Orange says. “Can you guess what that means?”

What does YNU stand for? After a few embarrassing attempts, Ingram-Dawkins hollers, “Young Nasty University.”
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“That group is a huge part of our success thus far,” Vikings edge rusher Andrew Van Ginkel said. “Last year, after not stopping the run early, we put a huge emphasis on it. We’ve got young guys who are coachable, hard workers, and they do everything right.”

Minnesota Vikings RB Room Gets Clear Notice Amid Aaron Jones Injury
https://heavy.com/sports/nfl/minnesota-vikings/jones-injury-update-oconnell-buccaneers-dallas-claiborne/

O’Connell named Jones as one of several Vikings players who would not practice on Wednesday. The coach did say that the veteran still has a chance to play in Week 3. The Vikings are facing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

O’Connell put the onus on a pair of backs that figure to pick up the slack for the Vikings.

That is, if Jones joins fellow RB Jordan Mason as a non-participant in their next game and efforts to move to 3-0 on the 2026 season.

“We feel good about DeeJay [Dallas] and getting Demond [Claiborne] continued work as part of his plan, just getting him as comfortable as possible for all the different aspects of it,” O’Connell told reporters on September 23. “Obviously we have two players on our practice squad (Jaret Patterson and Jerome Ford), and can use an elevation if we need to.”
…
Before putting a spotlight on Dallas and Claiborne, O’Connell praised Jones’ toughness, name-dropping Vikings legend Adrian Peterson when asked if the current RB1 was as tough as they come that he has been around.

“Just the way he showed up every single day, you could just book it, handing him the ball 25 times. And he was going to get stronger as the game went on, even at that point in his career, so I can only imagine what he was like when he was here,” O’Connell said. “But Aaron is one of one. He’s one of one as far as toughness. He’s a really good football player and just as good as it gets from a leadership and, kind of, establishing the standard of what we want Minnesota Vikings players to look like.

“I know he’s going to do everything in his power to try to make it this week. Hopefully we’ll have him out there on Sunday.”

Vikings Get Insider Update on J.J. McCarthy Trade Outlook
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/vikings-insider-j-j-mccarthy-101228317.html

The Ringer’s NFL insider Tom Pelissero shared his update on the outlook for a trade involving McCarthy.

“You do have J.J. McCarthy,” Pelissero said during a Sept. 23 appearance on “The Rich Eisen Show.” “That one’s probably a little bit different, where Minnesota has Carson Wentz there. He was [QB2] going into the season.

“I don’t know that they’re really all that concerned necessarily, even though Kevin O’Connell said over and over, ‘We’ve seen we need three, if not four, quarterbacks here.’ But there’s a price at which I believe that they would be willing to move on from J.J. McCarthy.”

“J.J. McCarthy, in theory, could come to the Giants, play well, and then have trade value somewhere else,” Greenberg said. “He could still be Jaxson Dart’s team. J.J. McCarthy would have to play really well for you to start considering, well, maybe we actually consider him over Jaxson Dart.

“That would be a better problem to have than I’m staring at 15 unwinnable games… I’m not moving on from Jaxson Dart if I’m the Giants. I think that kid is fantastic.”
…
Recently, Minnesota Vikings on SI’s Adam Carlson put out a couple of destinations for McCarthy; one of them is the 0-2 Falcons.

On Sept. 21, Atlanta named Michael Penix Jr. its starter for the Week 3 game against the Green Bay Packers. Nonetheless, if he doesn’t impress, it could be time to look at external options to salvage their season, and that is where McCarthy could come in.

“Tagovailoa and Penix are interesting quarterbacks when they are healthy, but neither one should be trusted to play a full season,” Carlson wrote in a Sept. 20 article. “Rush doesn’t provide the depth needed to win games and hasn’t led a team to a win as a starter since he left the Cowboys after the 2024 NFL season.”

A new J.J. McCarthy trade partner has come to light, and this may be what the Vikings were looking for
https://atozsports.com/nfl/minnesota-vikings-news/j-j-mccarthy-trade-partner-come-to-light-vikings-giants-jaxson-dart-john-harbaugh-joe-schoen/

A Vikings QB Trade Rumor is Quickly Picking Up Momentum
https://vikingsterritory.com/2026/news/top_news/vikings-qb-trade-rumor-nyg

J.J. McCarthy trade talk gets a Giant(s) boost after Jaxson Dart news
https://thevikingage.com/jj-mccarthy-minnesota-vikings-trade-talk-giants-boost-jaxson-dart-injury-news

Top insiders spill new info about chances of Vikings trading J.J. McCarthy
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/top-insiders-spill-chances-vikings-143218603.html

In fact, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Giants have not called Minnesota about McCarthy, even though they’re allegedly looking to add to a quarterback room that now features Jameis Winston and Jake Haener.

“It wasn’t like they were frantically calling around the league yesterday trying to trade for somebody. There was no contact with Minnesota about J.J. McCarthy,” Schefter reported Thursday morning. “What you have to understand is, these other teams around the league also understand the value of a backup quarterback. They’re not going to be in the market to just give away a backup quarterback because the Giants lost their starter.”

“There is a market in terms of there being interest. It’s a matter of what are you willing to take if you’re the Vikings?” Tom Pelissero said Thursday on KFAN’s Power Trip Morning Show. “They have not shown any inclination just to give the guy away, just to say, ‘Alright, we’ll take a conditional seventh-round pick or whatever.'”

“Every time that quarterbacks get hurt, I would anticipate that they have to consider J.J. McCarthy. If not him, who are you going and getting?” Pelissero continued. “There’s a market for J.J. Honestly, you hate to say it, but it may take even more injuries where teams are getting desperate and looking at the landscape of this and going, ‘Are we going to convince Ryan Tannehill to come off the couch? Are we signing Jimmy Garoppolo right now? Or are we taking a shot on a 24-year-old guy who’s got some starting experience and a winning record as a starter?”

Donovan Jackson Is Exactly What the Vikings Need
https://zonecoverage.com/2026/minnesota-vikings-news/donovan-jackson-is-exactly-what-the-vikings-need/

Vikings Lose 313-Pound Defensive Tackle to 49ers: Report
https://heavy.com/sports/nfl/minnesota-vikings/naquan-jones-nfl-news-practice-squad-49ers/

Vikings Injury Report: One position group already looks dire, and it’s one Minnesota can’t afford to be weak in
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/vikings-injury-report-one-position-222713035.html

The Vikings’ Skipper Hints that MIN Will Explore an Add at 1 Skill Position
https://vikingsterritory.com/2026/news/top_news/vikings-skipper-add-1-skill

2026 Game Preview: Vikings-Buccaneers, Week 3
https://www.buccaneers.com/news/2026-game-preview-vikings-buccaneers-week-3

“Really the looks,” said Bowles of the difficulties that a Flores defense present. “You know, the looks and the many people he can bring. They’re very comfortable going with anybody up there, dropping any of the front nine or front eight, whatever you want to say. They have very good chaotic chaos, but they understand where it’s going. That’s been their calling card for the past couple years. I think ‘Flo’ does a great job in doing that and causing that, and it works for them.”