Expectations weren't high for the Minnesota Vikings entering the 2026 season. It didn't help that they began the season with games against the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears, two teams that made the playoffs last year.
Those chances of winning either game looked bleak when Kyler Murray went down on the Vikings' third offensive drive in Week 1. But that didn't deter Kevin O'Connell from the main goal: win, even if it's ugly.
"Whatever it took," O'Connell said of Minnesota opening the season with two divisional foes. "We know we have an offense that, for the most part, protects the football. On a day where everybody in the building knew you were running it a ton, they still felt physical. [It] felt like a good battle up there and Aaron
[Jones] finding the space. But we're still going to grow. You know, we're still going to grow and improve and get better. But this team's learning and applying previously learned lessons on how to win games in a whole bunch of different ways.
The Vikings overcame a 22-10 third-quarter deficit to beat the Packers 39-22 in Week 1. On Sunday, they beat the Bears 9-3 one week after Chicago scored 59 points.
Questions remain about the passing game. Kyler Murray is set to return next week, and we still haven't seen enough of him to draw conclusions about whether he can run this offense better than Carson Wentz.
But Minnesota is still 2-0 and has found a way, and the team seems to be embracing that.
This article originally appeared on Vikings Wire: Kevin O'Connell: 'Whatever it took' to get to 2-0 start
