Vikings Territory Breakdown
The Vikings went into Ford Field in Detroit on Sunday as 9-point underdogs. They were coming off, perhaps, the worst loss in Kevin O’Connell’s tenure in a 37-10 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. And they were reinstalling their second-year quarterback after a high ankle sprain and seven underwhelming quarters in his first two games as a pro. It was a recipe for disaster when lining up against one of the top offenses in the league at their home field.
But . . . any given Sunday—and this past Sunday it was a 27-24 win in the Vikings favor. Was it a surprise after how they have played in recent weeks? Yes. But not out of the question when you consider how talented the team was supposed to be this season. The difference was an offensive line that included four of its five starters in the game and a defense that has gotten healthier in recent weeks and started to look like the unit has kept the team in games this season. Now the Vikings are back to .500 at 4-4 and back in the conversation for the NFC North title, where they are 2-0 in division games.
Behind a relatively healthy offensive line (though they were not perfect, they still gave up five sacks), quarterback J.J. McCarthy took off. He threw two touchdown passes and ran one in himself, he made some good decisions (along with some wrong ones), and showed some pocket presence his predecessor wasn’t demonstrating. McCarthy’s afternoon (taking place in the state where he played college football) may have singlehandedly changed the season narrative going forward and the mindset for Vikings fans heading into next Sunday.
Suddenly, the Vikings have crawled from the wreckage of last Thursday’s low point of the season to give the Purple Nation hope again. And the fellas at the Vikings Territory Breakdown podcast, Joe Oberle, senior writer at vikingsterritory.com and purplePTSD.com and Mark Craig, NFL and Vikings writer for the Star Tribune and startribune.com), are ready to go deep on that hope. We will discuss how the Vikings rose from the ashes of a game in which nobody showed up at SoFi Stadium to the full-team effort we witnessed in Detroit. Tune in and check it out. Skol!
