Minnesota Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson celebrates his touchdown against the Indianapolis Colts
Minnesota Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson (87) celebrates his touchdown against the Indianapolis Colts in the fourth quarter of an NFL football game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Sunday, Oct. 24, 2026. The Vikings beat the Colts, 13-10. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
John Shipley
John Shipley
It’s difficult to criticize a 6-0 NFL team, so this will be delicate. The Vikings might — just perhaps, maybe, might — have an issue with their offense.
The last undefeated team in the NFC scraped past a mid Indianapolis Colts team 16-10 on Sunday largely because of a stellar defensive performance that is becoming an expectation, if no less thrilling. The offense still can’t get out of its own way.
John Shipley
John Shipley
Afterward, head coach Kevin O’Connell told reporters there were “nine explosive (plays) on offense, but we left a lot out there.”
It’s unclear how the Vikings are qualifying explosive plays, but if there were nine of them, they were fairly inconspicuous because, in the end, they didn’t amount to much. The Vikings’ longest play was a 35-yard scramble by quarterback Kyler Murray that set up a 5-yard touchdown pass to tight end T.J. Hockenson.
This is not exactly why the Vikings signed Murray on the first day of free agency last March. But as defensive back Byron Murphy Jr. said after the game, “It’s nice to have a quarterback that can get out of the pocket and do that.”
“I think our (offense is) very confident that we are not far off, and the ‘far off’ changes a little bit as you go,” O’Connell said. “But we’re very, very confident we’ll get it going.”
While we’re being generous, let’s just say that would help.
Of the two NFL defenses most nominated for the greatest of all time, the 2000 Baltimore Ravens finished the season ranked 16th in total offense and 14th in scoring (20.8 points). The 1985 Chicago Bears, on the other hand, finished with the NFL’s second-ranked scoring offense.
The Vikings’ defense is impressive and fun to watch, and appears to be getting better. Poor Daniel Jones was beset by marauding Vikings all day Sunday. The Colts’ QB finished 13 for 22 for 108 yards, no touchdowns and a game-ending interception by Harrison Smith.
Vikings linebacker Blake Cashman had a game: 12 tackles, two sacks, four pass breakups and three quarterback hurries.
The defense is the key to this team’s postseason potential, but it would behoove a true Super Bowl contender to get its offense into a slot somewhere between the ’85 Bears and 2000 Ravens. Before Sunday’s game, the Vikings ranked 22nd in scoring with a 21.8-point average that has since gone down.
After four full games, Murray remains something of an enigma.
A small, agile quarterback with a strong arm, he seems more comfortable stepping into a pocket than taking off. Certainly O’Connell and offensive coordinator Wes Phillips are not crafting dozens of plays designed to free their quarterback in the flat, where Murray was knocked nearly cold on a scramble on the Vikings’ second offensive possession of the season.
The other thing to like about Murray is that when he makes a mistake, it’s never a disaster. If his passes aren’t always perfect, they’re rarely, if ever, careless. He has thrown two interceptions in 134 pass attempts and, though he has been sacked 12 times, hasn’t fumbled. He knows when to throw a pass away or eat it, and he isn’t shy about it.
That’s an excellent trait for an NFL quarterback, but the Vikings have scored only four touchdowns with him under center.
Right now, though, for all the things Murray does right, he’s just missing on some other stuff. In the first half Sunday, he missed some open receivers; twice overthrowing running back Jordan Mason, throwing behind Justin Jefferson, and putting a potential touchdown pass off Jauan Jennings’ fingertips.
There are other issues, of course.
The running game sputtered Sunday — Jordan Mason, who returned from a thumb injury, led the Vikings with 68 yards on 15 attempts. And when Murray finally found Jordan Addison for a 37-yard reception at the Colts’ 2-yard line with 4 minutes, 27 seconds remaining, it was negated by a holding call on center Blake Brandel.
For all the pressures, sacks, turnovers and negative plays the Vikings’ defense is putting together, the defense has yet to score a point. Because the Vikings have won all six of their games, the offense’s shortcomings haven’t meant much. It has scored enough to win, even against the Chicago Bears, which has, ostensibly, the NFL’s most dangerous offense.
But the offense that fans saw on Sunday against the now 2-5 Colts probably won’t be enough next weekend in Detroit. You know it, the Vikings know it.
“If we were losing games, there would be a lot more — well, I won’t say a lot more because we’re urgent about everything we do — but it would be different if we were losing games,” Murray said.
“We’ve found our ways to win these games on Sunday; that’s not easy to do in today’s NFL. We’re doing that, and we’re going to take this one.”