At some point, perhaps when Christian McCaffrey is back on the field or Jordan Love is back to full health, the NFC might reshape itself into something a little more predictable. But for now, the conference is being dominated not by San Francisco’s superstar-laden roster or the Packers’ young quarterback or even the Lions or Seahawks, who face off Monday night. The Minnesota Vikings, with a placeholder quarterback on a one-year contract putting together an MVP candidacy, are the team to beat — really — after blowing out the Packers in the first half and then holding on for dear life, to win 31-29 at Lambeau Field and improve to 4-0. The Packers dropped to 2-2.
Would it surprise anyone if the course of the Vikings’ season follows the arc of Sunday’s game — with a stunning early lead that forces everyone else to play catch-up? Probably not. On Sunday, Minnesota’s offense opened a four-touchdown lead by the second quarter, but then went ice cold, going five straight drives without a score and eking out only a field goal in the final 35 minutes and 28 seconds of the game. The defense, despite putting unrelenting pressure on Love, whose mobility was clearly compromised by his knee injury, nearly allowed the Packers to complete the comeback, ceding more than 17 points for the first time this season. Love threw for 389 yards and four touchdowns. The Packers had 314 yards of offense in the second half. What saved the Vikings? Love struggled against the blitz, completing just 16 of 25 attempts for 157 yards, with two of his three interceptions coming on such plays, according to Next Gen Stats. The Packers also fumbled and had and a continuation of their kicking woes, with two early missed field goals by Green Bay kicker Brayden Narveson.
Still, the Vikings got the stops when they needed them, and moved the ball when they absolutely had to get it back to a two-score game midway through the fourth quarter. They have the talent to win an important divisional game like this on the road, and they have outstanding play-calling on both sides of the ball. The blitz-happy defense, coordinated by Brian Flores, is confounding opponents. And quarterback Sam Darnold is still crafting an unexpected career renaissance, throwing three more touchdown passes Sunday to bring his season total to 11, against just three interceptions. Next week, they play in London, facing a New York Jets team that just suffered an embarrassing home loss to the Denver Broncos, with the offense looking startlingly out of sync, Aaron Rodgers banged up, and the offensive line suddenly struggling with pass protection. And on Sunday, the Vikings likely got a timely reminder that they can’t let their feet off the gas, ever.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell said he would have liked to have scored a touchdown late in the game, but he praised his team’s ability to respond after losing a big lead. He said he thought his team is made of the right stuff and it was hard to argue.
“What happened today means absolutely nothing moving forward, other than we’ve got to go back to work and continue to improve as a football team,” he said.
What this does mean is that the Vikings, who were thought to be in a transition year after Kirk Cousins signed with the Falcons and they drafted rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy, are well-positioned going into the second month of the season, while questions, some of them significant, swirl around many of the teams that are expected to eventually challenge them for NFC supremacy.
On Thursday night, the Cowboys suffered two big injuries on defense — to Micah Parsons and Demarcus Lawrence — and face a stretch of games against the Steelers, Lions and 49ers. The Seahawks are the only other undefeated team in the NFC, but they have played the Broncos, Patriots and the Miami Dolphins without Tua Tagovailoa. Their best test will come Monday night against the Detroit Lions, who already have one loss to the Bucs. The Bucs, whose Baker Mayfield may be the only quarterback who can fully appreciate Darnold’s revival because it so closely mirrors his own, beat up the listless Philadelphia Eagles, 33-16. The Eagles go into their bye week 2-2, and while their banged up wide receiver room (DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown both missed Sunday’s game) can use the week off, the bye will be filled with questions about whether the Eagles have really shaken off whatever sunk them last season, whether Jalen Hurts can stop turning the ball over (he already has six turnovers this season), and why an uber-talented roster still hasn’t scored a point in the first quarter this season, the only NFL team that has been blanked that way. Hurts said the Eagles are still trying to figure out their own identity.
“I clearly didn’t do enough,” Hurts told reporters after Sunday’s loss. “You can point fingers wherever, but I own all of that. I touch the ball every play. I take pride in that.”
After overhauling the coaching staff and actively improving the roster, the Eagles’ stumbles are unexpected. But the only team that can rival the Vikings as a happy surprise are the Washington Commanders, who lead the NFC East at 3-1 after smashing the Arizona Cardinals on the road, 42-14, just six days after beating the Bengals in Cincinnati. Quarterback Jayden Daniels is the early front-runner for Offensive Rookie of the Year, although the Commanders seem likely to be more than a vehicle for a handful of individual awards, if not this season then next.
The Vikings, though, have arrived already, thanks to the work O’Connell has done with Darnold, which has made O’Connell a leading contender for Coach of the Year. It’s hard to imagine teams like the 49ers and Lions won’t at least put pressure on the Vikings, who are in an enviable position. They are being chased, and so far, they are handling it better than the quarterbacks in Flores’ sights.
