The Minnesota Vikings’ win over the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night is the type of purple Kool-Aid that fans will want to inject into their veins. Kirk Cousins may have played his best game in a Vikings uniform. The defense shut down Kyle Shanahan’s offense. Jordan Addison looked like a superstar, and the offensive line turned in their most dominant Monday night performance since Randall McDaniel was blowing up Hall of Famers.
Add it all together, and it’s something that Kevin O’Connell should have playing on every TV at TCO Performance Center. But the win also complicates things.
Just a couple of weeks ago, the Vikings could have been pondering who to sell at the trade deadline and whether or not they should lean into the opportunity to draft a franchise quarterback. While those talks may have been confined to the fanbase, it shines a light on an inconsistent team that perhaps set a bar on Monday night that they may be unable to reach for the rest of the season.
Consider how the national media perceived the Vikings heading into Monday’s game. At 2-4, Minnesota had just survived Tyson Bagent‘s comeback bid in their win over the Chicago Bears. Entering their second game without Justin Jefferson, they were taking on a 49ers team without Deebo Samuel and Trent Williams on offense. Still, the Niners had their full defense available.
To many people, this game screamed blowout. The Vikings had only managed two first downs against Chicago’s defense in the second half and were now going up against Nick Bosa and a ferocious San Francisco front. Even with the missing pieces on offense, the defense still had their work cut out for them going up against Brock Purdy, George Kittle, and Christian McCaffrey.
Cousins’ interception on the third play of the game seemed to reinforce those thoughts. However, that was one of the few things that would go wrong. From there, O’Connell and the Vikings hit the jackpot on a slot machine that Mike Zimmer couldn’t figure out and used it to put together their most impressive performance of the year.
Addison was one of the stars of the show thanks to a breakout performance. While Charvarius Ward ripped away an interception on the opening drive, Addison returned the favor by turning a certain interception into a breakaway touchdown as the first half came to a close.
Even cramps couldn’t slow Addison down. He finished with seven catches for 123 yards and two touchdowns in roughly three quarters of work. With T.J. Hockenson serving as a possession threat, Minnesota’s offense looked explosive for the first time this season. They could be even better when Jefferson is eligible to return from a hamstring injury in Week 10.
Of course, none of this would have mattered without a dominant offensive line. The line was almost perfect in pass protection, allowing only 16 pressures on Cousins’s 45 dropbacks and holding the 49ers without a sack. Their work was just as impressive in the running game. Alexander Mattison, Cam Akers and Ty Chandler formed the committee O’Connell envisioned when the Vikings released Dalvin Cook last summer.
Then there’s Brian Flores who turned chicken you-know-what into chicken salad like he was the Gordon Ramsay of the gridiron. After holding the 49ers to a missed field goal on their first drive of the game, the Vikings held McCaffrey to 45 yards on the ground and forced Purdy to throw two interceptions in the fourth quarter.
All of this is great, but it was nothing compared to Cousins’ performance. Cousins was decisive and took advantage of every opportunity the 49ers gave him. He countered the blitz perfectly and threw for 378 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Performances like these explain why the Vikings pay him as much as they do. That’s why letting him walk in free agency next spring isn’t as clear of a choice as some fans believe it to be.
All of these details paint the picture of a championship contender that could get stronger when Jefferson returns. But it also could be the type of best-case scenario the Vikings routinely saw a year ago while going 11-0 in one-score games.
Therein lines the problem. The Vikings are capable of having the performances that they had on Monday night. However, they haven’t been able to do it consistently, whether its on a week-to-week basis or throughout the course of the game.
- The Vikings moved the ball at several points during their Week 1 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but the defense was unable to get off the field.
- Minnesota fumbled twice to allow the Philadelphia Eagles to jump out to a 24-7 lead in Week 2 before Cousins entered garbage-time mode to lead a backdoor cover.
- Brandon Staley gift-wrapped a home victory for the Vikings in Week 3, only for Cousins to need noise-canceling headphones to get the play call with time winding down. The ball clanged off Hockenson’s hands in the end zone, and the Vikings fell to 0-3.
- A Week 4 win over the Carolina Panthers had just as much to do with Bryce Young’s learning curve as it did a dominant defensive effort.
- The Week 5 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs was disappointing for more reasons than Taylor Swift’s absence. Kansas City let the Vikings hang around, but Minnesota never capitalized.
- Even against the Bears, we didn’t see this version of the Vikings. They held on for dear life in Chicago as Bagent threw a “mystery box” ball into the arms of Byron Murphy Jr. to effectively end the game.
Long story short, we didn’t see the peak version of the Vikings until last week. On Monday night, they could have just been fired up to play in front of a national audience. Or they could be hitting their stride. In either scenario, they could be a lot like the team they faced on Monday night.
At this time last year, the 49ers were 3-4 coming off a 44-23 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. They went on to win 12-straight games en route to the NFC Championship Game and could have reached the Super Bowl if it weren’t for Purdy’s injury on the opening drive.
While that team also benefitted from a softer schedule, it allowed them to find their identity and build momentum for a playoff run. With five of their next six opponents under .500, you could argue the Vikings could follow that blueprint, but they need to replicate the way they played on Monday, beginning with this week’s game against the Green Bay Packers.
If they’re unable to reach that bar, it could mean Monday’s win was a moment in a vacuum and a shot of dopamine for a fan base hoping to get out of the NFL’s middle class.
