The Minnesota Vikings have built a foundation for a Super Bowl run, and the work is far from complete
Kevin O’Connell’s Vikings finding unique ways to win early on this season is perfect for a potential Super Bowl run.
The Minnesota Vikings are 2-0, and they have done it in a very unique way. No vertical fireworks, no Kyler Murray heroics, and no explosive passing attack lighting up the scoreboard. Instead, Minnesota has leaned on its defense, committed to the run game, and found ways to win ugly. That combination, through two weeks of the 2026 NFL season, has started to look like something more than a hot start. It looks like a foundation for a potential Super Bowl run.
That is not a prediction that the Vikings will win the Super Bowl, but rather an observation that the first two games have given this team something it did not have before: confidence that it can win in multiple ways.
Winning ugly matters
Kevin O’Connell historically has wanted to attack vertically. He wants explosive plays and has chased them to no end. That has always been his identity. Even in a weather game against the Chicago Bears, he tried to create those opportunities. But the fact that Minnesota could lean on a heavy run game, ride the defense, and survive with Carson Wentz at quarterback says something significant about this team’s growth.
Two years ago, the Vikings lost that 12-10 game against Chicago. Josh Dobbs was at quarterback when Justin Fields drove down the field for a game-winning field goal against this same defense. This time, when Tyson Bagent got a couple of throws in on the final drive, the Vikings tightened up. Chicago went 0-for-3 in the red zone, including a fumble recovered by Isaiah Rodgers and a blocked field goal. Those are the kinds of details that separate teams who win in January from teams who go home early.
Every Super Bowl team needs luck. The 2007 New England Patriots learned that when Mario Manningham made one of the best catches in league history. The Vikings got some luck of their own when Caleb Williams went down, allowing Brian Flores to dial up the pressure package that sealed the game. That final play does not get called against Williams because he presents an entirely different challenge. Sometimes the bounces go your way, and you have to capitalize. The Vikings did just that.
The run game is trending upward…for now
Per TruMedia via The Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling, the Vikings rank No. 1 in the NFL in first-and-second-down run rate at 62.7%. That is a significant departure from O’Connell’s historical tendencies, and it is encouraging. The pin-pull toss with jet motion produced a 28-yard run for Jordan Mason and a 15-yard gain for Aaron Jones. The manipulation of defenses is there.
The concern is depth. Jones got banged up twice against the Bears with an upper body injury and a lower leg issue. Mason is out with a broken thumb. Demond Claiborne is borderline unplayable, DeeJay Dallas got hurt on his final carry, and Jerome Ford is on the practice squad without a single snap in this offense. If Jones goes down, the Vikings do not have a back they can trust. They did add Jaret Patterson to the practice squad, but is that enough?
Free agents like Cam Akers or Raheem Mostert could provide short-term answers. Mostert played for Frank Smith in Miami and would have familiarity with the scheme, which matters when you need someone to contribute immediately. Short passes, screens, bubble routes to Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison can also function as run-game extensions. A bubble screen with two blockers in front of Jefferson is a run in everything but the stat sheet.
Two games are not enough to declare the run game fixed. How these tendencies manifest once Murray returns will tell the real story, as will the health of the backfield.
Dallas Turner and the defensive line are the foundation
Dallas Turner has 20 pressures through two weeks, per Pro Football Focus. He is not winning a ton of one-on-one reps against tackles yet, and Darnell Wright, a second-team All-Pro, gave him some trouble. But what Turner does in Flores’ scheme is genuinely elite. The Vikings are freeing him up as an edge blitzer, letting him attack tight ends rather than forcing him into matchups he has not yet mastered. He also has the ability to attack On the Andrew Van Ginkel sack late in the first half, Turner showed patience, took controlled steps, forced Williams to commit, and funneled him into the interior pressure. That is growth.
Turner is still only 23, younger than Jared Verse was when he made his NFL debut. The development runway is long, and now the Vikings are reaping the benefits.
The interior is equally exciting. Jalen Redmond might be the best player on the defensive line and one of the best on the entire roster outside of Jefferson and Christian Darrisaw. Levi Drake Rodriguez has proven he is a starter, while Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins has taken a step forward as a rotational piece.
Caleb Banks flashed elite traits against the Bears, driving Joe Thuney off the line of scrimmage and swimming through two blockers for a tackle for loss, even if the Pro Football Focus grade of 30.0 did not reflect it. Domonique Orange showed the variance you expect from a third-round rookie, with some bad losses and some impressive reps at the point of attack.
The Vikings replaced Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave, who combined for over 1,300 snaps, and the early returns are overwhelmingly positive. Redmond and Rodriguez are playing on third-year rookie minimum contracts of $1.075 million and providing starting-caliber production. That calculated bet made by former general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is paying dividends.
The offense is still the great unknown
Murray cleared the concussion protocol and is expected to return against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which is critical. Wentz did what a backup should do: he kept the ship afloat. The 24-yard pass to Josh Oliver and the 15-yard completion to T.J. Hockenson on the final drive showed he can still deal. But the missed interception to Devin Bush, the overthrow on the Addison route, and the general inconsistency are exactly why he is the backup. There is no level of consistency with Wentz, and there never will be.
The offense has played 11 snaps with its starting quarterback. Everything since the Murray injury has been about survival. It is impossible to evaluate what this group truly is until Murray strings together a few healthy weeks. That is both very likely and incredibly unlikely given his injury history and the way he got hurt in the opener, going against his own tendency to protect himself.
If the Vikings win the Super Bowl and look back at these first two weeks, the foundation will be clear: a defense that covers while blitzing, a run game that showed real commitment, and a locker room that learned it can win when nothing goes right. A lot still has to go right, and a lot has to be prevented from going wrong. But the good is repeatable, and that is the most important thing through two games.
