Matthew Coller: Vikings got all their weapons involved in win over Colts

Kevin O'Connell gave out four game balls to Sam Darnold's pass catchers after the victory.

Nov 3, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings tight end Josh Oliver (84) celebrates his touchdown with wide receiver Jalen Nailor (83) against the Indianapolis Colts in the fourth quarter at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-Imagn Images / Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

MINNEAPOLIS — In the locker room following the Minnesota Vikings win over the Indianapolis Colts, Kevin O’Connell had to secure a lot of game balls to give to all the pass catchers who played a big role in successful passing game. A video posted by the team showed the head coach handing them out to Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, TJ Hockenson and Josh Oliver. Those four did the majority of the damage but in Sam Darnold’s 290-yard performance, the Vikings ended up with nine different players getting at least one grab.

It was a night where the vision of the Vikings passing game came to life. Darnold led longer drives and mixed underneath and deep passes. In the second half when they needed their playmakers to be at the forefront, it was obvious that there were simply too many good players on the field for the Colts to cover.

The offense’s success always begins with Jefferson and that was the case in the 21-13 win over the Colts. Jefferson finished with seven receptions for 137 yards on nine targets. At halftime, the Vikings star receiver was frustrated by the fact that his team hadn’t finished drives. He said that he talked to his teammates about getting their energy up for the second half and then he put his energy on display right away.

To kick off the first drive of the second half, Jefferson caught a 21-yard pass that got his team rolling. When they arrived at the Indy 14-yard line on third-and-9, Darnold hit Addison for a 10-yard gain and then threw a touchdown on the next play. Not just any touchdown though — a one-handed, highlight-reel grab for the best 4-yard touchdown you’ll ever see.

It was a big sequence for Addison, who seemed to express some frustration over the last week about his lack of targets.

“He’s a tremendous player, that’s not a surprise to us,” Jefferson said of Addison. “He’s been dealing with injuries and less targets but that didn’t effect him at all. He’s still performing and making plays when they do come and that’s what I try to preach to him every game. Even if the targets aren’t coming to you this very moment, they are going to come.”

Also en route to Addison’s touchdown was a 19-yard catch Hockenson, who made his season debut on Sunday night following nine months of rehab from an ACL tear. It was one of three catches for a total of 27 yards.

“It was fun, it was just good to be back out there competing,” Hockenson said. “I’ve done a lot of routes on air, a lot of [physical therapy], so to be out there competing and see defenses — and they are zone droppers, so to be able to feel where they are at and sit in that zone and find spaces was a lot of fun.”

The biggest of Jefferson’s catches came in the third quarter when the game was tied at 7-7 and the Vikings were facing third-and-2 at the Colts 42-yard line. Needing to jump ahead on Indy’s side of the field, Darnold ripped a pass down the sideline to Jefferson, who was covered one-on-one, and No. 18 caught the pass in stride to bring the Vikings to the 1-yard line. They scored a touchdown several plays later to go up 14-7.

“It was a critical moment for Sam and him to pitch and catch on that long throw, getting us down there, and ultimately got 7 [points],” O’Connell said. “Justin was phenomenal, and I really felt him all game long from a leadership standpoint, which is phenomenal to see.”

When the Vikings got the ball back up 14-10 with 5:20, they knew that a touchdown would put the game away. Darnold hit Addison for 21 yards and then went into grind mode, running Aaron Jones five straight times before deciding to run a play-action pass on second-and-11 from the Colts 14-yard line. Darnold rolled out to his left and found Oliver wide open for a touchdown. It was Oliver’s fifth catch of the night.

“We were doing a heck of a job running the rock that whole last drive and the safety sucked up against run action…Sam gave me an opportunity to catch it,” Oliver said.

Throughout the night, Darnold was extremely efficient, averaging 8.5 yards per pass attempt and completing 28 of 34 attempts. Getting the ball into his receivers’ hands consistently allowed the Vikings to do something that they have struggled with previously: Stay on the field. They racked up 29 first downs and crushed the Colts in time of possession with 36:54 of time with the football.

O’Connell kept going back to the Darnold well despite some glaring miscues. He was sacked four times, including one that was picked up and run back for a touchdown. He also threw two interceptions, one coming in the red zone and another when the Vikings had just taken the lead and got a key stop on defense.

“My trust in Sam is something that I think is going to be a winning edge for our football team, and to win a football game when we lose the turnover battle, that means your quarterback played well,” O’Connell said.

The Vikings also cleared up a significant issue that they were having through the first seven games on offense: Penalties. The entire team had only three penalties and the offense didn’t have its typical run of delay of game or false start issues that had been causing problems with sustaining drives.

“I felt like we played a really clean game as an offense besides my turnovers, which was good,” Darnold said. “I felt like we were really good with no self-inflicted, all those things; penalty-wise, pre-snap I felt like we were getting in and out of the huddle. Tempo was really good all day. So we were really efficient as an offense that way. Just got to take care the football.”

One of the reasons the Vikings were able to move the ball through the air was that they got good enough pass protection from left tackle Cam Robinson, who arrived mid-week and played the entire game. He was another game ball recipient.

“Just an unwavering confidence in the huddle with the way that he was able to go out there and execute a game plan,” Darnold said. “Haven't watched the tape yet, but it seemed that he was very, very confident to be able to go out there and execute, and I felt like did he a really good job.”

The Vikings now have an opportunity to build on their full bevy of weapons and adjusted approach to playing with better tempo and a smoother operation on offense. They will face the Jaguars next week, who rank second worst in the NFL in yards allowed.

“Offensively the execution was improved,” O’Connell said. “I think there is a lot to pull from this and yet still have a lot of runway to improve as a team. When we can limit our turnovers and still have that kind of performance in certain aspects of our offense.”