The difference between a good football team and a bad one is often clearest when neither side plays particularly well.
Good teams absorb a bad break, survive an ugly stretch and make the one or two plays that decide the game. Bad teams can be just as talented, but they turn small problems into losses. They throw the interception at the wrong time, fumble at the goal line, miss the kick or fail to make the final stop.
The Vikings have been both kinds of teams during Kevin O’Connell’s tenure.
The 13-4 Vikings in 2022 and the 14-3 Vikings in 2024 repeatedly finished games on the right side of those moments. The 7-10 team in 2023 and the 9-8 group in 2025 too often did not. They could play well enough to win, but made the one mistake that let a close game tilt away from them.
Two games are not enough to declare which version of the Vikings will define 2026. The offense has important questions to answer, beginning with Kyler Murray’s expected return from concussion protocol. But Minnesota’s 2-0 start has already carried a familiar quality.
These Vikings have found ways to win.
They have done it in two entirely different games, against two NFC North opponents, despite losing their starting quarterback 11 snaps into the season and then playing the second game without him, Jordan Mason and Jauan Jennings.
Against Green Bay, the Vikings trailed by 17 points before exploding for 29 unanswered points. Carson Wentz came off the bench, threw three touchdown passes and helped Minnesota turn a game that appeared headed for a season-opening disaster into a 39-22 victory.
A week later in Chicago, the Vikings did not score a touchdown. The passing game struggled to establish rhythm in relentless rain, and Wentz completed only 11 of 20 passes for 143 yards. Minnesota finished with 246 total yards and converted just three of 13 third downs.
It won anyway.
That is not an argument that the offense was secretly good at Soldier Field. It was not. The weather was a serious obstacle, but it does not fully explain an offense that has finished below 300 total yards in both games. Wentz made two huge throws on the final drive — a 15-yard conversion to Jordan Addison and a 19-yard touch pass to T.J. Hockenson — but the Vikings need more consistency in the passing game.
That is why Murray’s anticipated return for Week 3 matters so much. Minnesota signed him to find consistency on offense, to create explosive plays and add a dimension with his mobility that Wentz cannot fully replicate.
But the point of the Bears win is that the Vikings did not need their ideal offense to win a game that demanded something else.
They ran the ball 28 times. Aaron Jones carried 23 times for 105 yards, his largest workload in four years. O’Connell called 13 runs and only six passes on first down, a clear acknowledgment of the conditions, the personnel available and the kind of game Minnesota needed to play. An unthinkable ratio in past O’Connell offenses.
Jones said the Vikings knew they might have to adapt to the weather and stay efficient.
“We were very efficient,” Jones said. “Four, five, six, four, five, six. Couple eights and may have a long one, but as long as we stay efficient, I think we’ll be in good places.”
That approach also reflected something larger than a rainy afternoon. The Vikings have talked all year about becoming more physical and more committed to the run. Jones described the mentality as an attack-first approach.
“We’re attacking people,” Jones said. “We’re not waiting for good stuff to happen to us.”
The Vikings did not merely hand the ball off to kill clock. They played the kind of low-risk, field-position game their defense allowed them to play.
Wentz explained the calculation after the game.
“With the defense that we have, that’s kind of the mindset,” he said. “We want to play attack-minded football. Weather the way it was today, obviously we were a little limited by some of that. … We don’t need to score a lot. We’d love to, but just don’t give them the rock.”
Minnesota did not give Chicago the ball away. The Vikings recovered a Bears fumble at the 1-yard line, intercepted Caleb Williams and then blocked a potential game-tying field goal. Isaiah Rodgers was involved in both of the game’s biggest defensive and special-teams plays, falling on Jalen Redmond’s forced fumble before screaming around the edge to block Cairo Santos’ 23-yard attempt.
The Vikings were not simply lucky to escape. They made plays in every phase.
Brett Thorson, in his second NFL game, punted six times for a 49.5-yard average and dropped two punts inside the 20. One of them came after Minnesota started a drive at its own 1-yard line and helped flip the field on a day when field position was everything. Will Reichard made all three of his field-goal attempts, extending his streak to 23.
Then there was Brian Flores’ defense.
Chicago had scored 59 points in Week 1 and entered the game with Ben Johnson holding a 5-1 record against Flores as either the Lions’ offensive coordinator or Bears head coach. The Bears did not reach the end zone and were stopped on three red-zone trips. They converted five of 15 third downs and their offense produced only 4.2 yards per play, down from 7.9 the previous week.
Jalen Redmond’s punch-out at the goal line, Dallas Turner’s two sacks and Rodgers’ field-goal block will occupy the highlights. But Minnesota’s defense also gave the Bears few easy answers. Flores used movement up front, disciplined edge setting and a back end that stayed connected to receivers when Williams extended plays.
The result was a 9-3 win that demanded resilience more than beauty.
Justin Jefferson captured the mentality afterward: “Any means necessary. Whatever it takes to come in here with a dub and us celebrating with that victory. That’s all that matters.”
O’Connell has been saying similar things. After the Green Bay comeback, he spoke candidly about no longer worrying about how his team looked statistically or what others might think of his coaching. “It’s about winning,” he said.
The Bears game was the practical version of that philosophy.
Minnesota did not chase style points. It did not force the ball into bad conditions. It trusted Jones, punted when necessary, played suffocating defense and made the biggest play when the Bears had one final second to steal the game.
Turner’s walk-off sack of Tyson Bagent was not just a fitting ending to the game. It was another example of a team refusing to let a tight contest slip away.
The Vikings have plenty to improve. Murray’s return should help an offense that needs a spark. Mason’s absence remains a concern and the schedule will offer some challenges throughout the season.
But a team does not have to be perfect to be good. It needs to identify what each game requires and make fewer losing mistakes than its opponent.
Through two weeks, the Vikings have done exactly that.
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