Vikings Stay Unbeaten by Trouncing Texans

Raise your hand if, back when training camp opened, you had the Vikings starting this season 3-0 . I doubt anyone outside of the Vikings team made that prediction, and even the players and coaches would've been happy with a 2-1 start.

Vikings Stay Unbeaten by Trouncing Texans

At this juncture, I had the Vikings 1-2 and headed to a loss at Lambeau against the Packers in Week 4. And I still had the Purple rallying late in the season to make the playoffs as the last wild card at 9-8, but with J.J. McCarthy at QB in place of Sam Darnold after Week 8. That obviously will not happen with McCarthy out for the season and Darnold one of the top MVP candidates in the league through Week 3 after his terrific start, including leading the league in TD passes (8) and ranking second in passer rating (117.3) behind Josh Allen.

Darnold threw four TD passes to four different receivers in the impressive 34-7 win over the Texans on Sunday. The run game was excellent, with Aaron Jones rushing for 102 yards. And the defense shut down C.J. Stroud and the potent Texans offense, holding them to 224 yards until garbage time late, producing two interceptions that led to two Vikings touchdowns (Stroud threw only five picks all of last season when he was Offensive Rookie of the Year), five sacks, eight QB hits and nine tackles-for-loss (the Texans rushed for only 38 yards).

Brian Flores' defense has allowed only 30 points in three games, ranking second in the league behind only the similarly unbeaten Steelers (26 points allowed), and the Vikings lead the league with 16 sacks.

Like most of Vikings nation, I think a lot more than nine wins can emerge this season if the team stays relatively healthy, with the division title becoming more than a remote possibility. A win in Green Bay on Sunday, with first place on the line against the 2-1 Packers, would significantly help that cause.

Good news for the Vikings is NFL teams that start 3-0 have a 75% chance of making the playoffs. The odds are even better at 4-0.

Here are my other reactions to the win over the Texans:

More on that great defense—the tipped ball by Harrison Phillips intercepted by Kamu Grugier-Hill on the second play from scrimmage for the Texans set the tone and led to the TD pass to Justin Jefferson. Cam Bynum's fourth-quarter diving interception (on a poor throw by Stroud as he was pressured) led to the TD pass to Johnny Mundt, so that was 14 points off the two turnovers.

The Vikings' defense benefited from starting back Joe Mixon being out injured, but he wouldn't have made much difference as the Texans couldn't run block and wound up with only 38 rushing yards.

The Vikings rank second in the league in run defense (71 yards per game) and have a big test on Sunday against Green Bay's No. 1 rushing offense (204 yards per game) with Josh Jacobs sixth in rushing with 278 yards (Aaron Jones ranks 10th with 228 yards and he'd love to do a couple Lambeau Leaps after scoring TDs this week.

Jonathan Greenard led the charge against his former team with three sacks. He leads the Vikings defenders with 18 pressures in three games and has four sacks to tie Pat Jones for the team lead. Andrew Van Ginkel has three sacks, one in each game. The Vikings would love to get Dallas Turner back this week after he was out with a knee injury, but Jihad Ward has filled in well and had several pressures on Sunday.

The Vikings secondary did a nice job holding Houston's leading receiver, Nico Collins, to four catches on 10 targets for 84 yards. Stephon Gilmore usually covered Collins, who had over 200 receiving yards in the first two games. Shaq Griffin also made some nice plays in coverage. Stephon Diggs had 10 catches, but his longest was 19 yards, and he had 94 yards. None of the Texans' excellent trio of WRs (including Tank Dell) scored in the game.

For the third straight week, the Vikings outrushed the opposing team in a winning effort. Kevin O'Connell continued his balanced attack, which worked so well, with a close to 50/50 run-pass ratio (28 rushes and 32 dropbacks for Darnold, including the four sacks and 28 pass attempts).

The Texans sacked Darnold four times, but they have elite pass rushers in Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter (Hunter was held sackless and had two QB hits plus the first roughing the passer penalty of his career that created a scary moment for the Vikings and their fans until Darnold returned one play later to a great ovation and his MRI checked out as only a bruised knee).

Pass protection will be key against the Packers, who have 11 sacks to rank sixth. A lot of the Texans' pressures came on stunts, so the Vikings' O-linemen will have to be ready to pick up the twists and blitzes.

Jalen Nailor continues his stellar early season play as the No. 2 (when filling in for Jordan Addison, who remains day to day with his sprained ankle) or No. 3 receiver. He had three catches for 31 yards and an excellent grab on the four-yard TD catch on the key drive to open the third quarter that put the Vikings up 21-0. He also showed great skill in staying inbounds on a sideline reception.

It was another excellent game for the special teams. Will Reichard is now 15 for 15 on the season (5 for 5 on field goals, including the terrific 58-yarder late in the game) and 10 for 10 on extra points. Ryan Wright had a fine game with a 48.3 average and two punts inside the 20. The coverage units continued to perform well (three punt returns for a 1.7 average).

The Vikings have re-established a tremendous homefield advantage with the U.S. Bank Stadium crowd amped up and extremely loud. The undefeated start has clearly added to the home fans' zest.

The crowd noise rattled Brock Purdy in Week 2 and certainly had a big effect on Stroud and, more so, on his offensive line that had a nightmarish three straight false starts on a second-quarter drive. The Texans wound up with 11 penalties for 88 yards; almost all were pre-snap on the O-line. All-pro left tackle Laremy Tunsil had five penalties—three false starts and two for lining up too far off the line of scrimmage.

The next home game is October 20 against the defending NFC North champion Lions, and the fans will be pumped up to disrupt Jared Goff and Company.

Packer Week always is a fun week. The Vikings would love to get the victory on Sunday to move two games ahead of Green Bay with a win in hand in the first division game this season. Is Packers Coach Matt LaFleur willing to start Love—if he's healthy enough—after missing the last two games (both wins with Malik Willis at QB and the team running it well)? Does he want to have Love's return come against the league's top-sacking D in the Vikings? That will be the biggest storyline all week.

I'll have my Vikings-Packers preview and prediction on Friday.

Around the NFL in Week 3 & a look ahead to Week 4:

In the NFC North, the Packers had no trouble beating the Titans 30-14 in Nashville. They rushed for 188 yards (including 73 by QB Malik Willis), and Willis threw for 208 yards with no turnovers against his former team. The Green Bay D intercepted Will Levis twice, including a Pick 6 by Jaire Alexander (who likely will shadow Jefferson this Sunday).

The Lions improved to 2-1 (tied for second with the Packers) with their 20-13 win over an improved Arizona team. Detroit's defense stepped up and limited QB Kyler Murray to 207 passing yards and 45 rushing yards while intercepting him once. Goff played better but still threw his fourth pick this season (his passer rating is a lowly 79.2 after it was 97.9 last season). The Lions' run game was the difference, with 187 yards on the ground.

Caleb Williams threw two interceptions and lost a fumble in the fourth quarter to help the Colts beat the Bears 21-16 in Indy. Williams was sacked four times (now 13 in three games), and the Bears run game generated only 63 yards (D'Andre Swift had 13 carries for 20 yards). The Chicago D is playing well (8th ranked), but the O-line and Williams are the culprits in a 1-2 start.

In other big games, Baltimore ran all over Dallas to get their first win and virtually save the season. Lamar Jackson was terrific as he threw for 182 yards and one TD and ran for 87 yards and one TD. The Eagles' defense rose up to stop the Saints' top-scoring offense in a 15-12 road win. Pittsburgh stayed unbeaten by stopping the Chargers run game, and Justin Fields played well as he tightened his hold on the starting QB job. Kansas City moved to 3-0 by holding off Kirk Cousins and the Falcons 22-17 in Atlanta with a late fourth-down incompletion ending the Falcons' hopes.

Seattle is the only other unbeaten NFC team besides the Vikings as the Seahawks beat the QB-less Dolphins 24-3. There were several upsets—the Rams came from behind to beat the 49ers 27-24, the Panthers shocked the Raiders in Las Vegas 36-22 as Andy Dalton got the W with Bryce Young benched, the Giants knocked off the Browns 21-15 in Cleveland as Daniel Jones threw two TD passes to No. 1 pick Malik Nabers and Denver handed Tampa Bay their first loss with a road upset as first-round QB Bo Nix got his first win.

In Week 4, Detroit hosts Seattle on Monday night. The Bears are home against the Rams. Buffalo is at Baltimore in the Sunday night game. The 3-0 Chiefs are at the 2-1 Chargers with first place on the line, but L.A. QB Justin Herbert has a bad ankle and will be questionable for the game. Division leaders meet when the Eagles face the Bucs in Tampa.

The 2-1 Jets and Aaron Rodgers are the Vikings' opponent in Week 5 in London, and they are home against Denver this week.