Analysis: Amid trying week, Vikings gain gritty 16-13 victory over Giants

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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Less than an hour after the Vikings’ charter flight took off from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Saturday, the plane turned back near Madison, Wis., because of a mechanical issue with the plane. The Vikings’ flight crawled through southeastern Minnesota at a low altitude and landed back at MSP with fire trucks on hand for precautionary reasons.

Team members passed the time watching football games in the terminal, before boarding a plane that had flown in from Fort Myers, Fla., and arriving at Newark Liberty International Airport around 11 p.m. Eastern time, 6½ hours later than scheduled. Players and coaches ate dinner hurriedly and hustled off to bed, with buses set to depart for MetLife Stadium less than 12 hours later.

For the first time in his career Sunday morning, right tackle Brian O’Neill’s status would be determined by a pregame workout. The heel injury that had him listed as questionable could have shut him down; when he found out he could play 15 minutes before both teams had to submit inactives, O’Neill decided to give it a go.

He blocked for running back Aaron Jones Sr., who left in the first quarter because of an ankle injury and returned to log 14 of his 21 carries in the second half of a game where Jordan Mason was carted off with his own ankle injury. The Vikings were playing without center Ryan Kelly, who was being evaluated for a concussion for the third time this season, and they needed a run game to support Max Brosmer after an injury to J.J. McCarthy’s right hand forced the quarterback from the game before halftime.

The Vikings’ 16-13 victory over the Giants on Sunday will earn them few plaudits, either for their form during the game or their fitness coming out of it. After the game, though, coach Kevin O’Connell used his news conference to praise the grit of veterans who were presented with opportunities for physical preservation or mental resignation and took neither.

“It was an interesting 24 hours or so for our football team,” O’Connell said. “Really proud of the way the guys handled a little bit of the adversity and then found a way to win a football game.”

The victory came after a week when the Vikings placed Christian Darrisaw on injured reserve, ending the left tackle’s season after a year full of deliberations about how much work Darrisaw could handle in his return from his October 2024 knee surgery. After Jonathan Greenard and Josh Metellus had played through shoulder injuries, the Vikings decided to give them time for surgeries and rehab that should have them ready for the offseason.

That captains such as O’Neill and Jones persevered, and Justin Jefferson stretched for a key third-and-17 sideline pass from Brosmer to gain 21 yards and keep the Vikings’ winning field-goal drive in the fourth quarter alive, meant more to O’Connell at the end of a trying week.

“Three in a row, at a tough point of the season where a lot of guys could have chose to focus their intentions elsewhere,” O’Connell said. “These guys just continue to fight and find a way to win, which I absolutely love.”

The Vikings sacked Jaxson Dart five times, not including two that were called back because of personal foul penalties, and held New York to 141 yards, giving up only three points that weren’t caused by turnovers. Their defense, which has given up only two touchdowns in the three-game win streak, held the Giants to only two third-down conversions in 10 attempts, while Byron Murphy Jr. picked off Dart before the rookie quarterback had completed a pass to a New York receiver. Dart finished with only 33 passing yards, after going 1-for-5 for 2 yards and an interception in the first half.

Jones, who set a season high with 85 rushing yards, injured his ankle on the Vikings’ second offensive play when a player rolled over it after a 1-yard loss. He told the team’s medical staff not to rule him out, and he was in the medical tent getting his ankle taped when he heard Mason was injured. The two backs were in the tent at the same time; Jones said he told the medical staff, “No freaking way; I got to be out there.”

The quarterback leaped between two defenders and absorbed a shot from Jevon Holland on a 12-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, and he hit his hand on a defender’s helmet earlier in the same drive. O’Connell was initially concerned McCarthy had taken a hit to his head or neck on the touchdown, “but he was clean there,” the coach said.

When the Vikings went out for their next drive, O’Connell said, McCarthy discovered he had “some discomfort” in his right hand. The coach said he was unsure whether McCarthy was able “to even grip the ball” as he looked left to throw a receiver screen for Jefferson just before halftime. But Brian Burns came unblocked off the right side and leveled McCarthy, a strip sack that former Gophers defensive back Tyler Nubin recovered and returned for a touchdown that cut the Vikings’ lead to 13-10.

O’Neill said the Vikings intended to leave Burns unblocked off the right edge, on a quick screen where the team sends everyone to the left. “It was blocked how it was supposed to be blocked,” he said.

After the TD, Fox’s broadcast crew showed McCarthy recoiling in pain as the Vikings’ medical staff examined his hand, though O’Connell said X-rays were negative. McCarthy, who wore a fingerless silicone glove after the game, will have further tests on Monday; a source said the medical staff wanted to determine whether the QB had suffered any ligament damage.

If the injury is significant, it could end McCarthy’s season after 8½ games and a stretch where the Vikings had seen improvement in his decisionmaking.

McCarthy’s first-quarter interception bounced off Jalen Nailor’s hands, one drive after Jordan Addison dropped a touchdown pass that McCarthy lofted downfield while absorbing a hit from Dexter Lawrence. O’Connell said the Vikings continue to struggle with “pitching and catching” as receivers get used to McCarthy’s velocity, though the coach praised the quarterback for driving the ball through the wind on a sideline throw to Jefferson against tight coverage.

Tests will determine whether McCarthy can return for Thursday’s Christmas Day game against the Lions, or the season finale against the Packers, as the Vikings try to rally for a 9-8 finish. Whatever cosmetic value a winning record might bring, it would pale in comparison to what the Vikings thought this season could become.

But Jones saw a potential long-term benefit. He thought back to the 2022 Lions, who surged at the end of the season and won a Sunday night finale that spoiled the Packers’ playoff chances, as Jones walked up the Lambeau Field tunnel with Aaron Rodgers after what turned out to be the quarterback’s final game in Green Bay. For the Lions, the victory was a springboard to two consecutive NFC North titles.

“When they couldn’t make the playoffs, [they said,] ‘We’re still playing. We’re still building those building blocks,’ ” Jones said. “As a team, sometimes you have to learn how to win.”

Sunday gave Brosmer a chance to make his biggest NFL throw, beating an inverted Cover-2 look with the third-and-17 ball that Jefferson said the rookie threw perfectly. And it saw several veteran players choose to play through injuries, continuing a win streak the Vikings believed was still worth something.

Watch the postgame Access Vikings podcast: