Written Oct. 17, 2026, when the site launched.
The final in New Orleans was 23-13, and the 10-point margin flatters the Saints. Minnesota outgained them 364 yards to 142, ran 68 plays to their 43 and held the ball for 39:37. Every point New Orleans scored followed a Vikings fumble. The 5-0 Vikings have two weeks before they play again, and their ball security needs most of that time.
How New Orleans got 13
The first fumble cost the Vikings points at one end of the field and gave the Saints some at the other. Minnesota's second possession went 63 yards in 11 plays, and then Aaron Jones Sr. fumbled at the Saints 7. Chase Young recovered and returned it 27 yards. The AP reported that Jones limped off favoring his left knee after the play. In fairness to New Orleans, the touchdown drive that followed was earned: 15 plays, 66 yards, ending in Kendre Miller's 2-yard run. It was the only sustained drive the Saints had all day. Of their other eight possessions, none gained more than 32 yards.
The second fumble hurt more. Leading 13-7 midway through the third quarter, the Vikings started at the Saints 37 after Byron Murphy Jr.'s first interception of Tyler Shough. The drive got to the 12, where Myles Price caught a 7-yarder, Martin Emerson forced the ball out, and Jonas Sanker picked it up and ran 87 yards for a touchdown. A drive that should have ended with at least three points and a two-score lead tied the game at 13 instead. Daniel Carlson missed the extra point wide left, or the Saints would have led.
Justin Jefferson nearly made it three when he fumbled on a fourth-quarter run, but Kyler Murray fell on it.
The Vikings were 2 of 4 in the red zone, and both misses were fumbles. Hold onto the ball on those two trips and, by our reading, this game is settled well before Reichard's last kick.
Murray's best game in purple
The fumbles shouldn't bury the quarterback. Murray completed 24 of 30 passes (80%) for 229 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions, and ran 10 times for 51 yards. Craig Peters of vikings.com noted that he completed his first 12 passes. Compare that with his first two full games with the team: 15 of 29 for 168 in Tampa, then 27 of 37 for 247 against Miami. This was the cleanest of the three.
The touchdown was the throw of the day. After the Saints fumbled the second-half kickoff (Jayden Price was stripped by Jake Golday, and Jeshaun Jones recovered at the New Orleans 37), Murray put a 15-yard pass where Jefferson could go up for it behind three defenders in the back of the end zone.
"It was just Kyler giving me the opportunity to go up and make a play," Jefferson said, per the AP. "I definitely wasn't the most open, but it was a tremendous throw."
Jefferson played through the ankle injury that kept him out against Miami. Kevin O'Connell said his receiver "was living in the training room just trying to make sure he could do everything he could to give himself a chance." O'Connell added: "We worked him out before the game and he was ready." Jefferson finished with six catches for 79 yards in the Superdome, where he won a national title at LSU.
"All of my friends and family were here," Jefferson said. "A touchdown to celebrate and to get a victory here, I couldn't ask for more."
The run game took over late. Jones came back from the first-quarter knee scare to finish with 113 yards on 25 carries, and his 8-yard touchdown run early in the fourth made it 20-13. Will Reichard made all three of his field goals, from 40, 54 and 55 yards, and the 55-yarder made it a 10-point game with seven minutes left. The Vikings converted 9 of 18 third downs.
A week ago we argued that the red-zone 0-for-3 against Miami overstated the problem. This game backs that up: the Vikings scored touchdowns on both red-zone trips where they held onto the ball.
The defense did its usual thing
The defense came in allowing an NFL-low 12.8 points a game, per the AP, and gave up one offensive touchdown. New Orleans converted 2 of 10 third downs and averaged 3.3 yards a play. Shough threw for 96 yards. Murphy picked him off twice, and Andrew Van Ginkel had the Vikings' only sack plus two tackles for loss. Blake Cashman had nine tackles.
"When you do something like that, it's a special feeling and a special defense," Murphy said.
Saints coach Kellen Moore, who calls their offensive plays, said he "felt like we had a plan" for Minnesota's pressure. "Obviously, the plan wasn't good enough," Moore said. "That's on me."
"We've got to learn how to not lose the game before we win it," Shough said. That line fits the Vikings' fumbles, too: a team this far ahead in yards shouldn't be tied in the third quarter.
Hurt, and what's next
T.J. Hockenson, a week removed from a 13-catch game, was helped off the field on the opening drive after hitting his head hard on the turf while being tackled on a 7-yard catch, the AP reported. That was his only catch. Jones's knee scare is the other injury from this one, though he finished the game.
At 5-0, Minnesota has the Week 6 bye, then hosts the Indianapolis Colts at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 25, at noon CT on CBS (schedule). The last four wins came by 10 points or fewer, which makes it easy to ask whether this team is as good as its record. In New Orleans the gap was bigger than the score, and two lost fumbles were most of the difference. Ball security is a lot easier to fix than a bad offense or a bad defense.
Sources: ESPN box score, drives and play-by-play; the AP's game story and quotes, via ESPN; Craig Peters, vikings.com.