LAST MINUTE Vikings News & Storylines Before Week 7 vs Colts...

We have all your last minute Vikings news and storylines before they square off against the Indianapolis Colts in week 7 to not only remain undefeated, but also for several players to hit insane personal milestones in a game that's looking to bring lots of explosive fireworks. We're going to break it down all of that in this episode of Vikings Digest, but first, we are so close to hitting our goal of 5,500 subs before kickoff this afternoon, so if you're part of the 89% of viewers who are not yet subscribed and you want to stay up to date on all things Vikings, help us reach that goal as well as getting one step closer to eclipsing Bengals Digest and subscriber count make sure to hit that subscribe button and the bell icon so you don't miss any of the episodes when they drop with that let's hop right into it this is going to be a big one which is all the vikings versus colts storylines heading into this game and of course the big one is that the vikings are coming in off of a 5-0 start to the season for the 10th time in team history and has won each of its past 10 games dating back to week 14 of the 25 season versus washington it is tied for the third longest win streak in franchise history dating back to 1974 and 75 with 13 games in 1969 with 12 the vikings also strung together 10 consecutive wins over the 1999-2000 seasons with week 15 to week 8 with week week 15 from that season into week 8 of the following year and as well as how it means for what it means for kevin o'connell as well is that this is another five game win streak that kevin o'connell has posted at least with at least five games sorry in each of his five seasons as an nfl head coach o'connell ranked second in NFL history for the most seasons with consecutive five game win streaks to begin a coaching career trailing only George Seifert seven seasons between 1989 to 1995 and he is 10th head coach in league history to start five and oh multiple times in his first five seasons at the helm with 2024 and 2026 now a lot of people want to pile on Kevin O'Connell and give all the credit to Brian Flores and how Kevin O'Connell is basically just a puppet and it's really Brian Flores' team as much as a lot of people want to believe that's the case Kevin O'Connell is still the one that is managing these games to these victories where it's not necessarily going to look pretty on the stat sheet for the most part ever since this win streak started but it's starting to look a little bit more like it should after that Saints game and hopefully that today against the Indianapolis Colts where they are able to hopefully just dog walk them for four straight quarters this offense will have us completely forgetting what those first couple of games look like as they hopefully just trudge forward through this season hopefully just clicking on all cylinders and now we can just hopefully stop talking about the whole Kevin O'Connell offense stuff and all that where maybe he will get a little bit better with play calling in third down and in the red zone but main thing here is just getting that explosive offense going again because that is a step in the right direction that's all it takes with this Vikings offense because all you need is one play to shift momentum or one game to have really good uh offensive showcase to kind of get that confidence going into the next week and we have seen that happen time and time again with this Vikings offense as they have gotten better ever since that fourth quarter of Miami game and carried it through hopefully through the bye week into this game against the Colts and as well as if they win this game it'll be a 6-0 start of course for the Vikings and with the win against Indianapolis they would start 6-0 for the seventh time in team history and the first time since 2009 which is a very traumatizing season for a lot of Vikings fans myself included that was really my first major sports heartbreak against those New Orleans Saints which I still haven't forgiven Sean Payton for I hate his damn guts and also in 1973 75 98 2000 and 03 is when they did it again and the 09 Vikings finished the season 12 and 4 won the NFC North and made it to the NFC championship game and like I just said we know how that ended and we still haven't forgiven Sean Payton or the New Orleans Saints for it to this day that is why the Minneapolis miracle was not enough of a measure of revenge it is just a continuous humiliation ritual every time we play the Saints since then and I absolutely love it and I hope it keeps continuing and I hope that this is one of those seasons where Minnesota is able to win this game to get over that hump because we're all talking about this 2016 curse and how if they when they uh 10 years ago when they started 5-0 they went into that week six bye and then went three and eight down the stretch if Minnesota can win this game that is a big step in the right direction towards avoiding that catastrophe because that is not how it went down 10 years ago and they came out of that bye they lost and it was a very big sign of what was to come if Minnesota can come out here with a victory that is going to be a very big step in the right direction towards putting away those superstitions at least for one more week until we get to lace them up again but if they do go six to zero what it means for Kevin O'Connell as well even though the haters are going to hate me saying this is that he will become the 10th head coach in NFL history with a six game winning streak in three of their first five seasons as head coach so that is going to be very good company that he is in and he has a very bit high winning percentage as well which ranks very high amongst the NFL coaches all time and as well as what the history of this matchup brings there's a lot of really cool things to look at as far as the history between the Vikings and the Colts where the Vikings record is 9-18-1 and they have won all those games while being at home have not won a single game against the Colts on the road currently posting a two-game win streak against the Colts with the longest streak being of five games between 1969 and 1997 so for the most part we have been dog walked by the Colts where we are posting a one and two basically win loss record with one tie posted in there haven't been able to win on the road thankfully we are playing at US Bank Stadium so that is going to be a very good sign and we know how the last two games went for the Vikings against the Colts where we had that Sunday night football game against them where we just absolutely beat the hell out of Joe Flacco got a little bit close there towards the end but for the most part Minnesota was keeping that game out of reach and then of course the game before that against the Colts is the one that everyone remembers where it started off 33 nothing and minutes or 30 to nothing and then it got to 33 to 6 or 33 to 3 and Minnesota stormed back and won 36 33 in overtime one of the best Minnesota of Vikings games i have ever seen and it goes to show that US Bank Stadium might not have all the skeletons under their uh turf that uh the Metrodome had and uh with how the roof collapsed and all that stuff and all the playoff curses and things that happened there whereas US Bank Stadium seems like it's a little bit better and the only time that we've had playoff uh experiences that have been bad is when we've been on the road except for that Giants game which i know a lot of people are just going to point out in the comments but for the most part US Bank Stadium has been a pretty peaceful and welcoming and relaxed place for the Vikings and I hope that it continues where the Vikings can win continuously through this season and have a home playoff game to hopefully just continue that momentum through what should be a deep playoff run if the offense can get clicking on the level of the defense but the last thing on the Vikings history with the Colts is well is that the most points scored by the Vikings was in 1969 where they scored 52 points it also posts the largest win margin of plus 38 that is dating back all the way to 1969 but the last time that the Vikings played the Colts Justin Jefferson had a really noteworthy moment where he threw a pass to Aaron Jones for a 22-yard completion in the fifth completed pass of his career and speaking of receptions and completed passes Justin Jefferson only needs two receptions to reach 600 in his career where he will join Keenan Allen and Quan Bolden Antonio Brown Julio Jones Cooper Kupp and CeeDee Lamb is the only seven players since 1933 to record 600 receptions in his first 99 career games that is very elite company to be in and Quan Bolden obviously hall of famer Julio Jones future hall of famer Cooper Kupp well Emmanuel Caffetys this generation i don't need to say anything further than that CeeDee Lamb obviously a dog Antonio Brown had one of the best primes of any wide receiver that we've ever seen and where it gets even crazier on top of only needing two receptions this is where it gets really awesome is with only three receiving yards in his 99th career game he would pass Calvin Johnson to the third most receiving yards for a player's first hundred games in NFL history and yes that's right folks you heard it you heard it right is that he would be passing Megatron for one of the records and that is awesome it's because Justin Jefferson is an absolute beauty and i can't wait to see what more he does in Minnesota because they have him there for a couple more years before they have to really kind of renegotiate what they want to do. But I guarantee you they will do whatever it takes to make sure that Justin Jefferson spends all of his career in Minnesota because when he's putting up numbers like that, there is a case to be made where he could finish his career not only as the best wide receiver in Vikings history, but possibly the greatest wide receiver that has ever played the game. And another wide receiver that is hoping to have another milestone reach for this game is wide receiver Jordan Addison, where with one receiving touchdown Addison will tie Stephon Diggs for the fifth most receiving touchdowns by a Viking in their first four seasons that is obviously going to be a very big one for Jordan Addison we're looking at this Vikings and Colts game there's a lot of injuries that the Colts have Soffs Gardner isn't going to be playing Tyler Warren isn't going to be playing on the offensive side of the ball so that is where the defense can take advantage of it as well as the offense taking advantage of a premier cornerback not being on the field so Justin Jefferson hopefully all he needs is two catches so he'll get he'll get three or five catches probably easily and then as well as just three yards that is going to be a gimme so he's going to absolutely shatter that milestone and then it would be awesome to see Kyler Murray throw two touchdown passes I would love to see three because I got TJ Hawkinson on one of my fantasy teams so it'd be nice to see him get involved there where we see Kyler Murray throw for three touchdowns in a game as that would be a very big statement for the rest of the league and for Vikings fans to show that Kyler Murray is capable of being a dog and speaking of Kyler Murray this is where it gets pretty awesome as well with what his legs bring to the game where with 50 rushing yards against the Colts he will be the first Vikings quarterback to record two consecutive games with at least 50 rushing yards since Dante Culpepper in the 2002 season Dante Culpepper was a Vikings player that i absolutely loved as a kid the very first Vikings jersey i ever had was Dante Culpepper and even though Kyler Murray is very much one-eighth of the size he's like a mini me Dante Culpepper he can sling it downfield like Dante did and he can move like Dante it's just that Dante had the absolute size and was a specimen when he took off scrambling and he was just slinging it in a magical connection with Randy Moss hopefully we kind of see a 2.0 version of that for the Vikings this year between Kyler Murray and Justin Jefferson as we saw the early signs of that chemistry really starting to bloom between them and I can't wait to see what more they achieve so hopefully Kyler Murray won't need to use his legs as much as i would love to see him reach that milestone i would love to see him conserve that energy or that uh health i would say because of what happened the first time he scrambled for the Vikings i would love to see him kind of conserve that for later on in the season when it's those critical games or in the playoffs when they absolutely need to play like that and he can go and get it that is when it's the perfect time to do it but somebody who can help relieve that a little bit is Aaron Jones and this one would be a really cool milestone however i do not necessarily think it's going to happen just because Jordan Mason is coming back this week but with at least 90 rushing yards jones with 410 will post the second longest active streak of consecutive seasons with at least 500 rushing yards with nine trailing only Derrick Henry's 10 seasons with at least 90 scrimmage yards against the Colts he will record his fifth consecutive game with 90 plus rushing yards from scrimmage this season and it will tie the longest streak of his career with uh uh weeks two to six of the 2021 season and is the longest streak by Vikings running backs since Dalvin Cook posted six such games in 2021 through weeks 9 and 15 so obviously Aaron Jones looking to have a good game but again he's playing through a sprained MCL like he has all season he's a warrior i don't doubt he's going to power through that but with Jordan Mason coming back we know that Aaron Jones is probably going to take on a little bit of a lighter workload after being the bell cow for so many weeks so we'll probably have to wait a little bit longer for him to reach that rushing uh yards milestone and as well as him getting that 90 yard scrimmage game i don't necessarily think we're going to see that streak continue but it could be surprising he could break off some crazy runs against a Colts defense that is hoping to be a little bit more like swiss cheese rather than a block of uh hard cheddar and as well as someone else who had a great game against the Colts last time was Harrison Smith as the last time they played the Colts he recovered a fumble on the opening drive marking his ninth career fumble recovery and his first since week 14 of the 2020 2019 season and we know that Harrison Smith loves to get involved with how this defense is running whether he's just going free on a blitz whether he likes the uh the alignment or not or if he's dropping back and possibly getting a tip ball that ends up in a pick for someone else or going up and getting a pick himself or just absolutely laying somebody out across the middle like he's done to guys like George Kittle in the past where Harrison Smith knows how to lay the hit knows how to get the ball free and knows how to go up and get it and force turnovers and get opportunities for this offense to get back on the field and give the defense a little bit of a rest but somebody else that also factors into this instead of the offensive and the defensive side is Will Reichard our beautiful kicker who has been on fire this year where he's had 34 consecutive field goals and needs only one field goal to tie Adam Vinatieri the goat of kicking and Brandon Aubrey and Justin Tucker with 35 tied for the 10th most consecutive field goals in NFL history and with two field goals Riker will pass Gary Anderson for the most consecutive field goals made in team history and I I hate that I said Gary Anderson and Will Reichard in the same sentence because i don't want to have cursed that because as soon as i was reading that when i saw it online i was like all right i have to put this in the video but i honestly do not want to have to say these two names in the same sentence because we all know what happened back in 1998 however will Reichard has been relatively on fire and as far as i know everything is going well in his personal life as we all saw with uh that fishing video with Randy Moss Chris Carter and Jake Reed where they were talking about the 98 season and all that with what Gary Anderson was going through seems like Will Reichard is doing pretty awesome in his personal life so I think that thing should stay pretty all right there and as well as another milestone that he could be hitting as well which I'm assuming he will as with seven points Reichard will become the eighth player in league history and the first Viking to reach 300 career points in 35 or fewer career games the first player to accomplish the feat since Brandon Aubrey did it in week 18 of the 2025 season and Will Reichard is going to be doing it in a considerably shorter amount of time because he has been asked to do a lot over the course of the past two years where the offense last year couldn't really get going and the offense this year has been a little bit slow getting out of the gate and he has been on fire holding it down and being the MVP of this team and i think he should honestly be in MVP conversations because the numbers that he's putting up this year absolutely astounding but going back over onto the defensive side of the ball somebody two guys that are going to be looking for a very big game in this one is Andrew Van Ginkel and Dallas Turner where with Andrew Van Ginkel if he just gets half a sack against the Colts he'll be the ninth player from the 2019 draft class to total 40 career sacks within that same group he will join Brian Burns as the only two players to have recorded at least 23 sacks since 2024 when he joined the Vikings and on the Dallas Turner side of things as well with his sacks milestone but he only needs one more to tie Al Noga and Henry Thomas for the fifth most sacks in of Vikings first three NFL seasons since 1982 when sacks first began being tracked and he is doing this all in his first year as a starter the past couple of years he hasn't even been a starter so when you take that into consideration it makes it even crazier what Dallas Turner is doing right now as I believe he is defensive player of the year right now and I know he had a quiet game against the Saints but I know that he's going to try and come out of this bye week and come out of the gate in this Colts game absolutely swinging and trying to remind people hey you might have forgot about me for a week or thought i was gone away for one week against the saints i am back and i'm ready to prove that i'm defensive player of the year but let us know down in the comments below which one of these storylines is the biggest one that stands out to you and which one do you think is going to make you the happiest for any of these players to reach this is hopefully going to be a very good game against the colts i can't wait to see it and i hope minnesota can stay undefeated and that by the next time we're talking about the vikings on this channel we are looking at a 6-0 record but let us know down in the comments below as we do with going to do it for this episode of vikings digest thank you guys again so much for liking subscribing hitting that bell icon so you don't miss the episodes when they drop but for now i've been your host griffin take care