By admin 
MINNEAPOLIS – The mood inside U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday was weirdly conflicted and loudly irritable. The home team was booed throughout a wire-to-wire victory that kept its record perfect.
Read more He’s blind, and he’s called Rays baseball on the radio for 3 decades
Good news: The Minnesota Vikings are 4-0.
Bad news: Their offense continues to sputter.
Is that a case of being half full, or half empty?
“Today wasn’t by any means up to our standard,” quarterback Kyler Murray said.
A 15-10 victory over the Miami Dolphins brought a stew of ineffectiveness and self-sabotaging mistakes against an opponent that is vying for worst-in-the-NFL honors.
Thrilling, it wasn’t.
The Kyler Murray Experiment has become a supreme test of patience. Though he found a little rhythm in the fourth quarter, Murray continued to look uncomfortable orchestrating Kevin O’Connell’s offense.
His stat line was fine – 27-of-37 passing for 247 yards – but the optics of the operation caused consternation inside the stadium. Murray looked hesitant and indecisive until the fourth quarter. He repeatedly checked the ball down to tight end T.J. Hockenson against Miami’s split-safety coverage plan.
The offense ran 72 plays but mustered only five field goals against a winless team. Hockenson had a clear path to score a touchdown on the final drive but wisely gave himself up to put the Vikings into victory formation.
That means the Vikings have scored just one offensive touchdown in the past three games. That formula isn’t sustainable. Tougher opponents will require more firepower than Will Reichard’s robotic kicking leg.
“It’s been frustrating for everybody as far as how we’ve been playing offensively the past couple of weeks,” Murray said. “We feel like we’re much better than what we’ve been putting out there on the field.”
Some of the Vikings’ ineffectiveness is understandable. Justin Jefferson’s absence creates a gigantic hole in the scheme. The offensive line is banged up.
Injuries don’t account for all that ails them, though.
The offense had eight penalties Sunday. That’s a concentration issue.
Breakdowns in protection led to four sacks by a Dolphins defense that did not have a sack in its first three games.
Sacks, penalties and Murray’s indecisiveness caused fans to boo after every stalled drive.
Read more Twins’ bullpen ‘grandfather’ mentored next wave. And he’s not ready to be done.
“The unacceptable part of it is the pre-snap things,” O’Connell said. “We’ve got to continue to find the roots of those and make sure if it’s a self-inflicted thing, we’ve got to remove that from our offense.”
Murray’s uneven play provides fodder to those who question the organizational plan at quarterback. J.J. McCarthy is out of the picture, and Murray mostly has struggled in what essentially is an audition for a job beyond this season.
His coach saw progress.
“Kyler made some critical plays,” O’Connell said.
The fourth quarter went better for Murray than the first three. He settled into a rhythm on two possessions that lasted 15 and 11 plays. He also didn’t turn the ball over all game.
“That door will get kicked down soon if we keep stacking great days, great weeks,” Murray said. “There’s no loss of confidence in that locker room. Obviously, we’ve got to be better and cleaner, and we will be. But I have the utmost confidence in this group and what we’re capable of.”
The results match this reality: Murray looks both rusty and new to the system.
His outing at Tampa Bay last week was his first full game since October 2025. He’s attempting to re-acclimate to game speed in a scheme that is known to be complex for quarterbacks. And he’s doing so after splitting reps throughout training camp in a quarterback competition with McCarthy.
Patience is a tricky line to walk. The defense and special teams are functioning at a high level. A 4-0 start sets them up nicely if they can get the offense going. The spotlight is shining brightly on Murray and O’Connell to get this figured out, and fast.
“We’re going to keep ascending,” O’Connell said. “We’ve got to keep working at it. We can’t accept any aspect of this [performance] that wasn’t a really good play by the defense. There were plenty of those out there. But we’ve got to own our role in not moving the football more consistently.”
The Vikings’ miscues created a strange energy and vibe. The loudest cheers were reserved for the kicker, which was a nice gesture, but underscored the exasperation aimed at Murray and the offense.
Read more Where do the Cubs go after falling short in the playoffs again? ‘We let it slip away.’
____
Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.
This story was originally published October 5, 2026 at 2:38 AM.