🏈 WK 05 ~ GAME DAY vs SAINTS : #18 IN ~ #3 OUT

Vikings' initial drive stalls out due to a sack and an illegal formation that wiped out a 3rd-down conversion, but Will Reichard does his thing from 40 yards. The illegal formation issue was prominent last week and a big point of emphasis. 🤷‍♂️ Vikings 3, Saints 0. 9:04 Q1.

— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) October 11, 2026

UGH ~ Streaming is quite glitchy today.

We need to FINISH this drive!!!!

DAMN!!!!!!

All I saw was one quick replay, couldn't see if he was down, yet.

Well, that quarter totally sucked. 😵‍💫

Oh man. Aaron Jones fumbles, and now he's limping off with trainers and headed to the medical tent.

— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) October 11, 2026

A weird 2nd drive for the Vikings ends in disaster. They use 2 timeouts to avoid delay of game penalties, and Aaron Jones loses a rare fumble at the Saints' 7. Kyler Murray is 11-for-11 for 101 yards but the Vikings have only 3 points to show for it with 41 seconds left in Q1.

— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) October 11, 2026

T.J. Hockenson is OUT witha concussion. Another injury to a top Vikings offensive player. They're now without their LT, LG, TE1, TE2 and WR2.

— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) October 11, 2026

TE T.J. Hockenson (concussion) has been downgraded to out. https://t.co/EHnJqjp712

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) October 11, 2026

Hey Vikings ~ That's how you finish a drive!

Wow. Vikings getting run on a good bit on that second Saints drive. Looked like New Orleans was really plucking at the interior with pullers.

— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) October 11, 2026

OH NO!!!

Vikings RB Aaron Jones is QUESTIONABLE with a knee injury. Team only has DeeJay Dallas and Demond Claiborne available.

— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) October 11, 2026

Vikings RB Aaron Jones is back in the game.

— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) October 11, 2026

Man, that's a rough 3-and-out. Vikings defense is up against it here. Saints get ball after half, too.

— Alec Lewis (@alec_lewis) October 11, 2026

Our ref today is one of the harshest in the league. When he makes a penalty call, imagine you being 16 and him being your dad and you are asking to stay out later than normal.

— VikeFans (@VikeFans) October 11, 2026

The defense is being schooled by the short passing game and our run defense is often poor

— VikeFans (@VikeFans) October 11, 2026

Terrible defense on that series, but credit it all on the momentum shift created by Aaron Jone's fumble. Keep in mind, this is NOT a very good Saint team, so let's see how we respond on offense (and defense)

— VikeFans (@VikeFans) October 11, 2026

I'd like to fire KOC right now calling a run on 3rd and 2 with great field position. This guy just makes it so hard for the offense

— VikeFans (@VikeFans) October 11, 2026

And just like that, the Vikings are trailing 7-3 in New Orleans after dominating the first quarter. They'll need to regroup on offense without T.J. Hockenson, Christian Darrisaw, Donovan Jackson, Josh Oliver, Jordan Mason and probably Aaron Jones.

— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) October 11, 2026