Blake Cashman led a defense that sacked Daniel Jones four times, Kyler Murray found T.J. Hockenson for the go-ahead touchdown early in the fourth quarter, and Harrison Smith sealed it with his 40th career interception as the Minnesota Vikings beat the Indianapolis Colts 16-10 on Sunday, October 25, at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Minnesota improves to 6-0 and is the NFC’s last unbeaten team. The Vikings have allowed a league-low 74 points. Indianapolis falls to 2-5 after leading for more than three quarters.
Taylor strikes first
Minnesota’s opening drive ended when Aaron Jones was stopped for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-1 at the Indianapolis 38. The Colts took over and scored seven plays later, when Jonathan Taylor broke through the left side for a 38-yard touchdown run.
After that, the offenses mostly stalled. Will Reichard kicked field goals of 28 and 47 yards in the second quarter, the second one setting a Vikings record with 35 straight makes. The Colts answered with a 16-play drive that took 6:37, kept alive by a Jones sneak on fourth-and-1, but Cashman sacked Jones for an 11-yard loss on second-and-goal and Spencer Shrader kicked a 43-yard field goal as time ran out. Indianapolis led 10-6 at halftime.
Cashman and the pressure
The Vikings took over the third quarter on defense. Jones was sacked on first and second down of the Colts’ first possession of the half, the second by Cashman for a 13-yard loss, and Indianapolis punted on fourth-and-23. Brian Flores kept sending blitzers, and the Colts finished with 64 net passing yards.
“I think we expected it to be this kind of game, kind of an ugly game, and credit to them on defense,” said Jones, who spent the second half of the 2024 season as a backup in Minnesota. “They have a good system and do good stuff.”
Missed kicks swing it
Indianapolis still had chances. Late in the third, the Colts drove to the Minnesota 37, and Shane Steichen chose a 56-yard field goal on fourth-and-2. Shrader pushed it wide left with former Colts cornerback Isaiah Rodgers coming off the edge, ending his streak of 22 straight made field goals.
Minnesota went 54 yards in six plays. Murray broke the drive open with a 35-yard scramble on the first snap of the fourth quarter, and on the next snap he threw a 5-yard touchdown to Hockenson, back from a concussion, for a 13-10 lead with 14:36 to play.
The Colts’ Grover Stewart then blocked a 59-yard try by Reichard, which ended his streak of made field goals. Indianapolis drove to the Minnesota 30, but Shrader missed again, wide right from 48 yards with 4:27 left. Reichard then hit a 52-yarder on fourth-and-16 with 1:39 left, so the Colts needed a touchdown. On the Colts’ next drive, Smith picked off Jones near midfield with about a minute to go. Smith set the ball down on the 40-yard line to mark the milestone while the crowd chanted his name.
The numbers
- Kyler Murray: 14 of 24 for 150 yards and a touchdown, no interceptions; five carries for 39 yards; sacked three times.
- Vikings skill players: Jordan Mason ran 15 times for 68 yards. Justin Jefferson caught four passes for 44 yards on seven targets, and Hockenson had four catches for 35 yards and the touchdown.
- Daniel Jones: 13 of 22 for 108 yards, no touchdowns and one interception; sacked four times for 44 yards.
- Colts skill players: Taylor had 18 carries for 95 yards and the touchdown. Seth McGowan added 46 yards on 11 carries, and Keenan Allen led the team with three catches for 31 yards.
- Blake Cashman: 12 tackles, two sacks, two tackles for loss, four passes defended and three quarterback hits.
- Colts defense: Adetomiwa Adebawore had two sacks, and safety A.J. Haulcy led the team with nine tackles.
- Kicking: Reichard was 3 of 4 on field goals. Shrader, who leads the league in scoring with 70 points, was 1 of 3.
Indianapolis ran for 154 yards at 4.7 a carry and held the ball for 31:50, but it gained only 218 yards and did not score after halftime. Minnesota converted just three of 11 third downs. Its offense has scored only 10 touchdowns in six games, and the defense has carried it.
“We feel really comfortable and confident to win football games when we don’t turn it over and we win the field position and boring stuff like that, because we know over the course of 60 minutes what that side can do,” Kevin O’Connell said. Murray put it more simply: “We’ve just got to put the ball in the end zone.”
Injuries and the Colts’ quarterback
Aaron Jones aggravated the knee injury he had been playing through when he took a low hit at the end of a 17-yard run in the fourth quarter, and he did not return. O’Connell later called him day-to-day. The Colts played without cornerback Sauce Gardner (calf) and tight end Tyler Warren (groin), then lost cornerbacks Justin Walley (knee) and Cam Taylor-Britt (groin) in the second half.
Daniel Jones now has four touchdown passes and seven interceptions in seven games, but Steichen said he is not considering a change. “I’ve got a ton of faith in Daniel,” he said.
What comes next
Both teams play on Sunday, November 1, at 1 p.m. ET. Minnesota visits the Detroit Lions, and Indianapolis visits the Jacksonville Jaguars.
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