The Real Reason the Vikings Beat the Lions
They did it. The Minnesota Vikings completely salvaged their season on Sunday, November 2nd, 2025, toppling the Detroit Lions for the first time since 2022. The reason? No, it wasn’t J.J. McCarthy by his lonesome who drove his squad to triumph — it was Kevin O’Connell’s commitment to the ground game.
The Vikings snapped an ugly five-game losing streak against the Detroit Lions on Sunday, and when one peeks under the hood, it happened for one reason.
The Vikings tallied 142 rushing yards as a team, and if the club continues that pace or something similar, Minnesota will cruise into the postseason beyond the shadow of a doubt.
Vikings Rushing Offense Sparks Victory
This is not supernatural: run the ball efficiently and win.
142 Rushing Yards Does the Trick at Detroit
Minnesota didn’t really give the rushing offense a chance in Week 8 at the Los Angeles Chargers, getting destroyed 37-10 for their troubles at SoFi Stadium.
But Week 9 at Ford Field was different.
O’Connell locked into his rushing offense and didn’t unfasten it at any time. The 142 rushing yards did the trick, with Aaron Jones leading the way. He banked 78 yards on the ground on 9 attempts (8.7 yards per carry), and Jordan Mason chipped in 36 on 10 carries. McCarthy also scampered for 12 yards and a touchdown.
There’s a correlation here for O’Connell’s team. In Week 3, his team rushed for 169 yards, defeating the Cincinnati Bengals by 37 points. The Vikings didn’t quite approach that total in Detroit, but they notched 142 yards on the ground and won by three.
Run the ball effectively and win. That will always be O’Connell’s situation.
The O’Connell Stat for Rushing Offense
As a team under O’Connell, the Vikings are 23-6 (.793) when it rushes for 100 yards or more. That’s right — the club wins 79% of the time if when it crosses the 100-yard mark.
That doesn’t have to be a single ball-carrier; it’s a conglomeration of everyone.
An average NFL team wins 62% of games when rushing for 100+ yards. Of all teams that have rushed for 100 yards or more in a game since the start of 2022, Minnesota’s 23-6 record ranks fourth-best in the NFL per the metric.
When Minnesota runs the ball effectively, it turns into an elite team.
Aaron Jones’ Spark
What changed at Detroit? A couple things.
Foremost, Jones is back, and O’Connell called his number early and often. Jones tabulated 98 yards from scrimmage before succumbing to an AC joint injury, which is allegedly fine and won’t prevent him from playing in Week 10 against the Ravens.
For the first time this season, Jones got rolling inside the Vikings’ offense.
Second, O’Connell emphasized the run with his playcalling. Sometimes, he says, “Ah, the hell with it,” and loads up to pass 40+ times. In his defense, that usually happens when a game gets out of hand, and O’Connell has no other choice but to throw it.
Still, Jones hit on all cylinders, and O’Connell fed him and Jordan Mason throughout the game.
This Is the Way with a Young Quarterback
The aforementioned McCarthy won a National Championship at Michigan while his team ran the ball efficiently. He won’t be able to get away with that all of the time in the pros, but out of the gate, a potent rushing offense will only aid his development.
Down the road, Minnesota will call on McCarthy to win games by throwing the rock 40-50 times, but his first official season as a starter is no time for that. Each game, Minnesota should hope to run the ball 25-35 times and let McCarthy fill in the rest.
The Vikings might even want to deliberate spending high-round draft capital on one of the draft’s most acclaimed running backs. It’s been about half a decade since Minnesota employed a young, productive running back: Dalvin Cook.
Janik Eckardt on Aaron Jones
Our Janik Eckardt wrote about Jones’ performance in Week 9, “Jones will celebrate his 31st birthday next month, which is quite old for a running back. Therefore, nobody was surprised when his first couple of games of the season, prior to his hamstring injury, featured a slowed-down Jones. Well, there were no signs of slowing down on Sunday.”
“He was fantastic, showing a lot of burst in his opportunities in what has been his best game of the season. The former Packers rusher ran for 78 yards on only nine attempts, and he added another 20 yards on two catches. A sweet 31-yard catch on a wheel route was ruled a run instead of a reception. J.J. McCarthy might want his yards back, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter.”
The Ravens will feature the NFL’s 12th-worst run defense per DVOA this weekend.
Eckardt continued, “Jones is a well-rounded back, being one of the better pass protectors in the business, and he has good hands for a back. The Vikings are at their best when they can keep both runners — Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason — fresh and alternate them on any given drive. The 2024 free-agent addition, who got a new two-year deal in the 2025 offseason, has dealt with minor injuries throughout his tenure in the Twin Cities, but it doesn’t seem like he will miss next week’s game against the Baltimore Ravens.”
“Because Lamar Jackson is back on deck, the Vikings need their top crew on the field to carry the momentum from the Week 9 win into the second half of the season.”
Per the same DVOA metric, Minnesota ranks 18th in rushing offense heading into Week 10.
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