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The Vikings prevailed 34-26 over the Cowboys in the 1,000^th regular-season game in Minnesota's history.

The franchise improved to 543-446-11, despite an early turnover on a batted pass set up a short touchdown drive that featured an incredibly rare fake field goal.

J.J. McCarthy improved to 4-4 as a starter with a career-high (so far) of 250 yards. His passer rating (108.0) was in triple digits for the second consecutive week. Harrison Smith made his 200^th career start and was an integral part in Minnesota's chess match with an explosive Cowboys offense, and long snapper (and recent barbershop trio member) Andrew DePaola appeared in his 150^th career game.

The Vikings faint postseason chances evaporated before kickoff, but it was not visible in the effort put forth by Minnesota.

The all-out effort, which featured multiple examples of complementary football and some dazzling plays, improved Minnesota to 6-8 and secured a second consecutive win for the first time this season. Just three games remain, but I'd expect similar efforts at the Giants and at home against the Lions and Packers to end the year.

Before we get to some questions, the Vikings family is mourning the loss of Paul Wiggin, who began working with the organization as an assistant coach in 1985 and transitioned to the personnel department in the early 1990s. Wiggin was a two-time Pro Bowler and 1964 champion with the Cleveland Browns. He teamed with the likes of Jim Marshall (1960) and Jim Brown before following his playing career with a long run as a coach, including time as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs and at Stanford.

Wiggin's humility stood above all his accomplishments. The modest man from Modesto, California, was a scholar of the game and a gentleman in every sense. I am so grateful to have overlapped with and interviewed Wiggin.

The late kickoff meant a tighter turnaround time for publishing this edition, so it will be a quicker version than some weeks, but I'll also hat tip the Timberwolves X account for noting that Sunday was the first time the local pro hoops, hockey and gridiron squads won on the same day since Dec. 20, 2003, the day McCarthy turned 11 months old.

For a 22-year-old QB, being 4-4 and showing clear growth over the last two games is exactly what you want to see. Young quarterbacks almost never come in polished — the real question is trajectory, not perfection.

A few encouraging signs with J.J. so far:

• Progress week to week (that's the biggest one)
• Better decision-making the last couple games
• Handling pressure more calmly
• Not trying to play hero ball every snap

At 22, the mistakes are part of the process. What matters is that he's learning from them instead of repeating them, and lately it looks like he is.

If he keeps stacking small improvements, this season can still be a win even if the record stays around .500. Vikings fans just need to give him a little runway — most franchise QBs don't really "click" until year 2 or 3.

Cautious optimism is the right mindset right now.

— Toby in Alaska

Growth and a full, healthy offseason for McCarthy should be on every Vikings fan's wish list. He is starting to stack some reps, even though he lamented that the connection with Justin Jefferson is not yet where he wants it to be. Jefferson finished with two catches for 22 yards. He was targeted eight times out of McCarthy's 24 pass attempts.

There was at least one instance where it looked like Jefferson was open, but the ball didn't go his way, and another one where the throw was beyond the receiver's outstretched hands. Another incompletion resulted from a snap on which it looked like Jefferson was detained from making a play on the ball. What would have been a touchdown pass was taken off the board because of an illegal formation penalty, and another well-thrown, catchable ball fell incomplete from an uncharacteristic drop.

As important as it is for that connection to yield more frequent success, McCarthy was able to move the ball around the turf to teammates. He and Kevin O'Connell identified a ball down the seam to T.J. Hockenson for 29 yards as their favorite, but there were numerous nice passes at important moments.

One point on McCarthy, and special assist to Vikings PR for finding this, but he became the four 22-year-old QB since 2000 with at least three road wins in their first eight career starts. He joined Ben Roethlisberger (four), Patrick Mahomes (three) and Lamar Jackson (three). Expanding to 1970, only two other QBs achieved the feat. They were Dan Marino and Steve Fuller, who each recorded three.

And OptaSTATS pointed out McCarthy is the only QB in NFL history to have multiple TD passes and a rushing score three times within a player's first eight games.

Teams are different every year, but McCarthy's trajectory is something Minnesota will do its very best to carry into next season.

My wife and I were in attendance thanks to tickets from a season ticket holder for my birthday back in August. I expected a loss and even brought a brown bag to cover my head, just in case we didn't show up, which we often do on prime-time, nationally televised games, but we came to play! Even after the first-series debacle turnover. We held tough and stayed the course. Solid defense and well-executed offense, and we won the game. Season's over, as far as playoffs are concerned, but as long as we finish strong, and J.J. shows progress, I'm good. It was a good night to be there for the win!

SKOL.

— J.B. in Texas

Glad you made it out to such a fun game, and congrats on receiving a great birthday gift.

The defense did a tremendous job governing a full-throttle offense, despite playing the first snap of the night at the Minnesota 35-yard line after the pick.

Dallas went 2-for-12 on third downs but was able to go 3-for-4 on fourth downs.

If you didn't get a chance to watch O'Connell's locker room speech yet, it is worth your time because it provides a direct look at how much guys still care about playing for pride and each other.

True, the initial goal post has moved, but there's three more opportunities this season, as McCarthy pointed out at the end of the above video.

Let's not forget that when J.J. McCarthy left the field at U.S. Bank Stadium after his final scoring drive against Chicago, the Vikings had the lead. That fact ties into almost every point I will assert here.

After that awful tipped-pass INT, McCarthy didn't blink. He smiled and laughed. But he didn't blink. He played a strong game at QB. He made more key throws than he missed. He used his legs well. And he's learning from Mahomes (hate the injury news on Patrick) that you need to let the officials know when you've been hit illegally. McCarthy clearly took a shot to the head. And while he was a runner, QBs are protected when they are giving themselves up, feet- or head-first. When he leaves the field after his final drive, the Vikings typically have the lead.

Special teams. Sigh. When I am in the position to hire someone, I am certainly interested in their best. What's the best you can do for me? But I am far more interested in what's the worst you'll do TO me. The special teams unit has Pro Bowl-worthy candidates. But the gaffes have been extremely egregious. If that sounds redundant, it's not an accident. That's how bad the worst has been this year. A fake field goal completely unaccounted for at that position on the field? How can you let that happen? I am not advocating firing anyone on the coaching staff, but the leadership of that unit needs drastic and immediate change. I refer you to my first statement regarding the lead against Chicago at U.S. Bank. Way too many huge mistakes.

I could bemoan the lack of interior pass rush. Again. I could nitpick play-calling. I could call out run defense or offensive third-down inefficiency. But tonight was a win on the road in prime time against an opponent still very much alive for a playoff run at the opening kick. And aside from special teams horrors, I'm not seeing a plethora of patterns in the areas of concern above. Well maybe third downs. But fourth-down perfection helps salve that one this week.

I believe this wholeheartedly. A lot of teams are quite glad they won't have to face a confident and dialed-in, J.J. McCarthy-led Vikings team. A healthy Vikings team coming into January with a head of steam could have been very dangerous.

Skol!

— Jeff in Sacramento, California

Nine players 22 or younger since 2000, including McCarthy, have had consecutive games with at least three touchdowns and a passer rating above 100.

The grit shown, particularly after the turnover and the successful fake field goal would have made John Wayne proud. Since "Rooster Cogburn" is unavailable for comment, we'll go with O'Connell regarding his team's resolve.

"Compliments to them [on the fake field goal], especially with where it was at in the game," O'Connell said. "You're thinking, 'Hey, defense responded, got that stop. The worst it is going to be is three.'

"They executed that really well, so you've got to compliment them. And kind of goes into the response of our team, because you can really see that going a couple ways there early on in the game, and the grit and just the determination to just go play and compete," O'Connell said. "And then I thought we made some plays there to kind of kick-start, some of the situational plays. I don't think we were great on third down [on offense], but there were some fourth downs to be had, and I wanted to be aggressive, and it helped us win the game."

DePaola is deserving of a fourth Pro Bowl, and Will Reichard and Ryan Wright have had really strong seasons. Undrafted rookie return specialist Myles Price just broke Cordarrelle Patterson's franchise record for kickoff return yards by a first-year Viking, so the specialists have been impressive for the most part. Coverage and return units often involve playing inexperienced players, plus quite a few moving parts.

There have been some rough mistakes and growing pains with core teams plays this season, but the group has made some plays, too.

This was the Vikings best offensive performance of the season and J.J.'s best game of the year as well. There was more weak special teams play by the Vikings — we allowed the Cowboys to convert a fake field goal that resulted in a Cowboys TD; and a blown kickoff return by Myles Price. Another great game by Ryan Wright punting, long, high and pinned them deep; he is on a real good roll. The defense played well enough to win but gave up too many yards and too many points. Below are my 3 Ups and 3 Downs for the game:

UPS:

1. Nice TD drive in the late first quarter. Beautiful swing pass to Jones followed by TD pass to Nailor. Great answer to the Cowboys first score.
2. The fourth-and-goal from inside the 1 play call. First, the play worked. Second, we didn't hand the ball off 7 yards deep and into the teeth of the Cowboys defense, like we did on the blown third-and-1 yard to go? Lastly, excellent deception — the players on the field including Mason, Ham, and an extra offensive lineman told the Cowboys we were coming right at them, but J.J. just walked in on the naked boot. Nicely done.
3. Beautiful fourth-down stop by the defense at the 5-minute mark of the fourth quarter, followed by a great offensive drive to milk the clock. And a game-sealing FG by Reichard. Nicely done.

DOWNS:

1. Another batted pass given up by J.J., this one picked by a defensive lineman. Followed by a stop by our defense and then our special teams give up a first down on a Cowboys fake field goal. Then a Cowboys TD. What a dichotomy between J.J.'s batted pass and pick and Dak Prescott having Harrison Smith immediately in his face and still makes an easy completion for a Cowboys first down with no problem whatsoever? Overall, the Vikings have a very disappointing start to the game on a number of levels.
2. Another bonehead play on a Vikings kickoff? Ball is kicked out of bounds ceding the ball to the Cowboys at the 40 heading into halftime? It just should not ever happen? Sure enough, it helped the Cowboys get their late first half FG that tied the game. Our special teams play just continues to be inconsistent overall and ends up routinely helping our opponents.
3. I am so tired of K.O. wasting timeouts after long gains into the red zone like after the long pass to Addison. It just keeps happening again and again and again, and K.O. just refuses to fix it.

A fun game to watch and a quality win. So nice to see McCarthy put together two good performances and two wins. Looking forward to the Giants already.

Respectfully,

— Jeff L.

The defensive performance by the Vikings was quite impressive in my humble opinion, which is crafted at how explosive the Cowboys have been on offense. Minnesota held Dallas below its season averages in multiple categories and was instrumental in turning over the Cowboys on downs late. That was such a key stop.

I liked the swing pass because it seemed like something the Vikings identified as an opportunity for a big play and because the execution was particularly crisp. Throw in a penalty to move the ball to the 20 and Minnesota scoring on the following snap, and it was quite a sequence.

The McCarthy rushing touchdown was one of the better fake handoffs I've seen in person. It reminded me of watching a highlight of Peyton Manning at the same venue, and it turns out I wasn't the only one.

While I understand the importance of timeouts, I also believe making sure everyone is on the same page with the play call from that part of the field has considerable merit.

It has been touch-and-go with Christian Darrisaw this year. Sometimes he plays. Sometimes he does not. Is he still suffering from the injury from last year, or is this something new? What is the prognosis for a complete recovery for next year? I would love to see him play all 17 games next year, plus the playoffs.

— Gerald Goblirsch

Darrisaw recovered from a 2024 Week 8 injury to return to the lineup in Week 3 this season against Cincinnati, but two weeks later, he was on a snap count (played 41) in London after having played all 76 against Pittsburgh in Dublin.

It has been on-again, off-again for Darrisaw with his knee injury. He played just nine snaps at Los Angeles and left Minnesota's game at Green Bay with a foot injury.

The Vikings continue to manage his workload during practice weeks.

Justin Skule filled in well for Darrisaw from the jump on Sunday. Blake Brandel entered the game in relief of Brian O'Neill, who will undergo further testing on his foot.

The offensive line has just had to battle one thing after another this season in the quest for continuity.

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