Significant contributions on special teams and defense anchored Minnesota's 23-16 win in Tampa on Sunday, improving the Vikings to 3-0 in 2026. After digesting the Week 3 film, we have identified three stats that were a big deal in the team's latest gritty win, plus two players whose arrows are pointed up after three games and one special moment of the weekend that epitomized Minnesota's culture of smart and tough players who love football.

3 Sweet Stats

Package deal

Persistent and punctual pressure by the Vikings defense has overwhelmed Jordan Love, Caleb Williams and Baker Mayfield like sitting ducks in a row. Two byproducts of Brian Flores' crew constricting quarterbacks like a boa are sacks and takeaways. Minnesota has logged at least four of the former and two of the latter every game so far this season and is the fifth team in the past 50 years to do so in the first three games on the schedule.

The unit is in the same realm as the 2024 Vikings, 2018 Bears, 1993 Saints and 1989 Redskins. It's a feat that's been done four other times in history — by the 1976 Bengals, 1970 Rams, 1969 Cardinals and 1965 Chargers — but has never surpassed four games.

Furthermore, with a season-high six sacks Sunday despite a season-low 54.3% blitz rate, which, ironically, is the third highest in the NFL after Minnesota's frenzied efforts in Weeks 1 and 2 at 78.3% and 72.1%, the defense is up to 14 sacks. That's the franchise's third most through the initial three games, behind the 2024 and 2016 groups that ledgered 16 and 15.

Airing it out

Some of the final box score tallies for Kyler Murray were less than ideal. Like, his 51.7% completion rate, the second-lowest mark in his career, and his 66.5 passer rating, his fourth worst in 89 starts; his 27.5 rating in Week 1, while playing 11 snaps, is his lowest in a win. But Murray found a way to stand out in another counting column: He completed three "deep" passes.

Murray started in rhythm, hitting Justin Jefferson on the first play for 22 yards on a deep in-cut. His other two completions that traveled 20-plus yards in the air were to Jordan Addison in a span of four plays with about five minutes to go in the first half. The first one to Addison was a corner route and a surgical pass from under center that Murray threw after a small giddy-up in the pocket and gained 30 (and featured some toe-drag swag on the sideline). The second transformed a third-and-8 into a 41-yard score and involved Murray trusting Addison to beat man coverage on the outside. The receiver adjusted nicely for the grab.

Murray aired it out to Addison on two other occasions, but they didn't connect. One pass late in the first half was suspended in the sky for too long while Addison separated but then had to slow down to climb the ladder and try to make a circus catch. The other was a corner route at the top of the fourth frame that sailed on Murray and out of Addison's reach.

By going 3-for-3 on his earliest deep passes, Murray became the first Vikings QB to have three or more deep completions in a first half since Sam Bradford in Week 14, 2016, per Next Gen Stats. Murray's three-piece also tied Carson Wentz in Ireland last season for the most by a Vikings QB since Sam Darnold had two games in 2024 with three or more completions of 20-plus air yards. The explosiveness in the passing game was a silver lining Sunday and is an area on offense that Head Coach Kevin O'Connell has wanted to restore.

Determined to run

So-so rushing results, and Jordan Mason landing on Injured Reserve, haven't changed Minnesota's mind about running the rock and establishing an identity in the trenches. Through Sunday's slate of games, the Vikings boast the third-highest run rate in the NFL (50.9%) after Atlanta (54.7%) and Baltimore (54.5%), per NGS, and they've not wavered when they're behind on the board, actionizing the ground attack on 51.9% of trailing snaps.

The commitment was scaled back a degree in Week 3 because of a meaty Bucs defensive line — the Vikings had a 58-42% pass-run split — but there were strides in certain metrics.

Notably, Minnesota's backfield, led again by Aaron Jones, Sr., was afforded the most room to move, yet, this season, and was able to pick up 2.06 yards before contact per carry. That was markedly better than Week 2 (0.76) and trumped Week 1 when Jones and Mason ran in tandem (1.82). Jones also had four carries during which he accelerated to 15-plus mph, good for his most runs of that type since he ripped off 10 in Week 4 in 2024 versus his former squad.

In general, the Vikings are searching high and low for chunk gains. The only offenses with fewer rushes of 10+ yards than Minnesota's five through three games are Green Bay (four) and Arizona (four) — but there's something to be said for continually kicking the door.

2 Promising Performances

Eric Wilson

A Made Man in Flo's blitz syndicate, Wilson wreaked havoc on Mayfield and the Bucs offense. He had 1.5 sacks and has been at the heart of Minnesota's six-game spree of four-plus sacks, dating to the Week 16 win at the Giants in 2025, which is the longest by a team since the New York Giants recorded a six-game streak from Weeks 3-8 of the 2001 season.

Wilson caused problems for Tampa Bay's attack Sunday through the air and on the ground.

On one of his six pressures, he fought off a block by the running back and wrestled Mayfield to the grass with an assist from Andrew Van Ginkel. On another, he pancaked left guard Ben Bredeson (Vikings fullback Max's older brother) and basically Army crawled to the QB's feet just as Mayfield released a deep incompletion. Most incredibly, Wilson wasn't even blitzing on the snap he recorded his solo sack. Mugging the line, initially, he zone-dropped and covered up a route over the middle of the field. But as Mayfield started scrambling to his left, Wilson switched into pursuit mode and reset his GPS. Wilson reached Mayfield 1 yard before he returned to the LOS — and hit him with enough force to knock him out of bounds.

Wilson didn't get credit for a sack on his final two pressures of the game but, boy, they were terrifying. One of them involved Blake Cashman crisscrossing with his partner in crime past the line and wrapping up Mayfield as Wilson ran Bucky Irving into a backpedal and then into a coffin, if you will. Wilson's pressure finale featured him engaging two blockers and fighting free on fourth-and-13 from the Bucs 39 before pursuing Mayfield to his own 15 and laying it all on the line to influence the pass Mayfield got hurt on and was intercepted by Van Ginkel.

Additionally, Wilson made several stops that prevented short catches from turning into super positive gains. His 10 tackles represented his most in a victory since having 11 in an overtime win versus Jacksonville in Week 13 in 2020, amid his first stint with the Vikings.

Kyle Van Noy

You'd never know Van Noy was signed "off the couch," so to speak, less than a month ago.

The veteran outside linebacker has tapped into his familiarity of Flo's scheme — they overlapped for a couple Super Bowl victories with New England and when the coach was at the helm in Miami — and got home for 1.5 sacks Sunday, while playing only a fraction of the defensive snaps. In total, Van Noy has averaged 20 snaps per game, and he owns a 14.7% QB pressure rate, which is tops for him since at least 2018 (when NGS started tracking it).

Van Noy, mainly, is aiding Minnesota's pass rush on early downs, but his play in Tampa was well-rounded. On his fourth snap, Van Noy took an inside track on right guard Cody Mauch and spun out when his power sent the lineman crashing into the backside of his teammate. Van Noy met Mayfield face-to-face after swiveling and bearhugged him through the whistle.

Later, when Ivan Pace, Jr., barreled through tight end Cade Otton in pass pro, Van Noy and Pace sandwiched Mayfield for a split sack and loss of 6. Again, Van Noy executed a spin to invade the pocket, except this time he feigned a speed rush off the edge, transferred his weight and breezed past All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs for a quick win (under 2.5 seconds).

In the fourth quarter Sunday, Van Noy helped close out the Bucs with a pair of TFLs and locked up the game ball that O'Connell awarded him in the locker room. On the first, he flew into the backfield untouched and tripped up Kenny Gainwell after a poor handoff. On the second, with 2:58 remaining and Tampa Bay trying to work the clock and cross midfield, Van Noy used his burst to defeat a block by right tackle Luke Goedeke and nip Gainwell as he gathered a toss sweep and immediately tried to avoid Van Noy and take the ball inside.

All told, Van Noy's sacks and tackles in the backfield resulted in 23 yards lost for the Bucs.

A Moment to Remember

Myles Price flew 86 yards in the first quarter Sunday like he was shot out of a canon.

The electric second-year receiver/return specialist caught his first punt return of the day at the Vikings 14 and took it the distance for the Purple's first touchdown in that phase since Marcus Sherels housed one Oct. 9, 2016. The gap in between was 162 games. That was back in the year of "Justice for Harambe" spreading like wildfire, and Pokémon Go taking over mobile devices. Price was just starting high school at that time. Fast-forward and he's in the record books.

Price shared afterward he visualized the feat in his sleep. He told O'Connell about the dream, he said. During the return he didn't have time to think or admire the blocks in front of him — he didn't know who did what — he just sprinted as fast and as far as he could go.

So, who excelled on the runback and helped Price reach the end zone?

Well, there was a 6-yard runway for Price the moment the ball nestled into his hands. The nearest defender was blocked out of the action area and into the sideline by Tai Felton and consequently overran the punt; the gunner on the opposite side was nudged off Price's track by Chuck Demmings; the closest Buc in front of him was walloped instantly by Jay Ward, who took the brunt of the contact like a champ; Chaz Chambliss walled off Ko Kieft (former Gophers tight end, in case you didn't know) to create an alley around the Vikings 25 in which Price could advance; DeeJay Dallas and Jake Golday erased three players with good body positioning; and Gavin Bartholomew held a block just long enough on Payne Durham to keep Price clean as can be as he exploded into the clear and up the Bucs sideline for six.

That's an epic way to snap the league's sixth-longest punt return TD drought. (Arizona, Green Bay, Houston, San Francisco and Tampa Bay are dealing with lengthier dry spells.)

The bonus detail of Price's first NFL TD is it happened on Special Teams Coordinator Matt Daniels' 37^th birthday. Daniels' group has played just about lights out through three games.

View the Vikings 2026 Schedule.

See future opponents for the Vikings.

Buy single game tickets.

Download the official Vikings App.

See more about the 2028 NFL Draft in Minnesota.