The offense kept its composure, and big-time catches by Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison led to the game-winning touchdown.

Cards were stacked against Minnesota, which played its Week 5 contest — a second straight International Series game — with a patchwork offensive line battered by injuries, but toughness prevailed for a 21-17 comeback win in London.

Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell said the team anticipated a hard-fought game against a stingy Browns defense.

"They do a lot of challenging things, running the football and keeping you off-balance defensively," he said. "So, I knew we would have to battle."

Down by 4 and with just over 3 minutes remaining in the game, Carson Wentz and Co. kept the ball moving. Jordan Mason started the drive with a 9-yard run, and Wentz connected with T.J. Hockenson following the 2-minute warning for 14 yards.

The next play featured a downfield pass to Jefferson, who leapt to make an incredible catch with Denzel Ward in close coverage.

The Vikings calmly got to the line of scrimmage with the clock running, and Wentz made short completions to Jalen Nailor and Mason, respectively, to set up third-and-4. A pass to Addison for the exact necessary yardage prompted Cleveland to take its third and final timeout.

Wentz sought out Addison for 5 yards on the first down. Then with 30 seconds left on the clock, it was Addison again. This time, the receiver caught the 12-yard pass in the paint and gave the Vikings their final lead of the day.

"I had an out route, and then depending on the coverage they convert, they went Cover 2," Addison detailed. "I made a good release, looked back and the ball is right on the money."

"It took all of us. It didn't just take me," he added. "I ended up making the play for us, but everybody did a good job driving us down the field, and the defense did a good job getting us the ball back. It took all of us."

Addison finished his day across the pond with five catches for 41 yards and the score after missing the game's first quarter. O'Connell confirmed postgame the decision to sit Addison had been a disciplinary one after the wideout missed a team walk-through during the week.

O'Connell emphasized the behavior isn't "in alignment with our standards" and that accountability was a priority.

"But at the same time, he knows that. I thought he handled it professionally," said O'Connell, who noted Addison addressed the team about the indiscretion. "He let them know that whenever I gave him the opportunity to go in the game, they could count on him, and he makes the game-winning catch.

"But I love Jordan Addison. He's a guy that I care about tremendously, and he knows that every guy in that locker room has his back. He knows that I will never waver in my confidence and belief in him," O'Connell said. "But at the same time, we've got standards, and personal responsibility and accountability are huge if you want to talk about culture."

Jefferson showed up throughout Sunday's contest, racking up 123 yards receiving on just seven catches. He made multiple impressive grabs in traffic to help Minnesota's offense move the ball.

"Justin's as good as it gets," Wentz said. "I've been watching it for years from afar, so it's pretty fun to get a front-row seat.

"He's different," Wentz later added. "I'm still finding that out every week. I'm not gonna lie, you know, a couple of high balls down the field today, just giving him a chance, and his ability to go up and over guys … to go high-point a ball gives a quarterback the utmost confidence."

In his third game in London, "Jets" continued his streak of averaging 100-plus receiving yards in those contests, the best in NFL history. Jefferson also surpassed Calvin Johnson for fourth-most yards by a player in his first six NFL seasons; he now has 7,881 career yards through the air.

Jefferson continues to etch his name in the record books, but he was much happier postgame about the win than his stats.

"We couldn't go home on that plane 0-2," he said. "The relentlessness and the fight — we continue to do it throughout the season, but today for us to, with the adversity of being here for 10 days and a lot of complaints that could happen … a lot of blaming other things, I feel like this team didn't flinch at all.

"Of course, there was adversity throughout the game, there were good plays and bad plays, but we continue to fight," Jefferson said. "We continue to move forward."

Asked if he felt anxious during the Vikings final drive, Wentz shrugged it off and said he felt "great" in the high-pressure situation.

"It's one of those things, there's so much going on, and you're doing everything you can to just stay in the moment and stay focused," he said. "And we were able to get it done."

Wentz not only stay poised throughout a tough game but put his toughness on display, as well.

The QB didn't take any sacks in the first half but still absorbed plenty of contact, including on a third-down scramble that came up just short of the sticks. Wentz did suffer an injury to his left shoulder and underwent X-rays just before halftime but came back to start the third quarter and never left the game again.

"He's a soldier," Jefferson said. "That's his mentality. We didn't expect anything less. If he's able to go and he's able to be out there, we know he's gonna come back."

Added Addison: "That's just the man he is."

Wentz was sacked three times in the final two quarters of the contest. He tipped his cap, though, to the Vikings offensive line that at one point featured backups at left tackle (Justin Skule), left guard (Joe Huber), center (Blake Brandel) and right tackle (Skule and then Walter Rouse when Christian Darrisaw was pulled for snap-count reasons and Skule moved to the left side). Brandel had never played center in a game prior to Sunday.

"I'm so proud of those guys," Wentz said. "I mean, for guys to do what they did today … Blake Brandel starting his first game at center, Joe Huber starting for the first time ever, Justin Skule starting at right tackle, then flipping to left tackle against arguably one of the best defensive ends in the world (Myles Garrett) — those things are not easy to do, and for them to keep fighting [was incredible]. Guys made mistakes, that happens. I made mistakes. But the way they battled and kept fighting, I'm so proud of those guys."

Wentz finished the day 25-of-34 passing for 236 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. His passer rating was 102.1.

And if you're wondering how Wentz threw just one touchdown when the Vikings scored twice through the air…

It's because Cam Akers threw the first TD of the day, as expected.

Wait, what?

Late in the first quarter and on first down from the Browns 32, Brandel snapped directly to Akers. The running back, who played QB at Clinton High School in Mississippi (and was 5-for-8 with 97 yards at Florida State), lobbed a pass to an open Josh Oliver for the score.

"[The coaches] had seen a previous look with that defense with Wildcat, and they drew it up perfectly," Oliver said. "Akers had a bunch of touchdowns in high school, and he was ready for it."

O'Connell wasn't afraid to get creative in a game riddled with adversity, and it paid off.

And when it came to the game's final stretch, O'Connell's play calls also reaped rewards.

"A lot of those calls were really centered around, you're going fast, trying to navigate having a few young bucks in there up front against one of the best fronts in football," he explained. "So a lot of it is just trying to navigate through that first and then try to get some 1-on-1 opportunities for guys. We were able to kind of move the ball against some single-high [coverage], and they were disguising a little bit of some split-safety looks out of those single-high looks.

"Carson did a nice job seeing it. When we got single-high, we were able to get the ball downfield," O'Connell added. "We were trying to make sure we had a plan for [if they pressured us], but at the same time, you've got to have somewhere to go with it if they try to play cloud, and Carson was ready for that. It was a coaching point we gave early on in the game that showed up in a gotta-have-it type situation."

It's fair to say Sunday's game overall had the "gotta-have-it" feel, and the Vikings responded with tenacity and grit.

The team isn't ignoring the challenges it's experienced through the first five weeks, including injuries and continued pre- and post-snap penalties. But the belief in each other and continued camaraderie hasn't faltered.

"We're still looking for it," Jefferson acknowledged postgame of the 2025 Vikings identity. "But what I can say is, there's a lot of character traits about this team that are phenomenal — and I'm very, very happy to be a part of it.

"Being here for 10 days and just bonding with everybody, spending that time communicating and connecting with each other, it definitely was a great trip," he added. "It was great for everybody to come together through adversity … and to come out with this 'dub' today was very, very big."

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