The Vikings’ offense has lagged far behind the defense and special teams during the team’s 5-0 start. That’s no secret. But Kyler Murray and company took major strides in a Week 5 win over the Saints, and they did it without four key players who are all expected to be back in the lineup this Sunday against the Colts.
Running back Jordan Mason (thumb) is on the verge of returning from injured reserve. Wide receiver Jordan Addison (hamstring) should be back. Same with left tackle Christian Darrisaw and tight end T.J. Hockenson (concussion protocol).
“We’re expecting all those guys to be able to participate in practice tomorrow,” Kevin O’Connell said in his weekly interview with KFAN’s Paul Allen on Tuesday. “They’re all different injuries, different things, but that bye week came at a great, great time for our offense, from a standpoint of getting some real impactful players back healthy and hopefully ready to hit the ground running.”
O’Connell also touched on all four players individually, and all of the updates sound good.
- “We opened up Jordan Mason’s window already, we’ll see how he does throughout the week. Hoping to have him.”
- “Jordan (Addison) was close to making the (Saints) game, but the type of soft tissue injury he had, we didn’t wanna possibly turn a one-week injury into a four, five, six-week injury.”
- “T.J.’s doing great. Should be able to clear the protocol. And obviously Christian Darrisaw’s had time to feel pretty good.”
“All those guys are bouncing around the building,” O’Connell said. “These guys are ready to go to work.”
The Vikings’ offensive numbers clearly aren’t where O’Connell would like them to be. They’re 27th in yards per game, 22nd in points per game, 27th in EPA per play, 32nd in success rate. At the same time, they’ve dealt with a lot from an injury standpoint.
Murray went down on just the 11th snap in Week 1. Mason needed thumb surgery after that game. Justin Jefferson missed almost all of Weeks 3 and 4. Josh Oliver got hurt in Week 3. Donovan Jackson and Christian Darrisaw left early in Week 4. Addison missed Week 5. Hockenson went down on just the second play in New Orleans.
Oliver and Jackson’s injuries were season-ending. But everyone else appears set to be back this week against the Colts. That means, for the first time since the very early snaps in the season opener against Green Bay, the Vikings are going to have all of their weapons available at the same time. Murray at quarterback. Aaron Jones and Mason at running back. Jefferson and Addison at receiver. Hockenson at tight end.
The stage is set for the Vikings to start to play the kind of offensive football they believed they were going to play coming into this season. With Mason coming back to complement Jones in the backfield, the run game — which has been such a focus — should only improve. And if that happens, it’ll only open things up for the pass game, where Murray has shown the ability to stack completions over his past five quarters of football.
In other words, the Vikings are about to put defenses in some tricky spots.
“We’ve run the football a lot,” O’Connell said. “Lot more than we have previously, in any year that I’ve been here. Now people are gonna start having to make the decision — is it real? Especially with Jordan coming back, fresh legs, and he’s gonna be shot out of a cannon in this game at the running back position.
“If you wanna play with light boxes and worry about Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison and the pass game, hopefully we can continue to lean on people, see a little bit more explosives in the run game start popping up. Then you’ll get the single-high, you’ll get some pressure looks that we can go attacking down the field a little more.”
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This story was originally published by Bring Me The Sports on Oct 20, 2026, where it first appeared in the MN Vikings section. Add Bring Me The Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.