EAGAN, Minn. — The Vikings (7-2) will visit the Tennessee Titans (2-7) on Sunday with a chance to improve to 4-0 this season against AFC South foes in Week 11 and complete a sweep of the division.

It will be just the 15^th overall meeting between the franchises, including the Titans years as Oilers, and fourth trip to Tennessee.

The Vikings are 2-1 in games at Nashville, having claimed victories in 1998 and 2016 and falling in 2008.

Vikings Uniform

The Vikings will wear their modern road uniform combination of white jerseys and purple pants.

4 Storylines

1. Bounce back

Good teams find a way to win even when they don't play their best.

Such was the case last Sunday when Sam Darnold helped and hurt Minnesota's offensive success with 24 completions and 241 yards but also threw three interceptions in Jaguars territory. The Vikings defense and special teams had their quarterback's back.

The next step, to signal whether Minnesota enters the conversation of "great" teams, is Darnold piecing together a cleaner performance – putting on tape a game that's more aligned with his red-hot entrance that earned him NFC Offensive Player of the Month in September.

Darnold started 2024 with 11 touchdown passes and three interceptions. He has six and seven dating to the London Game and produced his worst passer rating since Week 18 of the 2022 slate in last week's game. Nevertheless, Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell retained the utmost confidence in Darnold's improvement, saying this week, "He's in a great head space. He's ready to go to work. He's ready to really diagnose exactly the what [and] the why of, kind of, what took place, and how we can be better."

One element of Darnold's game that could greatly factor into Sunday's outcome is his athleticism. In the last two weeks, New England rookie Drake Maye and Chargers veteran Justin Herbert have run for 95 and 32 yards.

Notably, the Vikings offense is doing many of the little things correctly that translate to winning. It averaged 5.3 yards per play during Darnold's two games of turnover woes, accumulating 817 net yards, and has lived on the right side of a lopsided time of possession battle. Minnesota's focus is finishing drives with points.

2. Total defense

The Vikings lead the NFL with 20 takeaways and 15 interceptions, their second-most picks in nine games since 2000 (18 in 2003). They've also yielded the fewest rushing yards and generated the most pressures.

In other words, Minnesota is playing "total defense."

Interestingly, it's Tennessee's unit that ranks first in the league in fewest offensive yards allowed (the Vikings are eighth in that department). The Titans, however, are struggling in key categories such as sacks (tied-sixth fewest; 18), takeaways (third fewest; 6) and points surrendered per game (fourth most; 26.7).

Some notable NFC North-centric scores: Buffalo and Detroit consecutively dropped 34 and 52 points on Tennessee in Weeks 7-8; Green Bay put up a 30-piece in Week 3; and Chicago managed 24 in the opener.

Players to be mindful of on the Titans D include outside linebackers Harold Landry III and Arden Key, defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons and safety Amani Hooker. On the foremost: Landry has recorded five sacks this year but only one in the past five weeks; Key has posted four over the past four. Simmons is a mammoth problem in the middle – he had eight pressures, a sack and fumble recovery in Week 9 – and Hooker is the lone Titans player so far with an interception, pairing three with seven passes defended.

3. Specialist spotlight

Andrew DePaola and Will Reichard are a very formidable duo.

Jake McQuaide and Parker Romo proved on short notice that they can be, too.

After DePaola and Reichard suffered hand and quad injuries on Sunday Night Football in Week 9 and landed on Injured Reserve, the Vikings pivoted to another Pro Bowl long snapper and debuting NFL kicker. It got the job done and then some at Jacksonville – McQuaide and Romo synced on four field goals in the 12-7 win.

Vikings punter/holder Ryan Wright also came up clutch, extending a bit further than normal to snag McQuaide's snap on Romo's second field goal. Romo's timing was uninterrupted thanks to Wright's swift reactions.

For as long as Reichard and DePaola are on the mend, the new Vikings duo will be under the microscope.

4. Opportunities in return game

Brandon Powell should have Tennessee circled on his calendar.

The Vikings receiver has returned 12 punts this season and popped off five for at least 10 yards, including a long of 15. He's averaging 6.8 yards per return through nine games and 8.6 on 98 returns in six seasons.

Heads up, the Titans are giving up an NFL-worst 18.5 yards per punt return on a league-high 29 opportunities. In Week 8, Lions returner (and former Titan) Kalif Raymond had a 90-yard house call and averaged 25 yards on four others. In addition to Raymond, these players have punt returns of 20-plus yards against the Titans: Chicago's DeAndre Carter, Miami's Braxton Berrios, Indianapolis' Josh Downs and New England's Marcus Jones.

The possibility of shaking free in the return game objectively adds another layer of excitement.

Tennessee also is permitting the most yards per kickoff return (38.3), granted it has shied away from opposing players having the chance at a return. Teams have fielded only eight kicks against the Titans.

3 Things 'Bout the Titans

1. Growing pains

Brian Callahan is in his first year as head coach and handling offensive play-calling duties for the first time in his career. Will Levis is in his second NFL season and has experience some growing pains in his decision-making.

The potential exists – Callahan coordinated Cincinnati's Top 10 scoring offense in 2021-22 and Levis has coveted traits for a young quarterback: cannon arm, good mobility and courage to make any throw – but the results aren't there yet. Tennessee is 27^th in total yards and points per game and 30^th in turnovers.

Levis is 101-for-148 (68.2%) with 874 yards and seven touchdowns in five-plus games (he's appeared in six but left the win at Miami due to a right shoulder injury early in the first quarter). Overall, modest numbers buoyed by a high-completion rate. The issue is Levis has had reckless tendencies with the rock. He's thrown seven interceptions (two pick sixes) and fumbled four balls, including two in opponent territory.

On the other Titans QB. …

Mason Rudolph spelled Levis against the Dolphins and played conservatively in the Titans first win this season. He filled in for Levis, again, when the 2023 second-rounder was sidelined in Weeks 7-9 and saved his best game for last, passing for 240 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in Tennessee's win in overtime against New England. Rudolph, like Levis, owns a 1:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio this year.

To Levis' credit, he played well in Week 10 at the Chargers, clipping 78.3% of his throws with two touchdowns and no picks and added a career-high 41 yards on three scrambles and two QB keepers.

2. Multidimensional

The shift away from classical running backs – the helmet-banging, stiff-arming locomotives that would bundle 20-plus carries with plentiful broken tackles – is magnified yearly due to modern NFL offenses.

Now, most teams rely on a back with equally dangerous receiving chops; Tennessee relies on two: Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears. They're averaging 91.1 yards from scrimmage on 19.9 touches and 40.1 on 9.2, respectively.

It's a complete 180 turn and a colossal change in philosophy from the reign of "King Henry."

Pollard was one of Tennessee's top signings in free agency after totaling 1,300-plus yards in back-to-back seasons for the Cowboys. In a lighter shade of blue, Pollard is playing as well as he did in Dallas. He's tied for fourth in the NFL with 570 yards rushing after contact this year; his eight runs of 15-plus yards is as many as Bijan Robinson, Najee Harris and Alvin Kamara. Pollard's one flaw: a lack of touchdowns (three).

In Week 10, Spears returned from a hamstring injury that shelved him for three games, and averaged a rejuvenated 6.7 yards per carry, outrushing Pollard, 47-44, on two fewer chances. A third-round selection out of Tulane in 2023, Spears was a pain in Green Bay's side as a receiver in Week 3, racking up 54 yards on four catches. He has eight career games with at least 30 yards rushing and six with that many receiving.

3. State of the receiving corps

Tennessee rolled out DeAndre Hopkins, Calvin Ridley, Treylon Burks and Tyler Boyd at Chicago in Week 1 and got 78 yards from the foursome. Levis passed for 127 yards that game.

Ten weeks later, the Titans receivers room is nearly unrecognizable.

Burks, the No. 18 overall draft choice in 2022, is on Injured Reserve with a knee injury suffered in practice. Hopkins was traded to perennial Super Bowl contender Kansas City on Oct. 24, and Boyd hasn't been targeted in two November games. Ridley, however, has really come alive, compiling a 20-300-2 line across his past three contests. It calmed concerns over a four-game stretch of his marred by 5-56-0 totals.

Outside of Ridley, Tennessee's receiving corps has leaned more on Nick Westbrook-Ikhine since Hopkins left. In nine games, Westbrook-Ikhine already has tied his career high in touchdowns (4). He had a TD streak of four games in Weeks 6-9 and averaged 3.3 catches and 40 yards receiving over his past three.

2 Vikings to Track

Byron Murphy, Jr.: Murphy is on one, as people like to say, when it comes to intercepting footballs. He has recorded an interception in each of the past three games to bring his season total to four. Three of those have also occurred in Minnesota's past three road games, dating back to the Vikings win over the Packers in Week 4.

Justin Jefferson: The Vikings star needs 55 receiving yards to pass Torry Holt (6,784) for the most by a player in his first five NFL seasons. He is aiming for his eighth consecutive game with at least five catches. Jefferson made his first NFL start against Tennessee in 2020 and racked up 175 yards, including a 71-yard touchdown, on seven catches in his third pro game.

1 Key Matchup

Vikings interior OL vs. Titans DL Jeffery Simmons

The Vikings triangle – left guard Blake Brandel, center Garrett Bradbury and right guard Ed Ingram – is tasked this week with protecting Darnold from one of the league's best pass-rushing defensive tackles.

Simmons is a two-time All-Pro Second-Team pick. Since his breakthrough in 2021, he ranks fifth among defensive tackles with 24.5 sacks, trailing Chris Jones (38.0), Cameron Heyward (27.5), DeForest Buckner (26.5) and three-time Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald (25.5), who retired. In that span, Simmons has also amassed the fourth most solo tackles (114) and sixth most tackles behind the line of scrimmage (37).

Point-blank, he's a one-man wrecking crew – and a big ask of Minnesota's interior OL to neutralize.

The Vikings guards have been tested this year by the likes of Dexter Lawrence, Quinnen Williams, Braden Fiske and Grover Stewart. In the past three weeks, Brandel has been dinged with 11 pressures and four sacks per Pro Football Focus. Overall, Ingram has allowed 3-plus pressures in four contests and a sack in five. Bradbury has generally dropped a strong anchor; he's credited with 2.3 pressures a game (21 total).

Simmons, 6-foot-4 and 305 pounds, threatens offenses with a special combination of burst, strength and nimbleness. His agility makes him dangerous as a looper on pass-rush twists and challenging to block 1-on-1. In the run game, Simmons' lateral quickness makes it tough to successfully double team him – and is helpful to him reading the flow of the ball and shedding blocks, and shooting/penetrating gaps.

Friday Updates …

The following content was added Nov. 15 after initial publication.

Status Report

Vikings running back Aaron Jones, Sr., was limited in sessions Wednesday and Thursday but practiced fully Friday and carries no designation for Sunday's game after suffering an injury to his ribs last week.

In nine contests this season, Jones has carried 142 times for 653 yards and chipped in 28 catches for 258. He had exactly that many rushing attempts in 2023 for the Packers and gained 656 yards over 11 games.

Cam Akers helped Jones carry the load at Jacksonville, rushing 13 times for 38 yards.

Also, outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel (hip) and tight end Josh Oliver (wrist/hand) are ready to roll. Oliver is averaging 55 yards receiving in two games with T.J. Hockenson back in the fold; Van Ginkel recorded his sixth sack this season against the Jaguars, matching his career high set in 2023 with Miami.

Memorable Week 11 Quotes

Brian Flores on Joshua Metellus' versatility

"One play he's playing linebacker; the next play he's the nickel. I'm sure it's hard to target him offensively [because] the next play he's playing safety. We try to move him around as much as we can. I thought he had some really good blitzes the other day (at Jacksonville), too. I know he was upset about not getting there, but if he keeps blitzing like that he'll get there eventually — and we'll keep sending him. I think having Cash (Blake Cashman) back kind of opens up a lot of things for us defensively. It allows for us to send Metellus a little bit more, send Harry (Harrison Smith) a little bit more, we'll always send I.P. (Ivan Pace) and then Cash will blitz as well."

T.J. Hockenson on spreading the love amongst tight ends

"We have a really talented room. With me, Josh (Oliver) and Johnny (Mundt); Johnny's a really good player and so you don't want to limit his snaps either, and Josh is playing phenomenal right now. I mean he can move anybody on the defensive line, and you saw his one-handed catch last week, so the guy can ball. We just don't want to limit snaps in that way and make sure all of us are fresh."

Metellus on Blake Cashman's impact

"He's a strong football player. It shows up in the way he plays. He's very aggressive, very physical and when he gets moving downhill — and he's already a fast guy, but you take that plus his strength — he's going to be hard to move off the spot. So yeah, between him and how slithery Ivan is, even though he's so powerful too, we've got a lot of different guys off the ball that can blitz. ... [Blake] can cover receivers and tight ends, too, so yeah, he's definitely a one-of-a-kind linebacker."

Parker Romo on returning to Vikings, getting game ball at Jacksonville

"Tuesday, Wednesday, it's kind of like a pinch-me kind of thing. And then I've been in NFL locker rooms before, so I'm just trying to stay levelheaded. Every day is an interview when you're in the NFL, so I'll be the best version of myself I can be, as long as I can be here.

"[It was] super rewarding. I'm just, like I said, I'm just blessed to be here, and I've loved training with these guys for this year — really since I got here in OTAs. ... It's getting painted right now so it'll be cool to get that back and put that in a trophy case someday."

Cashman on Vikings finding success on blitzes

"It's really just listening to our coaches, listening to the d-line since that's their world with the blocking schemes and understanding how to maybe attack specific players. Every player is great, but we also all have our weaknesses, so trying to take advantage of areas we can exploit, and that's all these different stunts that we practice every day at practice, and we've been able to hit those in games, but the thing is we have to continue to mix it up to keep offenses honest and make us unpredictable."

Justin Jefferson on Sam Darnold bouncing back

"Just seeing how he responds during the game is something to really talk about. Just him staying in his composure and not letting those interceptions or those bad plays kind of get to him. I'm always going to be that teammate to try to pick him up whenever he's down — if he's ever down. But that's a part of football. We have down plays and we have down moments. It's just all up to the rest of the guys to pick up one another and to continue carrying on. ... It's all one team and one system. We're in there together."

From the Inbox

Thanks as always for taking the time to answer questions from the fans. I've got two:

Darnold has done an incredible job this year, his first as a Viking. The turnovers continue to mount, however. The interceptions against the Jaguars were mentioned in the last Mailbag, but they reminded me of some of Nick Mullens' dangerous throws last year, especially in the red zone. Do you think quarterbacks may force the ball to Jefferson, either consciously because of his ability, or subconsciously because they feel gratitude for how much easier he makes their job? No top wideout wants a three-catch, 32-yard game, especially a top one. If that's what a defense gives you, though, with other guys being open (there were on at least two of those third downs), you have to run the progression when the D's locked onto 18. Look for those talented guys not named Jets. The W is enough!

The second question: Is there any chance at all that the Vikings had co-head coaches? It's obvious that the Flores/O'Connell match is perfect. If keeping Flores around just meant a title/pay increase, I'd say it's worth it. Flores has talked a lot about what he's learned from watching O'Connell run the team, and how that would help him be a better head coach. I wonder if the flip is also true: Do you think O'Connell is trying to learn Flo's system in case he does get his own team next year?

Thanks!

— Jacob. S. from Minneapolis

Thanks so much for sending questions. We genuinely appreciate hearing from fans. These are a couple of good ones here.

I hadn't honestly connected the dots with Darnold's recent interceptions and the ones that dinged Mullens' otherwise prolific performances at the end of last season. O'Connell has talked about wanting to stay aggressive and believing he can because this year's defense has been so good, but everyone also knows the importance of protecting the football.

Jefferson's uncanny abilities — thinking of the one-hander for a touchdown at Green Bay against blanket 1-on-1 coverage probably resonates in the mind of a quarterback, but teams are going to try to disguise and double and triple-team him if they think they can replicate the results Jacksonville got last week. The addition of T.J. Hockenson and continued elevated play of Josh Oliver will enable the Vikings to offer options of attack and build in the answers for a play.

Jefferson is incredibly driven to make the biggest impact on the game, and stats are the most visible measurement, but to be such a superstar, he's also unselfish. He wants to win.

I'm interested in seeing if the Vikings can maintain the full complement of playmakers who haven't been on the field together much because of cycling through injuries and seeing Darnold's progression with continued time on task.

As for the second question, the Vikings do already have Assistant Head Coach Mike Pettine on staff, and he also works with the pass rushers. Pettine has been kind of under the radar in some of the discussion of this year's success, but he also is a critical part.

O'Connell and Flores sincerely glow when they talk about how much they are enjoying working with each other and making each other better on behalf of the 2024 Vikings and whatever their futures hold.

Coaching staffs are not subject to salary cap, so that can be helpful in retaining staffs.

There are, of course, very few opportunities in this world to become a head coach. Flores has experienced that once, and he has a goal of doing that again, but he also has explained multiple times how much he and his family are enjoying Minnesota.

Flores joined "The Adam Schefter Podcast" on Tuesday, and it's definitely worth a listen here. The interview with Flores starts at the 26-minute mark.