Vikings Clips
Kyler Murray has exited Sunday’s season opener against the Packers after taking a nasty hit in the first quarter.
On third-and-6 from the Minnesota 34, Murray was scrambling when he began his slide well short of the sticks. But as he was doing so, he was hit in the head by safety Javon Bullard.
Murray stayed down on the turf for a while as Minnesota’s medical staff tended to him. While he was able to get up and walk off under his own power, he went directly to the locker room for further examination.
Backup QB Carson Wentz has now entered the game for the Vikings.
If necessary, J.J. McCarthy is the emergency third quarterback for Minnesota.
UPDATE 5:05 p.m. ET: The Vikings announced Murray is being evaluated for a concussion.
Jordan Love has just connected on the longest touchdown of his career.
Love connected with Christian Watson for an 81-yard touchdown. But rookie kicker Trey Smack missed the extra point, keeping the score at 9-0, Packers.
Minnesota had just successfully challenged a play to overturn a completed pass to an incompletion on first down. But on the next snap, Love fired an intermediate pass over the middle to Watson, who caught it and used his speed to get into the end zone for the score.
Watson gained 65 yards after the reception.
That was also Love’s first completion of the 2026 season.
Smack made his first kick, which was a 59-yard field goal early in the first quarter. But his extra point went wide right.
Kyler Murray’s first pass as a Viking was one he’d probably like back.
Heavily pressured on second-and-11 from Minnesota’s 34, Murray heaved a jump ball to Jauan Jennings down the right sideline. But Green Bay’s Keisean Nixon picked it off instead, giving the Packers an extra possession early.
Notably, Green Bay’s new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon was Murray’s head coach with the Cardinals over the last few years.
The Packers could not fully capitalize on the opportunity, however, with quarterback Jordan Love throwing it away on third-and-12 from the Minnesota 41.
Rookie Trey Smack hit the first field goal attempt of his career, sending a 59-yard attempt through the uprights with room to spare.
Green Bay leads 3-0 with 12:11 left in the first quarter.
The Packers will be playing Sunday’s game against the Vikings without guard Aaron Banks.
Banks is officially inactive for the contest after he was listed as questionable with a knee injury. He was a limited participant in practice all week.
Via multiple reporters on the Packers beat, rookie Jager Burton is likely to start in Banks’ place.
Linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper, offensive tackle Travis Glover, receiver J. Michael Sturdivant, defensive tackle Warren Brinson, and defensive tackle Anthony Campbell are also inactive for the Packers.
Minnesota’s inactives are running back Demond Claiborne, cornerback Zemaiah Vaughn, safety Jakobe Thomas, center Nick Samac, offensive tackle Caleb Tiernan, defensive lineman Elijah Williams, and quarterback J.J. McCarthy. McCarthy is Minnesota’s emergency third QB.
On Sunday, Kyler Murray will make his first start for the Vikings. And he’ll be the ninth quarterback to start a game for the Vikings since 2023.
Via NBC Sports research, that’s tied for the most in the NFL during that stretch, with (not surprisingly) the Browns. (Cleveland has had 42 starters since returning to the NFL in 1999; no other team has started more than 30 during that same period of time.)
In 2022, coach Kevin O’Connell’s first year with the Vikings, Kirk Cousins started all 17 regular-season games. He started the first eight in 2023, before tearing an Achilles tendon at Green Bay.
Since then, it’s been Jaren Hall (two games), Joshua Dobbs (four), Nick Mullens (four), Sam Darnold (all 17 in 2024), J.J. McCarthy (10), Carson Wentz (five), and Max Brosmer (two).
Given that Wentz and McCarthy are currently on the roster and Brosmer is on the practice squad, the Vikings likely won’t start a tenth different quarterback in 2026.
In 2022 and 2024, when the same guy started every game, the Vikings made the playoffs. The hope will be that Murray manages to start all 17 in 2026 — and that the Vikings get back to the postseason.
Kyle Van Noy is set to make his Vikings debut on Sunday.
The team announced that they have elevated the veteran linebacker from the practice squad for their game against the Packers. Van Noy signed with the Vikings earlier this month.
Van Noy has 57 career sacks and will give the team some experienced depth behind Dallas Turner and Andrew Van Ginkel in the season opener.
The Vikings also elevated running back DeeJay Dallas on Saturday. He joins Aaron Jones, Jordan Mason, and sixth-round pick Demond Claiborne in the offensive backfield.
Both players will revert back to the practice squad after the game.
Wide receiver Bo Melton lost his spot on the Packers’ 53-man roster this week, but he’ll be available for Sunday’s game against the Vikings.
Melton re-signed to the Packers’ practice squad after being released late in the week and the Packers announced that he has been elevated on a temporary basis for Week 1.
Melton has appeared in 38 games for the Packers the last three seasons. He has 28 catches for 416 yards and two touchdowns in that action.
The Packers have also elevated linebacker Kristian Welch. He played in eight games and recorded three tackles last season.
Cornerback Isaiah Rodgers had a solid 2025 season for the Vikings. The team has acknowledged it with a tweak to his contract.
Via Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, the Vikings have converted $1.5 million in playing-time incentives for 2026 into a signing bonus.
To earn that payment, he would have been required to participate in at least 85 percent of the defensive snaps in 2026.
Rodgers signed a two-year, $11.045 million deal last year. He’s now due to make $5.94 million in 2026.
He can make another $250,000 if he qualifies for the Pro Bowl or $350,000 if he’s a second-team All-Pro or, if Rodgers becomes a first-team All-Pro, $500,000.
A sixth-round pick of the Colts in 2020, Rodgers has 77 regular-season appearances with 28 starts. Last year in Minnesota, he appeared in 17 games with 15 starts.
His best game came in Week 3 against the Bengals, when he returned an interception 87 yards for a touchdown and a fumble 66 yards for another touchdown.
The Packers have made a surprising roster move on Friday, but there’s more to it than it initially appears.
Green Bay has released receiver Bo Melton, but there’s more to it than it appears.
According to multiple reporters on the Packers beat, this is a roster management move, as Melton is expected to re-sign with the club’s practice squad and get elevated to the gameday roster for the Week 1 matchup against the Vikings.
Melton, a seventh-round pick in 2022, is now a vested veteran, which means he does not need to clear waivers to go to the practice squad.
In 16 games last season, Melton caught four passes for 107 yards with a touchdown. He also took five carries for 35 yards. He was on the field for 47 percent of special teams snaps and 10 percent of offensive snaps in games played.
The Jonathan Gannon-Kyler Murray partnership in Arizona ended with both men moving on after the 2025 season, but they’ll be back together for the first game of their new starts.
Gannon is now the Packers’ defensive coordinator, which means he’ll be charged with slowing Murray down in his debut as the Vikings’ starting quarterback. In a press conference this week, Gannon said that his experience coaching Murray left him aware of exactly what the defense has to be on guard for on Sunday.
“Really good player,” Gannon said, via WLUK. “He’s in a really good offense with some elite players. Obviously I’ve got nothing but love and respect for K-1. He’s competitive, he’s smart, he can make all the throws and he can beat you with his legs. So a bigtime challenge. As I know firsthand what this guy can do with his legs and he can train wreck the game real fast if you’re not coordinated the right way. We gotta contain him. We gotta be ready to plaster at all times ‘cause he has just kind of a way of getting out that pocket and extending plays. And then when he’s out that pocket is when I think he’s most dangerous.”
Murray was shut down after hurting his foot early in the 2025 season and that decision was tied to contractual matters as the Cardinals wanted to avoid being on the hook for any of his 2027 money. That didn’t help Gannon keep his job and shutting down his former quarterback would be the best way to start his new gig on the right foot.
