Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints

MIN 23 · NO 13 · 2026 Week 5

Vikings win ugly: negative EPA, two lost fumbles, still too good for New Orleans

Minnesota beat New Orleans 23-13 in a game neither offense deserved to win. The Vikings finished with minus-10.8 total EPA — a negative number! — and won anyway, because the Saints managed minus-25.6, which is less a stat line than a cry for help.

The lowlight reel was spectacular: Kyler Murray's short pass to Myles Price turned into a fumble (minus-10.06 EPA, minus-0.369 win probability), and Aaron Jones fumbled twice, losing both — despite rushing for 113 yards and a touchdown. New Orleans turned one of those into an 87-yard fumble-return touchdown by Jonas Sanker, then missed the extra point, because even their miracles came with a service fee.

Byron Murphy's two interceptions of Tyler Shough — 96 passing yards on the day — and Will Reichard's three field goals from 40, 54, and 55 yards did the actual winning. Minnesota keeps winning games it seems to be trying to lose; the Saints keep losing games nobody's watching.