John McClain, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, is in his 48th year of covering the NFL in Houston, including 45 seasons at the Houston Chronicle.
If the Texans are going to defeat the Vikings for the first time in team history, Sunday would be the perfect time to accomplish that feat at U.S. Bank Stadium.
The Texans are 2-0 for the first time since 2016. Two weeks into the season, they have a two-game lead in the AFC South, a division they won in 2023 -- Head Coach DeMeco Ryans' first season -- with a 10-7 record after an 0-2 start.
The Texans have beaten the Colts 29-27 and the Bears 19-13 to begin the season. If they escape Minnesota with their first victory in this non-conference series, it's possible they could lead the AFC South by three games.
Indianapolis hosts Chicago. Tennessee entertains Green Bay, and Jacksonville visits Buffalo. A victory over the Vikings would give the Texans a 3-0 record going into home games against the Jaguars and Bills.
Like the Texans, the Vikings are 2-0 for the first time since 2016. They're one of four 2-0 teams that failed to make the playoffs last season.
This is Minnesota's third season under Head Coach Kevin O'Connell, a former NFL quarterback and offensive coordinator. The Vikings are getting a lot of well-deserved recognition because of Brian Flores' outstanding defense that leads the NFL with 11 sacks and has a chance to become the third since 1990 to have at least five in the first three games of the season.
"Minnesota (is a) really good team," Ryans said this week. "They're coached really well. Their defense is playing great – lights out. Offensively, they played well (in a victory over the 49ers), had big explosives (plays).
"We know Minnesota is always a tough place to play. That crowd there is always loud. They make it challenging on us from an offensive perspective. I know going into it, we have to be on it with our cadence and our pre-snap communication."
The Vikings lead the NFL in sacks with 11. The Texans are second with nine, including 1.5 by end Danielle Hunter, who played his first nine seasons with Minnesota before signing with the Texans as a free agent.
Hunter isn't the only player to whom this game will be special. The Vikings have two former Texans, defensive end Jonathan Greenard and linebacker Blake Cashman, who left the Texans for Minnesota in the offseason.
Cashman and Greenard have helped Flores' defense allow 11.5 points a game, third fewest in the NFL.
"With Brian's defense, he presents a lot of different looks, a lot of looks that many teams don't do, and they do a good job of communicating across the board," Ryans said. "Brian does a great job of coaching those guys up to where they're all working together (and) working in sync.
"It may look like a lot of craziness going on, a lot of guys moving around, but they're in sync. From my perspective, I really appreciate the coach that he is, getting those guys on the same page, and he's going to force the game to be hard on the quarterback."
Ryans, offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik and quarterback C.J. Stroud know what to expect from Flores, which is the unexpected.
"He's (Flores) going to force the issue," Ryans said. "He's going to try to fluster the quarterback as much as possible, so we have to do a great job around C.J. (The) O-line, backs, receivers -- everybody around C.J. -- has to play really well to help calm the madness they present on defense."
The Texans know they have to be better and more consistent on both sides of the ball if they're going to end their drought against Minnesota.
Every four years, the Vikings have treated the Texans rudely, winning all five games by an average score of 29-17. That 5-0 deficit includes two losses that have historical significance.
In that 2012 season, the Texans were riding high with a 12-2 record when Minnesota visited NRG Stadium for the last home game of the season. A victory would have elevated the Texans' record to 13-2 and secured home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs for the first time in team history.
Not only did the Texans lose to the Vikings, but they didn't score a touchdown in a 23-6 defeat. Then they followed that loss with another one in the regular-season finale at Indianapolis, leaving them with a 12-4 record that's still the best in franchise history.
What made that Minnesota loss so difficult to stomach is that New England earned home-field advantage instead. The Texans recovered from their loss to the Vikings to beat Cincinnati in the wild card round at NRG Stadium but had to travel to New England, where they were eliminated in the divisional round by the Patriots.
Flash forward to the 2020 season. The Texans were coming off an AFC South title in 2019 when they defeated Buffalo in overtime in a wild card game at NRG Stadium. Once again, they were eliminated in the divisional round on the road, this time at Kansas City.
The next season, the Texans started 0-3 in Bill O'Brien's seventh season as head coach and needed a victory when the Vikings came to Houston. The Texans lost 31-23. The next day, O'Brien was out, and defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel was in as interim coach.
Sunday's game could be historic for the Texans. If they can win and elevate their record to 5-1 against the Vikings, they'll start 3-0 for the first time since that 2012 season. Minnesota helped ruin a season that showed so much promise through the first 14 games, and it's time for the Texans to get some payback.
