Whether inside the teamwide huddle on the practice fields at TCO Performance Center in Eagan or within position groups like the offensive line, Vikings players discussed bringing a fight to Monday night's game against the San Francisco 49ers.
Right tackle Brian O'Neill is one of the Vikings veterans who has been around long enough to get beaten down by a San Francisco organization that had handed the Vikings a 1-3 record in four meetings between 2015-21. The 49ers also brought a physical and chirpy edge to joint practices in August 2022 that stuck with Vikings players.
This time, they wanted to "meet the bully in the middle of the schoolyard," O'Neill said after his group became the first offensive line to not allow a sack against the 49ers this season in the Vikings' 22-17 win.