Winners and losers: 5 takeaways from Vikings Week 11 win over Titans

The Minnesota Vikings completed their sweep of the AFC South on Sunday, taking a 23-13 win over the Tennessee Titans, thus improving their record to 8-2 and extending their winning streak to three.

The 10-point margin of victory is actually a bit misleading, as the Vikings probably would have won this game by about 20 had just a few plays gone differently. Nevertheless, after the issues his team had finding the end zone against the Jacksonville Jaguars a week ago, Kevin O'Connell undoubtedly has to feel better about this win than he did with that one.

Brian Flores' defense continues to shine and put on another dominant performance, holding Tennessee to just 33 rushing yards and allowing just 13 points. This marks the third consecutive game in which Minnesota has held an opponent to a double-digit rushing total and also the third straight week in which Minnesota has held an opponent to 13 points or fewer.

After failing to score a touchdown against Jacksonville despite making five trips to the red zone, the Vikings scored three against the Titans, with Sam Darnold accounting for all of them, two with his arm and the other with his legs.

And that's where we'll kick things off as we look at the winners and losers from the Vikings' Week 11 win over the Titans.

Winner: Sam Darnold

The day didn't start well for Darnold, who lost a fumble on the Vikings' third play from scrimmage (not all his fault, though), giving him seven total turnovers in the last three weeks and upping his league-leading total to 14.

But, overall, it was smooth sailing from there.

Facing the top-ranked pass defense in the NFL, Darnold ultimately completed 20 of 32 passes for 246 yards and threw a pair of touchdowns, hitting Jordan Addison for a 47-yarder on the possession after his fumble and then hitting Cam Akers from three yards out late in the third quarter to give Minnesota a 23-10 lead.

In between, he rushed for a 1-yard score in the second quarter to cap off a 16-play, 89-yard drive that took more than eight minutes off the game clock.

Perhaps most importantly, Darnold was interception-free for the first time since Week 8, which he desperately needed after tossing five picks in the last two games.

Winner: Jordan Addison

It's been an up-and-down season for Jordan Addison thus far, but this game was certainly in the up column.

While Justin Jefferson led the Vikings with six catches for 81 yards, thus setting a new NFL record for the most receiving yards by any player in his first five seasons, Addison chipped in nicely with 61 yards on three catches.

Sure, 47 of those yards came from the aforementioned touchdown in the opening quarter. But it also needs to be noted that he left the game with cramps. And that's not mentioning the toughness he showed in taking several hard hits.

Addison is never going to put up Jefferson-like numbers. But the Vikings don't need him to do that. The fact that defenses have to start paying more attention to him only opens things up for Jefferson, who's consistently double- and triple-teamed — for good reason, of course.

No. 3 has been freed, and Minnesota will only benefit from his increase in targets.

Winner: Andrew Van Ginkel

While several Vikings defenders deserve recognition for their individual performances against the Titans, none stand out more than Andrew Van Ginkel, who continues to be one of the biggest steals of this past offseason's free-agency period.

The former Miami Dolphins' edge rusher has thrived all season, but he was exceptionally great on Sunday, leading the team in total tackles with eight, recording two of the Vikings' five sacks — on back-to-back plays, no less — and adding another tackle for loss in the victory.

Now with a career-high 8.0 sacks, Van Ginkel is just the third player in NFL history with at least 8+ sacks and at least two pick-sixes in the same season, joining Jason Taylor (2006) and Terrell Suggs (2008).

The fact that he's not involved in more Defensive Player of the Year discussions at this point is an absolute travesty.

Loser: Aaron Jones

While Aaron Jones clearly wasn't at 100% coming into this game due to the rib injury he suffered last week against Jacksonville, it's still worth mentioning that this was easily his worst game of the year.

Jones managed just 39 rushing yards on 15 carries, his longest run of the day being only five yards. And he caught just one pass for four yards.

He was also partly to blame for the lost fumble that was credited to Darnold, and he had a fumble of his own later that he was fortunately able to recover. Jones just how to chalk this up to a bad week and move on.

Loser: Josh Metellus

Sorry, but you can't not call out the guy who allowed Will Levis and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine to hook up for a 98-yard touchdown that put the Titans within striking distance early in the third quarter.

Josh Metellus was tasked with covering Westbrook-Ikhine one-on-one on the outside and completely misplayed (and misplaced) the football. Luckily for him, the score turned out not to matter, as Darnold led a touchdown drive on the ensuing possession.

But a play like this could ruin the Vikings down the line, so it's certainly worth mentioning.