That kid who played quarterback for the Vikings on Sunday — the 22-year-old with the frizzy hair, baggy clothes and unspoiled grin — could change everything. Let’s not leap to dreams of Super Bowl championships.

The Vikings' massive upset win over the Lions on Sunday has revived their playoff hopes and given fans a reason to dream about what the rest of this season might hold with J.J. McCarthy at quarterback. The win got the Vikings back to .500 at 4-4, kept them perfect within their division, and breathed life into their season in more ways than one.

The scene of quarterback J.J. McCarthy being mobbed by his teammates after barging into the visitor’s locker room on Sunday afternoon at Detroit’s Ford Field perfectly encapsulates how the Vikings seem to feel about their young signal caller.

Van Ginkel made his first game appearance since Week 3 on the Vikings defense, providing “such an unbelievable presence,” coach Kevin O’Connell said.

"I'm happy that we got the win, but I'm not proud, to be honest with you," McCarthy said, via the team's website. "There's a lot of meat on the bone, and I feel like I could have played a lot better. But coming into this environment and controlling my emotions, controlling kind of my temperament going into it — I was proud of that."

During his day-after-game press conference on Monday afternoon, Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell provided injury updates on a variety of players, including the first news in a while on center Ryan Kelly.

NFL Week 10 odds, picks, predictions, TV channel, streaming information for the Sunday football game between Baltimore Ravens and Minnesota Vikings.

Head Coach Dan Campbell speaks to reporters about the Week 9 loss vs the Minnesota Vikings. Tight ends coach Tyler Roehl speaks to reporters about TE Sam LaPorta, WR Jackson Meeks, and working with head coach Dan Campbell. QB Jared Goff speaks to reporters after the Week 9 loss vs the Minnesota Vikings.

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The Vikings could have returned from their weekend off wearing blinders, retreating to standard-issue NFL banalities about how each game counts the same and refusing to peer into the ravine they seemed in danger of toppling down.