In addition to Smith, sacks were recorded by Ivan Pace Jr. and defensive lineman Harrison Phillips. The former collected four solo tackles, including a big stop on Jets running back Braelon Allen in the third quarter. Allen and Breece Hall combined for 36 yards on 14 rushes and 29 yards on four catches (average of 2.6 and 7.3).

“We tried to work with the guards the whole game, between power rushes, counters and hits, and so they had to honor my power,” Phillips said, recalling the strategy behind his fourth-quarter sack fumble that Rodgers recovered. “The guard had to kind of jump at me aggressively and we made some kind of move so I was able to punch him in the face and he couldn’t recover in time.”

Rodgers flipped the script and pressured the Vikings defense late in the witching hour. But Gilmore was lurking — his greatest Vikings moment yet was the sweetest morsel of a collective effort overseas.

Dallas Turner angled off the edge for a crucial early stop on the fourth down run. Bynum made a movie out of the first quarter; Pace returned to action and he and Blake Cashman played like action heroes. All in all, the Vikings' defense showed another new level of resiliency for the fifth straight game, fending off Rodgers' heroics.

It was all deserved for Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell to hug one of his coordinators.

“I just love playing football with him, it’s as simple as that,” O’Connell said with a smile. “There's a reason why I did this always I had imagined playing football with Brian Flores because of his mentality as a game manager and the way he and his staff coach this group. … I have so much respect for Flo. “He leads this defense at a world-class level and really impacts our organization by the way we play and the way we win.”