After the home opener, the Dolphins are back on the road for the third time in the first four weeks of the season to take on an unbeaten Minnesota Vikings team. The Dolphins are preparing for a difficult challenge without star running back De'Von Achane as they look to build off the positives from Week 3.

Scouting the Vikings

The Vikings' 3-0 start has been a tale of two sides of the football. With the second-ranked scoring defense, and the 32nd-ranked total offense, Minnesota is winning games by the old-fashioned way – getting stops and running the football.

Quarterback Malik Willis – "They do a great job switching it up, giving you stuff that looks like something that you've seen and then doing something else out of it…  And I think we just got to listen to our coaches and prepare this week with the scheme they have for us and do what we can."

Head Coach Jeff Hafley – "It's going to be everybody. It's going to be the receivers responding the right way, the tight ends responding the right way, Malik's ability to communicate, where's our back, is he where he's supposed to be, is he seeing everything the right way. I mean, it's going to take all 11… We're going to have to be on the same page. It's going to be loud, so communication is going to be a key to this game."

Next man up

The Dolphins lost Pro Bowl running back De'Von Achane to an injury during their Week 3 matchup against Kansas City. His absence will be felt, but it creates opportunities for a pair of young backs in Ollie Gordon II and Jaylen Wright.

Wright – "It's hard to see anybody go down like that. I mean, it's the nature of the game. De'Von's going to be missed. He's going to be missed, man. I love De'Von. I wish him the best, quick, fast recovery. Hell of a player, hell of an athlete, but at the end of the day, the RBs, we're going to hold it down for him. I know he's going to be happy for that. We're going to try our best just to make him happy, just to continue to build on what he's been doing."

Gordon II – "It's a great opportunity just because we go through practice, we practice everything, we rep everything, even when De'Von was with us. Me and 5 (Jaylen Wright) still got reps that De'Von would have had. So, it's just like practicing without him, which is horrible, like I said, he's a great guy. It's just time for me and 5 to step up, become leaders on this team and keep moving forward."

Willis – "I think they've been making plays all offseason and just continuing to get better each day. And I think that we have the coaches that will do what we need to do to put them in the best position to be successful."

Building upon success

The Dolphins' Week 3 game was the most complete showing of the young 2026 season. Possessing the football, down by four in the final period, Miami was just a few plays away from pulling the upset. Now, they hope to carry that momentum on the road in Minneapolis.

Wide receiver Malik Washington – "I think we've made a ton of progress, and I say that, but I recognize that there's still a long way to go. We got to clean up our penalties. We got to play a little bit cleaner football. We got to be on our assignments, and I think we still can earn some growth in that area, and we'll continue to work on that throughout the weeks."

Hafley following the Kansas City game – "Against, I think, one of the best teams in the NFL, it's 14-7, we have the ball and watching those young guys make those plays and just continue to fight back – it doesn't feel good right now because I want to win in everything that we do. But I think if we look at the bigger picture, I think it just kind of shows where we're heading with some of these guys."

For more on Dolphins-Vikings, download the Drive Time Podcast with Travis Wingfield, available wherever you get your podcasts.