The Minnesota Vikings have all the signs of a good team. Even when they do not bring their ‘A Game’, they can still get the ‘W’. The Vikings overcame lack luster play and first-half mistakes to finish strong and earn a hard fought 21-13 victory in prime time on “Sunday Night Football” over Joe Flacco and the visiting Indianapolis Colts.
Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold completed 28 of 34 passes for 290 yards and three scores. However, not everything was clicking on all cylinders, as he had a season-high two interceptions which were some of the blatant errors that stopped the otherwise explosive offense from reaching its full potential on Sunday night.
“I’m sure Sam will be hard on himself for those two interceptions, but I’m going to stay aggressive with him because of my confidence in him,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Vikings’ offense, featuring wide receiver Justin Jefferson, moved the ball at will in the first half with 194 total yards to Indianapolis’ 92. Two turnovers, including one returned to the house for a Colts touchdown, three sacks, and two missed field goal attempts by place kicker Will Reichard were the main culprits keeping the Vikings down 7-0 at halftime.
Minnesota made glaring halftime adjustments and remedied that quickly with two scoring drives to open the third quarter, culminating in Darnold touchdown passes, one to Jordan Addison and another to Jalen Nailor.
Jefferson, who is thought of as the best receiver in the game today, had 137 receiving yards, on seven catches. Addison made a jaw-dropping one-handed diving grab in the back corner of the end zone to get Minnesota on the board after a sloppy and scoreless first 30 minutes, and Nailor came down with the tiebreaking touchdown reception to help the Vikings (6-2) stop a two-game skid.
“The turnovers are nothing. Those are just little minor errors that we can fix easily,” Jefferson said. “We’ve just got to protect the ball, just not try to make that big play. Sam is a phenomenal quarterback.”
Darnold and Colts quarterback Flacco, who were teammates on the New York Jets, traded interceptions early on in the fourth quarter and Indianapolis was able to capitalize slightly with three points to slice the deficit to four, 14-10. Both defenses continued to tighten the screws; the two units were able to flex their muscles and get home to the quarterback, combining for seven sacks on the evening. Indianapolis’ defense held the Vikings offense to a punt before Minnesota’s defense forced a turnover on downs.
After that turnover on downs, the Vikings drove 60 yards ending with Darnold’s third touchdown pass of the night, this one to tight end Josh Oliver, to put the game on ice.
Indianapolis’ Matt Gay got his second field goal on the next drive to make it 21-13 with 28 seconds left in the game. Minnesota recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran out the clock for the victory.
This win snaps the Vikings modest two-game losing skid. At 6-2, the Vikings are one game behind NFC North leader Detroit (7-1) and a half-game ahead of the Green Bay Packers (6-3). They head out on a road trip over the next three weeks, starting with Trevor Lawrence and the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 10.
Indianapolis (4-5) suffered their biggest loss of the season, but are still just one game back from wild-card contention in the AFC playoff race. The Colts head home for a Week 10 matchup against Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills.
