A week after pulling off the greatest comeback in NFL history, the Minnesota Vikings nearly blew a double-digit lead of their own before walking off with a dramatic 27-24 victory over the Giants on a Greg Joseph 61-yard field goal.
Minnesota jumped out to a 10-0 advantage early in their Week 16 battle, but struggled offensively for much of the rest of the afternoon. The Vikes actually fell behind 13-10 at one point, but a timely touchdown by T.J. Hockenson (his second of the game) put them back in the lead. Naturally, because every Vikings game has to be as dramatic as possible, that was not even close to the end of things.
The Giants would add a field goal midway through the fourth quarter, cutting Minnesota’s lead to just 1 point. They would even get a chance to take the lead late in the game with their four-minute offense, but they stalled and went three-and-out. New York had all of its timeouts left and so prepared to punt the ball, play some defense, and get possession back, but things didn’t work out that way.
Jamie Gillan’s punt was blocked by special teams ace Josh Metellus, allowing the Vikings to regain possession deep in Giants territory. Minnesota quickly capitalized with a Kirk Cousins touchdown pass to Justin Jefferson, and it looked like the Vikings were going to walk away with a win.
The Giants had other ideas. Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley methodically marched New York down the field, moving the Giants deep into Minnesota territory with a series of chunk gains. On fourth-and-2 from Minnesota’s 27-yard line, Barkley burst through the middle of the line and took it all the way to the house, putting the Giants down by only two. On the two-point conversion, Jones rolled out to his right and lofted a perfectly placed pass to tight end Daniel Bellinger, netting the Giants a surprising tie with 2:01 on the clock.
The Vikings looked like they might be in danger of punting the ball back to New York with enough time on the clock to drive for a win, but the Giants sent the house after Cousins on third-and-long, and he ultimately found Jefferson for a conversion. A few plays later, Cousins found Jefferson on a screen pass that ultimately gained 17 yards to the New York 42-yard line. From there, Joseph booted the game-winner as time expired.
Why the Vikings won
They have Justin Jefferson and T.J. Hockenson, and the Giants don’t. The pair of Vikings pass-catchers were dominant all day long, with Jefferson finishing the day with 12 catches for 133 yards and a score and Hockenson matching him with 13 grabs for 109 yards and two scores. Jefferson also became the Vikings’ all-time single-season leader in both receptions and receiving yards thanks to his exploits on the day.
Why the Giants lost
They just couldn’t get third-down stops on some very important drives. Hockenson’s second touchdown grab, Jefferson’s touchdown, and each of Jefferson’s big plays on the final drive all came on third down. Minnesota went 6 of 13 on third downs on the afternoon, but the conversions carried a lot of leverage. Meanwhile, the Giants went only 3 of 11 on third downs.
Turning point
Late in the third quarter, Kirk Cousins looked like he had finally thrown an interception after seemingly trying to do so several times throughout the afternoon. Giants defensive back Cor’Dale Flott appeared to have made a diving interception in front of Adam Thielen. But during the commercial break, a replay review was initiated and it was eventually determined that the ground dislodged the ball from Flott’s grasp as he went to the turf. So, the turnover was overturned and the Vikings retained possession. Later in the drive…
Highlight play
With third-and-5 from the 15-yard line, the Vikings lined up with trips to the left side and T.J. Hockenson in the slot. They gave him a couple of natural pick routes and sent him on a wheel up the sideline, and he absolutely skied over the top of two Giants defenders to come away with a 15-yard touchdown.
What’s next
The Vikings improve to 12-3 with the victory, and they remain undefeated in one-score games this season. They still need some help from each of the Philadelphia Eagles’ remaining opponents in order to capture the No. 1 seed in the NFC, but they have a leg up on getting the No. 2 seed. They square off with the division rival Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears over the next two weeks. The Giants drop to 8-6-1 here and their path to the playoffs gets a bit murkier. There are so many competitors for the last two spots that I can’t work out all the tiebreakers right now, but the Giants would presumably like to see the Eagles win today against the Cowboys or next week against the Saints so they don’t have incentive to win the Week 18 game against New York. Before that contest, the Giants host the Colts next week.