Vikings survive Jets with 4th-down stops to reach 10 wins
Backs against the wall, the Minnesota Vikings came up with a goal-line stand to help secure a 27-22 victory over the New York Jets. The win puts the Vikings at 10-2 and within a win next week in Detroit from clinching the NFC North.
Minnesota led 27-22 with the Jets facing a fourth-and-10 from the Vikings 47-yard line and New York quarterback Mike White fired a strike over the middle to Corey Davis for a first down. The Jets marched all the way to the Minnesota 1-yard line before White's fourth-down pass to Braxton Berrios was dropped in the end zone.
The Jets got one final chance, starting from the Vikings 43. They moved to the Minnesota 19 and before White was intercepted on a fourth-down pass at the goal line by Camryn Bynum. Game over.
Minnesota, on touchdown runs by Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison, built a 20-3 lead late in the first half before Greg Zeurlein connected on a 60-yard field goal – a franchise record for the Jets – to make it a 20-6 game at the half.
Minnesota netted just 10 yards in the third quarter while the Jets kicked three straight field goals to cut the lead to 20-15 with 12:30 left in the game.
The Vikings woke up after that, capping a seven-play, 75-yard drive with an 11-yard touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins to Justin Jefferson. Jefferson finished the day with seven receptions for 45 yards and the one touchdown, which proved to be the decisive score.
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New York bounced back, getting deep into Minnesota territory after a 48-yard run by backup running back Zonovan Knight. Then on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line, White was shoved across the goal line, with the touchdown coming after the original call on the field was overturned via replay.
Kirk Cousins was not at his best. He missed high on multiple throws, including a deep ball to a wide open T.J. Hockenson in the third quarter that would've put Minnesota deep into New York territory, perhaps even going all the way for a touchdown if the connection was made in stride.
Cousins finished 21-of-35 for 174 yards and one touchdown.
The Lions beat the Jaguars 40-14, so for Minnesota to clinch the NFC North they'll have to beat Detroit next Sunday or wait until later in December.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.