In a game they absolutely needed, the Minnesota Vikings defense lost a pair of fourth-quarter leads and dropped a 31-28 decision to the Dallas Cowboys.
HOW’D THE OFFENSE DO?
With a chance to drive the field and either tie or win the game, the Vikings went four-and-out. It was a shame after Kirk Cousins led them back from two deficits in the fourth quarter, but they also dug themselves a hole in the first half.
For a second straight game, two first-half turnovers threatened to derail a sharp offensive performance. Cousins fumbled on the Vikings’ opening drive, and Dalvin Cook coughed it up before halftime — forced both times by safety Donovan Wilson — leading to nine points off turnovers for the Cowboys in the first half.
Then Minnesota responded with three straight touchdown drives to start the second half, perhaps their most important stretch of the season. Trailing by nine to start the third quarter, the Vikings drove 75 yards for a touchdown on Adam Thielen’s second one-handed touchdown catch in as many weeks — shortly after he caught a crossing route for 51 yards. Thielen delivered on the Vikings’ ensuing drive with a less difficult three-yard grab, his 11th touchdown of the season. Justin Jefferson capped it off with a 39-yard strike on a play-action shot by Cousins, vaulting the Vikings into the lead.
ADAM THIELEN. UNREAL SKILL. #SKOL
📺: #DALvsMIN on FOX
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/tUoK0wsA9N pic.twitter.com/jDWiMuVAZy— NFL (@NFL) November 22, 2020
For Thielen, it was his third 100-yard game of the year. Cook surpassed the 1,000-yard mark for a second straight year with a lot of hard yards against a physical Cowboys defense. And Cousins might’ve topped them all with a 140.1 passer rating. In the end, though, the Vikings came up empty.
HOW’D THE DEFENSE DO?
Just as it was in 2019 at Dallas, the Cowboys had the ball, trailing 28-24, with a chance to win. This year, they did. Andy Dalton converted a key 4th and 6 to Amari Cooper, then found Dalton Schultz on a shallow crossing route on 3rd and goal to give Dallas a 31-28 lead.
At came as no surprise that the Cowboys were able to get their skill players the football with the veteran quarterback Dalton at the helm. Ezekiel Elliott was average on the ground, but he caught a touchdown pass after Minnesota’s first turnover to give Dallas a 6-0 lead. Later CeeDee Lamb hauled in a phenomenal diving catch against Jeff Gladney in the corner of the end zone.
The most disappointing defensive effort came early in the fourth quarter when the Cowboys ran it four times for 66 yards and a Tony Pollard touchdown run where cornerback Chris Jones forgot to tackle. And of course, the go-ahead scoring drive with under two minutes remaining.
Early on, the Cowboys got their yards, but the Vikings refused to cave during some key situations. Eric Kendricks picked off a pass with the Cowboys inside the 30-yard line, his second of the season, and the Vikings held on a 4th and 1 from their 38-yard line later in the game.
SPECIAL TEAMS UPDATE
The Vikings special teams units entered the game under intense scrutiny, and after Sunday’s game they’ll remain there. Eric Wilson did block an extra point in the first quarter, but there were numerous other shortcomings to add to the building list. K.J. Osborn fumbled a punt return, Kris Boyd committed an illegal shift penalty to void a fake punt conversion, then immediately committed a block in the back on the ensuing punt. The kickoff units and punt return team were extra conservative, perhaps fearful of further mistakes.
On the bright side, new long snapper Andrew DePaola was virtually perfect.
BIG PICTURE
The Vikings lose any cushion they had left. They’ll now be battling the next two weeks simply to get back to .500, and they likely can’t afford more than one loss the rest of the season. Considering that Dallas came in at 2-7 with a backup quarterback, this one stings for Minnesota.
