This game has a funny way of reminding us why it’s so special. Arguably the grittiest win in franchise history, the Minnesota Vikings’ 31-28 victory against the Atlanta Falcons transcended sports for three and a half hours on Sunday afternoon. We’ve all heard the recycled clichés that accompany football.
Next man up.
Face adversity head-on.
Give a little bit more.
Stay in the fight.
For as nauseatingly often as those phrases get thrown around, Kevin O’Connell‘s Vikings personified all of it inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium. After watching that type of performance unfold, you can’t help but feel inspired to try and translate some of those qualities into your everyday life.
David Quessenberry was a last-minute replacement at left tackle, filling in for Pro Bowler Christian Darrisaw. Rookie quarterback Jaren Hall exited the game with a concussion in the first quarter. The longest-tenured receiver on the active roster, K.J. Osborn, suffered a terrifying blow to the head in the second quarter that forced him to leave the game. Cam Akers suffered a serious Achilles injury that will force him to miss the rest of the season. Brandon Powell was noticeably cramping in the second half. T.J. Hockenson was battling through a rib injury. And the Vikings gave Joshua Dobbs the keys to the franchise only five days after arriving at TCO Performance Center.
The easy thing to do would’ve been to assess the damage, shrug their shoulders, and say, Hey, today just isn’t our day. Instead, the Vikings battened down the hatches, embraced the all-hands-on-deck approach, and found a way to weather the storm all the way to the finish line for a victory that puts them in the seventh and final playoff spot in the NFC at the moment.
All the aforementioned players made impactful plays, and one won’t even show up in the stat sheet.
Quessenberry allowed only one pressure (and no sacks) on 47 pass-blocking opportunities, per Pro Football Focus.
Hall was masterful at leading Minnesota’s offense. His pre-snap Cover-2 look, post-snap Cover-1 beater on the fade to Alexander Mattison for 47 yards up the sideline didn’t resemble that of a quarterback making his first career NFL start.
Osborn came down with the 13-yard reception on a critical third-and-eight where he suffered his serious injury. Osborn’s conversion helped Minnesota get their first touchdown of the day later that drive.
On that same drive, Akers made one of the bigger We over Me plays you’ll ever see. Facing a third-and-10, Dobbs left the pocket and decided to weaponize his mobility. Akers initially leaked out of the backfield as a receiver, but then he immediately turned upfield and became a lead blocker for his new quarterback. The Vikings don’t score the touchdown a few plays later without Akers’ selfless play on this third-down scramble.
Hockenson reminded folks how valuable he is with his run-after-catch abilities. After coming down with the reception on a routine out route, Minnesota’s Pro Bowl tight end got his Mike Alstott on and barreled through Atlanta’s secondary for 25 yards.
Powell came down with the game-winning touchdown after a beautifully executed whip route that manipulated the Cover-2 corner, A.J. Terrell, to sink on Addison’s deep out in the back corner of the end zone.
And what Dobbs achieved on Sunday was nothing short of miraculous. That simply isn’t supposed to happen by any stretch of the imagination. The predictable growing pains of being thrust into action less than a week after joining his new team popped up multiple times. But his ability to lead the offense to 28 points, including the game-winning, two-minute 75-yard drive, is one that will live in Vikings lore forever.
We all know by now that O’Connell was assisting his new signal caller in real time by communicating the concepts and where to go with his progressions after Dobbs relayed the play call to the huddle. O’Connell’s role in this can’t be understated. We’ve all been dazzled by O’Connell’s ability to communicate whenever he’s in front of a microphone. But you must possess next-level communication skills to effectively articulate an NFL playbook and where to go with the ball in a matter of seconds to a quarterback for the first time. While on the road, no less. It certainly helps that Dobbs, aka The Passtronaut (tip of the cap, NASA), is quite literally a rocket scientist.
I’d be remiss if I failed to include the defense’s role in this forever memorable win. They stood tall and held Atlanta to field goals in the first half, including a critical goal-line stand where Atlanta had first-and-goal from the one-yard line in the second quarter. Brian Flores’ unit displayed added urgency in the second half. Akayleb Evans forced a fumble on rookie running back Bijan Robinson, Byron Murphy came away with an interception, and Harrison Smith punched out a fumble on Taylor Heinicke. Smith’s turnover didn’t stand because the officials declared that Heinicke gave himself up despite diving forward instead of sliding feet-first.
Ask any coach. It takes an incredibly special win for it to stick with you because the nail-biting losses usually hurt more than the joy that comes with a hard-fought victory. But my guess is this is the exception to the rule for O’Connell. “This one,” he said after the game, “will be special to me for a long time.”
As we all know, hard times and difficulties are inevitable in life. While most of us look to sports as a temporary distraction from our everyday existence, there are a select few occurrences where professional sports can inspire not only us but also our children. Listen to what Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra shared after his eighth-seeded team made it to the NBA Finals in June, only to lose to the Denver Nuggets in five games.
Regardless of how the rest of the season shakes out for the Vikings, this miraculous win against the Falcons is something that all of us can learn and draw inspiration from as we play this little game called Life. And it’s this exact type of victory that makes it impossible to not be romantic about the game of football.
