Week 16 - Giants @ Vikes Support Group

The Vikings just keep winning in dramatic fashion, setting an NFL record Saturday with their 11th victory in a one-score game. Whom or what do you credit for their fortitude to keep pulling these wins out?

Jones: I give a lot of credit to Kevin O’Connell and his staff. The Vikings haven’t always looked dominant. At times, they’ve struggled to put away teams they should beat, as was the case Saturday. They have had a number of tough scrapes this season, but last year, those high-pressure situations often translated into shortcomings and losses. This year, they’re finding ways to overcome adversity and remain one of the top teams in the NFC. O’Connell, a former quarterback with an even demeanor, is setting the right tone for his team and reaping the rewards.

Kahler: Justin Jefferson. He’s just so good and keeps getting better. I’m sure someone out there has tallied how many crucial catches Jefferson has made this season, but regardless, we know that every time the Vikings have fallen into a hole, they’ve gotten out of it with some insane Jefferson catch. On Saturday’s game-winning drive, Jefferson had a 17-yard catch that got them into field-goal range. Earlier in the game, he broke Randy Moss’ single-season Vikings receiving record, and in the past three contests he has 35 catches and 479 yards. That’s an average of 160 yards per game. This team is so much fun to watch and it’s mostly because Jefferson is always good for a handful of mind-boggling catches.

Nguyen: It takes an entire team effort when you’re winning this many close games. And as much as Vikings fans hate to hear it, it takes a lot of luck, too. Joseph connecting on a career-high 61-yard field goal to win the game in regulation is so appropriate for the way this season has gone. I’m going to cheat here and give Minnesota’s improved offensive line some love. Left tackle Christian Darrisaw looks like a star. Left guard Ezra Cleveland is very good. Right tackle Brian O’Neill is a star. Center Garrett Bradbury has been hurt in the last couple of weeks but he appeared to be finally living up to the expectations of a 2019 first-round draft pick.

This is the image of gratitude. This scene right here — with Greg Joseph twirling his finger, Kevin O’Connell screaming as if from the rooftops and Kirk Cousins hollering as if he’d just watched his buddy drain a 50-foot putt — embodies these 2022 Minnesota Vikings.

This team relishes these uneasy moments. The players and coaches embrace it when the game is on the line, and they celebrate when someone does what the team needs him to do to win.

Joseph, the kicker, was that someone Saturday against the Giants in the final regular-season game at U.S. Bank Stadium. After a brief timeout, he lined up the 61-yard field goal attempt, stepped back and to the left as is his routine and cleanly swung his foot through the ball, which sliced through the air toward the waiting goal post. The walk-off boot secured a 27-24 Minnesota victory.

“You could feel it in the locker room,” O’Connell, the first-year coach, said afterward, “just how proud everyone was of Greg.”

Joseph’s teammates are aware of the way his season has played out. Those teammates witnessed the numerous missed extra points earlier in the campaign, and they empathized with the mental gymnastics required of the position. For a stretch, Joseph’s inconsistency raised external questions: Would he be able to right the ship? Should the Vikings search for another leg?

The Vikings brass could have moved on — just like the brass could have moved on from this core group of players. It did not. Instead, it infused new life and perspective and offered another opportunity.

“We’ve had a good core nucleus of guys on this team for a few years now,” Cousins said. “As I was looking at the season in August, I realized that a group is only together for so long. People move on. So, I kind of felt that this is a bit of a special group and that there was a time sensitivity here.”

In Joseph’s case, when times were tough, the Vikings stuck with him. Special teams coordinator Matt Daniels compared kicking footballs to playing golf. Joseph just needed to smooth out his swing, Daniels told him. The result, we now know, would be the longest kick Vikings supporters had ever seen.

The only apt way to describe the celebratory scene afterward for the team that now owns the record for most one-score wins in a season (11) is to steal from longtime golf announcer Dan Hicks: Expect anything different?

A double-doinked field goal miss sealed a Vikings win in London against the Saints. A last-second strip secured a Vikings win at home against the Bears. In Buffalo, Justin Jefferson snatched a football from the jaws of defeat to keep the game alive, only before a fumbled snap placed the Vikings in the driver’s seat. This 12-3 season is a montage of improbable successes, ranging from heroic to pure luck. Add Joseph’s winning, 61-yard kick to the list, and you start to wonder if Everest might be an attainable mountain for this team to climb.

“I’ve seen us grind so hard and so much,” cornerback Patrick Peterson said. “It’s just all coming to fruition.”

It’s not always pretty. In fact, there have been significant lulls in most of their games this year.

The Vikings offense only tallied 10 points in the first half of Saturday’s game. Giants quarterback Daniel Jones put up 188 passing yards in the second half. In the first quarter, punter Ryan Wright shanked a ball for a meager 28 yards.

But the Vikings are fortunate in that they have multiple advantages on their side, beginning with the most decorated young receiver in NFL history: Jefferson. His first catch of the day, a comeback route on the sideline, saw him break Randy Moss’ franchise record for receiving yards in a season. He then proceeded to will his team down the stretch.

Justin Jefferson’s record-breaking game
Jefferson breaks records weekly, but Saturday’s broken record was different. Jefferson broke Randy Moss’ single-season receiving yards franchise record. This season, he now has 123 catches for 1,756 yards and seven touchdowns. – Lewis

Key stat
That last-second Vikings field goal makes them a remarkable 11-0 in one-score games. Per Stathead’s database, which dates back to 1940, no team has ever before won 11 games decided by 8 points or less.

Offensive spotlight: The nod for Offensive Player of the Game goes to Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins, who finished with a stat line of 34-for-48 with 299 passing yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. Both T.J. Hockenson and Justin Jefferson had more than 100 yards through the air on the end of Cousins’ passes.

Defensive spotlight: Vikings pass rusher Danielle Hunter finished the game with two sacks on the day. His initial pass-rush grade came in at 87.9.

Rookie spotlight: Giants rookie edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux finished the game with a 62.8 initial grade. He recorded a 68.8 run-defense grade and a 53.0 pass-rushing grade on first review.

Offensive line spotlight: The Vikings had three offensive linemen grade out above 76.0 on the day, pending review: Christian Darrisaw, Ezra Cleveland — who both finished with grades above 80.0 — and Ed Ingram. Darrisaw and Cleveland did allow a sack each, but it was a solid performance from the group as a whole.