Minnesota Vikings Pull Off Massive Overtime 33-30 Victory Over the Bills
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The Minnesota Vikings came into Buffalo at 7-1 looking to solidify themselves as legit Super Bowl threats, and that’s exactly what they did. Behind an explosion from Justin Jefferson and overall strong play, the Vikings won 33-30 in overtime to move to 8-1.
The Vikings would open up with a strong first drive ending with a Justin Jefferson touchdown to take the lead 7-0, but the rest of the first half would prove to be ugly as they would head into halftime down 24-10. But like so many times this season, the Vikings rose from the ashes late in the third quarter to make this a contest. Down 27-10 with less than 2 minutes left in the third quarter, Dalvin Cook would run down the left sideline on the first play of the Vikings drive for an 81 yard touchdown to make it 27-17. The Vikings defense would get the Bills off the field and the Vikings would score again on a 3 yard rush by full back C.J Ham, his first touchdown in 5 years. Greg Joseph would miss the extra point making it 27-23 with about 5 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Now this is where the game began to take wild spin after wild spin. The Bills got the Vikings down to a 4th-and-18 at the 2 minute warning, with many assuming the game was over. Nobody told Justin Jefferson that, as he went up and made one of the greatest catches the league has ever seen. It was a one handed snag ripping the ball away from the Bills defender to convert the fourth down try. The Vikings would get down to a 4th and less than an inch on the goal line, but the Bills would get the stop as Kirk Cousins was just short of reaching the end zone. Once again, the game looked over as the Bills just needed a QB sneak by Josh Allen out of the endzone to secure the win. But madness struck again, as Allen would fumble the snap in the endzone and would be recovered by Eric Kendricks to put the Vikings up by 3 with 41 seconds left. That would prove to be enough time for Josh Allen, as the Bills would get a field goal to send the game to overtime.
The Vikings would win the coin toss and would settle for a field goal after getting to the Bills 2 yard line. A missed call of 12 defensive players on the field sent Dalvin Cook back 4 yards on run and that was followed up by a sack, giving Josh Allen a chance to go win the ball game. After 2 big runs by Allen and another missed call on a Gabe Davis sideline catch that should have been ruled incomplete after review, the Bills looked like they were ready to secure the win. That was until Patrick Peterson would get his second end zone interception to end the ball game and send the Vikings to 8-1.
The Vikings leave Buffalo 8-1 and look like one of the favorites to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl while the Bills are sent back to the drawing board as they have now lost back to back games and are 3rd in the AFC East. The Vikings head back home to face a Dallas team that just suffered a shocking loss to Green Bay, while the Bills will look to bounce back against the Cleveland Browns in what looks to be a snow game in Buffalo.