Just in: Overtime Play Calls, Nick Mullens’ First Vikings Start
The Vikings missed a tremendous opportunity against the Bengals over the weekend, committing two costly turnovers in the red zone in the first half, allowing three consecutive touchdown drives in the fourth quarter and failing to convert on third- and fourth-and-inches in overtime for the second consecutive 27-24 loss at Cincinnati since the 2021 season-opener.
Minnesota fell to 7-7 with three games remaining that are all in the NFC North. Minnesota must sweep, and Detroit (10-4) must be swept for the Vikings to win the division. The teams, of course, meet in Minnesota in Week 16 and close the regular season at Detroit. A Lions win will mean Detroit’s first NFC North title and first division crown since 1993.
In between, the Vikings will host another Border Battle with the Packers, who lost 34-20 at home to the Buccaneers Sunday and fell to 6-8, and the Lions will visit the Cowboys in Week 17.
The Packers are no longer in contention to win the division, but they could still make the playoffs with a late-season rally.
Despite the disappointing showing in a city where Minnesota is now 1-8 all-time, the Vikings remain in contention for a Wild Card berth and enter today as the No. 6 seed in the NFC.
The Vikings — and many emailers — are again thinking about what might have been after another close loss. Minnesota’s seven losses have been by a combined 26 points, and the past three have been by 1, 2 and 3 points. The seven wins have been by a combined 47 points, with the only double-digit margin in either direction being Minnesota’s 24-10 win at Green Bay in Week 8 in which the Vikings lost Kirk Cousins for the season, creating a domino effect for the offense.
With that in mind, and against the backdrop of Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press reporting over the weekend that Teddy Bridgewater plans to retire after the season and coach high school football, I thought I’d start the Mailbag a little differently than after some games.
I appreciate Troy sending in these thoughts. Before news broke about Teddy over the weekend, he had crossed my mind because Minnesota had clinched the NFC North with a win against Cincinnati in Week 15 of the 2017 season. In addition to a nice day from Case Keenum, Latavius Murray and a pick-6 by Eric Kendricks, the day also featured the return to action for Bridgewater.
The “TED-DY” chants by the U.S. Bank Stadium faithful to welcome him back from an extensive rehab and seeing Bridgewater take three snaps in the victory formation are a memory I hope I never forget. I’ve also kept a memory of how much hurt there was for Bridgewater during the ill-fated step at Winter Park just before the 2016 season started.
Troy is spot-on with the outpouring of concern for Teddy, the person. More and more people outside the organization learned what a special man he is.
There will be plenty of comments from others about Jeff’s third “down,” so I’ll focus here on his other points.
Touchdown drives to start each half were impressive. The Vikings stayed ahead of the chains with nice rushes by Ty Chandler, who was making his first start, and with some good, in-rhythm decision making by Mullens.
It was actually the first time this entire season for Minnesota to open each half with a touchdown. The Vikings were again moving the ball, but a pair of pass plays on third-and-7-plus situations resulted in consecutive red zone interceptions. Instead of a 13-3 lead at halftime that would have grown to 20-3, the Vikings only led 7-3 at intermission, which was then stretched to 14-3 and 17-3 before Cincinnati’s rally.
The first pick was a throw intended for Justin Jefferson that Mike Hilton nabbed at the 1-yard line. The second was a bad decision under duress from B.J. Hill, who recorded the rare QB hit/interception combo on the play after the football bounced off him multiple times.
Mullens spoke about the importance of ending those possessions with points. It’s always tough to balance aggressiveness with making sure a possession gets at least a field goal, but the Vikings had shown the value of three points the previous week.
After the Bengals tied the game at 17 with 7:46 remaining, it appeared Cincinnati had scored on a pick-6 by Germaine Pratt, but Trey Hendrickson was offsides on the play.
Five plays later, Mullens found Addison for the rookie’s second score of the game. The resiliency to bounce back after the near pick is something the Vikings could potentially build on going forward, but the biggest thing is trying to avoid turnovers that have knee-capped the Vikings throughout the season.
Combining these thoughts from Mike and Sandra. Mullens delivered the ball on time and led receivers nicely, but there were a couple of errant throws (one that T.J. Hockenson snared was particularly impressive).
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