Minnesota miracles: Vikings overcome halftime deficit, Darnold’s TD…

This Vikings team just finds ways to win football games. 10 of them in 12 tries, to be specific.

On this particular Sunday, the Vikings’ offense was asleep for the first half against the Arizona Cardinals. At one point in the third quarter, they were booed by the home crowd after a three-and-out. They trailed 19-6 when Kyler Murray hit Marvin Harrison Jr. for a touchdown late in the third.

But they didn’t quit. They kept pushing, and the offense finally woke up. Sam Darnold threw two touchdown passes late in the game, including the winner to Aaron Jones with 1:13 left on the clock, and the Vikings beat the Cardinals 23-22 to improve to 10-2 on the season in dramatic fashion.

In the first half, Darnold had 67 passing yards and no touchdowns. He was sacked three times, twice on blitzes. In the second half, he threw for 168 yards and two scores, finishing with a passer rating above 100 for the tenth time this season. That ties a Vikings single-season record.

After Jones’ touchdown reception, the Vikings sealed the deal on a Shaq Griffin interception on the Cardinals’ final possession of the game. It was the defense’s second pick of the half against Murray.

Justin Jefferson finished with 7 receptions for 99 yards, including a key catch on 4th down that set up the Jones game-winning touchdown. Jones ran just 5 times for 22 yards on the day, fumbled twice (one of which was lost), and dropped a potential touchdown in the game, but the Vikings stuck with him and he didn’t drop the one that mattered most.

The Vikings were rather fortunate to only be down by three points at halftime. They were out-gained 228 to 75 in the first half and only ran 20 plays on offense. But the Cardinals settled for field goals and missed one of them after recovering Jones’ fumble in his own territory.

In the third quarter, the Cardinals started to take advantage of the Vikings being without Stephon Gilmore, who left the game with a hamstring injury in the first half and did not return. Replacement Fabian Moreau was called for a long pass interference penalty on third down and then was in coverage on a Harrison Jr. touchdown that made it a 19-6 game.

That’s when the Vikings’ offense got going. Darnold was 5 for 5 on the ensuing drive, hitting Johnny Mundt for Minnesota’s first touchdown of the game. After a Byron Murphy Jr. interception, the Vikings cut the deficit to 19-16. Then a long Cardinals drive in the fourth quarter ended in a field goal on 4th and goal from the Vikings’ 4, which gave Darnold and the offense a chance. That was a questionable decision by Arizona coach Jonathan Gannon, who could’ve elected to go for the kill in that moment.

The Vikings took advantage of the opportunity, driving 70 yards to win the game. They’ll look to stretch their winning streak to 6 next week against the Falcons and QB Kirk Cousins, who threw four interceptions in a loss to the Chargers on Sunday.