Category: 2022 Week 15 vs Indianapolis

Frank Reich congratulated Vikings’ Kirk Cousins, passed the torch

The former record holder congratulated Cousins and passed him the torch

When an NFL record gets broken, it’s commonplace for the previous holder to reach out to the individual who broke it to send congratulations. It’s commonplace, as being an NFL player is like a fraternity.

After Saturday’s game, it was no different. Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins broke former Buffalo Bills quarterback Frank Reich’s record for the largest comeback in NFL history. Reich had come back from a 35-3 deficit against the Houston Oilers in the 1992 wild card game to win 41-38 in overtime. After the game, he reached out to Cousins to not only congratulate him but also how the comeback changed his life to help others.

“Kirk, for 30 years, that moment has given me an opportunity to share many things about football and life, tell people about my faith, and now the torch has been passed to you.”

In talking with Peter King, Cousins shared that and explained how much respect he gained for Reich.

“So it was a powerful text. I already had a great deal of respect for Frank but after that text it went through the roof. I took what he said seriously.”

The bond between players and men of faith is something that is stronger than we could realize.

Relive the Vikings’ history making comeback vs. Colts

Relive all the best plays from the Vikings’ historic comeback

The Minnesota Vikings pulled off something that no team had ever done before: be down 33 points and win the football game. The 39-36 win over the Indianapolis Colts was an incredible way for the Vikings to celebrate their 1,000th game.

The team basked in what they had accomplished after the game, both in their incredible comeback and winning their first NFC North championship since 2017 and first under head coach Kevin O’Connell.

The game was one that Vikings fans will only want to relive after halftime and the best way to do so is with the highlights. Check out all the best plays from the most epic comeback in NFL history!

Zulgad: Breaking childhood rule of leaving early leaves longtime Vikings follower on the outside

From @jzulgad: As a child, you never left the game early, yet I did so on Saturday. A journey inside the thought process

I have a confession to make: I walked out of the greatest comeback in NFL history at halftime.

It wasn’t because the Vikings’ 33-0 deficit appeared insurmountable (it did), or because I was disgusted by the Vikings’ first-half performance against the Indianapolis Colts (I was). Rather, it was a mutual decision reached by me and my SKOR North colleagues that we would go live at halftime with our Vent Line program that is on our YouTube channel after each game.

My co-host, Phil Mackey, and executive producer Declan Goff both figured that the second half would be a continuation of the first two quarters in which the fans at U.S. Bank Stadium rightfully took out their frustration on the home team. Since the purpose of Vent Line is to allow fans to do exactly that, Phil and Declan figured we might as well start early and hear from the fans while they might still watching the game.

The idea came with the Vikings down 30-0. My first thought was that NFL rules don’t allow you to do a live show from the stadium while a game is in progress and so I would have to leave in order to join my colleagues.

I had a bit of hesitation in bolting with the score 30-0, based on the extremely unlikely chance the Vikings rallied. But when the Colts’ Chase McLaughlin kicked a 27-yard field goal late in the half, any reservations that existed disappeared.

There were a few fans walking out with me as I made my way to the parking ramp for the short drive to the Hubbard Studios. One couple was engaged in a conversation in which all I heard a woman say was, “33-0?” Another couple appeared to be in a verbal spat that was more about their disgust for the Vikings than anything going on between them.

Let me make one thing clear: As a young sports fanatic, the thought of leaving any game early was a huge no-no. I was there for Tommy Kramer’s Hail Mary pass to Ahmad Rashad to end the “Miracle at the Met” in 1980, and, much to my parents’ disdain, had insisted on staying until the end of a lot of games in which the home team fell way short.

But professional obligation and the cynicism that comes with being 53 and having covered sports for many years, made it far easier to walk out of U.S. Bank Stadium and not look back.

Big mistake.

The Vikings’ 36-point second half tied the Colts, who only got a field goal in the final 30 minutes of regulation, and as Greg Joseph’s 40-yard field goal sailed through the uprights to end the game in overtime, and give the Vikings a 39-36 win and the NFC North title, one could only laugh about a decision that had cost him an opportunity to see NFL history. Unlike the many who will say they stayed until the end, there is video evidence that I didn’t.

Being part of what turned into a 3-hour Vent Line was great. Sharing the frustration of the first half with the audience, then having that slowly turn into disbelief of what was happening and finally complete awe of what we had all witnessed.

In many ways, that experience might have surpassed having watched the game with my own thoughts from the press box. But the kid in me, the one who never left a game early and scoffed at those who did, will never forgive adult for me walking out of that stadium.

All of those games that I had stayed until the end, none of them matched what happened Saturday. And I missed it.

Judd Zulgad is co-host of the Purple Daily Podcast and Mackey & Judd podcast at www.skornorth.com

8 players who were pivotal in the Vikings’ historic comeback win vs. Colts

The Vikings delivered a comeback for the ages on Saturday

History was made on Saturday afternoon with the Minnesota Vikings overcame a 33-point halftime deficit in a remarkable 39-36 win over the Indianapolis Colts.

When you have a major comeback in any sport, there is always both a catalyst and players that are pivotal to the comeback. The Vikings had their fair share of players that stepped up in the big moment on Saturday.

I identified eight players that were incredibly pivotal to the Vikings’ historic comeback.

Kevin O’Connell matches a team record with win

O’Connell tied a record held by the late Dennis Green

The Minnesota Vikings have only had 10 coaches in their storied 62-year history as they have been a team that has seen stability at the position. They also haven’t seen a lot of success from their first-year head coaches. Most of their first-year coaches are coming off the heels of their predecessors getting fired.

Head coach Kevin O’Connell is in that same group. Mike Zimmer struggled massively at the end of his tenure and O’Connell was inheriting somewhat of a mess. Expectations were all over the place across the media and throughout the fanbase and O’Connell has met them in droves.

With his NFC North-clinching 11th win of the season, he tied Dennis Green for the most wins by a Vikings head coach in their first year with the team. What’s even more impressive is that it took O’Connell only 14 games to do so.

The future is bright for the Vikings with O’Connell in charge.

Zulgad: Vikings’ putrid start ends with a comeback for the ages and an NFC North title

From @jzulgad: This Vikings team is incredibly resilient, and they showed that in winning the NFC North in historic fashion

A group of former Vikings gathered at a Bloomington hotel on Friday night to celebrate the anniversary of the “Miracle at the Met” in which Tommy Kramer’s Hail Mary pass found Ahmad Rashad in the final seconds to give Minnesota an improbable victory over the Cleveland Browns and the 1980 NFC Central Division championship.

By the time the sun set on Saturday, the current group of Vikings had a victory that might have been even more miraculous and will be worthy of celebration for years to come. The fact this win clinched the Vikings’ first NFC North title since 2017 made it even sweeter.

The Vikings (11-3) come back from a 33-0 deficit for 39-36 overtime victory over the Indianapolis Colts at U.S. Bank Stadium left coach Kevin O’Connell nears near tears as he addressed his team in the postgame locker room.

“I’m absolutely exhausted right now,” O’Connell said after watching his team get booed off the field at halftime and then score five touchdowns in the final two quarters before Greg Joseph hit the game-winning, 40-yard field goal with 3 seconds remaining in overtime. A tie also would have given the Vikings the division crown, but the win gave them the biggest comeback in NFL history.

That record had been held by the Buffalo Bills, who rallied from a 32 points down to beat the Houston Oilers in the AFC wild card round in January 1993. That Bills team was led by quarterback Frank Reich, who was fired by the Colts as their coach earlier this season and replaced by Jeff Saturday.

The fact the Vikings won a close game was no surprise. This was their 10th win by one score this season, tying the 2019 Seattle Seahawks and the 1978 Oilers for the most in NFL history, according to ESPN Stats and Information.

But this one was hard to comprehend, even by the Vikings’ standards. Consider that teams leading by 30 points at any point of the game had been 1,548-1-1 in the regular season and playoffs since 1930, according to ESPN. The Bills had the lone victory and the tie came in a 1960 game between the Bills and Broncos in which Buffalo led by 31 points in the third quarter before Denver rallied to tie it at 38.

The Vikings played their 1,000th game in their 62nd season on Saturday and had never done anything like this. Their biggest comeback had come in December 1977 when they erased a 24-point deficit for a 28-27 victory over San Francisco at Met Stadium. Kramer also led that comeback.

“I will never discount this team’s ability to overcome, and continue to play for each other,” O’Connell said. “Sometimes the culture stuff gets challenged in our league, but you don’t win a game like that without it. Now, we’ve got to continue to work and continue to improve to be the best possible football team we can be through the rest of the month of December and, we know, into January.”

O’Connell made it clear he wasn’t satisfied with much of what he saw. The Vikings, coming off a loss at Detroit in which the defense gave up 400-plus yards for a franchise record fifth consecutive game, played about as poorly as a team can play in the opening 30 minutes. Embarrassing might not have been a strong enough word to describe the Vikings’ performance.

The offense looked clueless, the special teams was awful and the defense gave up 19 points and 209 yards. There was absolutely no reason to believe the Vikings were capable of rebounding.

But in the locker room at halftime, O’Connell heard veteran cornerback Patrick Peterson make his way over to the offense with a message that would have made many laugh and roll their eyes.

“I’ll never forget it as long as I live,” O’Connell said, “I walked out to address the team before we went back out there and I just overheard (Peterson say), ‘We’re going to get stops, you just need five touchdowns and that’s nothing.’ It was a nice little moment for me to lead in off of.

I said, ‘Pat, you’re exactly right.’ That’s what we needed at the time and it was probably the most motivated I’ve been to kind of challenge our players. Just so they knew, regardless of the outcome today, that first half was not good enough and will never be acceptable to have that kind of performance, regardless of the outcome today.”

The Vikings responded with touchdowns on their second, third and fourth drives of the second half as the 4-8-1 Colts began to tighten up and the opportunistic Vikings pounced. Veteran Matt Ryan, who had played well for the Colts in the first half, began to resemble the quarterback who had played a role in the Falcons being part of the biggest blown Super Bowl lead. The Falcons led 28-3 at halftime of Super Bowl LI over the Patriots but ended up with a 34-28 loss.

The Vikings, of course, are nowhere near the Super Bowl and won’t be if they continue to play like they did on Saturday. As impressive as the comeback might have been, it wouldn’t have happened against a good team and you can bet O’Connell will spend plenty of time focusing on what went wrong.

But that will come starting on Sunday. On Saturday, O’Connell’s voice cracked as he told his players how much he loved them and how they had reached their goal of an NFC North title in his first season.

They had done it in one of the most improbable and historical ways possible. How far these Vikings can go remains up for debate — Saturday’s game isn’t going to cause their doubters to believe — but this much is certain: This group of players, just like their 1980 counterparts, now have a memory that will be celebrated for years to come.

Judd Zulgad is co-host of the Purple Daily Podcast and Mackey & Judd podcast at www.skornorth.com

Patrick Peterson calls out media, asks will they say Colts gave them the win

Peterson pulled no punches when attacking the Vikings’ narratives

The Minnesota Vikings have been one of the most hotly debated teams in the National Football League. Now sitting at 10-0 in one-score games, that discussion won’t quiet down anytime soon.

The major talking points have been that:

  • The Vikings can’t win decisively
  • They are frauds
  • Their biggest wins have lucky

Needless to say, we have all heard it multiple times over. That has crept into the locker room and Patrick Peterson has heard the noise. He went off on the narratives on the Vikings and without saying as much, he called them a load of crap.

“What are they gonna say? They gave us that win too?”

Needless to say, the Vikings are fired up and the discourse coming out of this game will be fascinating, as will Peterson’s podcast All Things Covered.

Referee Tra Blake explains 2 Chandon Sullivan TDs called back

The explanations make sense, but they don’t answer the root of the issue

There was some frustrating officiating on Saturday afternoon, especially if you are a fan of the Minnesota Vikings. Not only were there some poor calls, but most importantly, the Vikings had two touchdowns on fumble recoveries by Chandon Sullivan that were arguably unfair calls.

One of those was Michael Pittman Jr. who was deemed to have stopped forward progress and the other was late in the fourth quarter when Deon Jackson fumbled it while standing up in traffic and the whistle was blown dead.

The PWFA pool report came out where they interviewed referee Tra Blake and the NFL’s SVP of Officiating Walt Anderson and they walked through what happened, and it all made complete sense. Pittman Jr. was deemed to have stopped moving forward and they thought Jackson was down (when it was clear he wasn’t).

Surprisingly though, nobody asked why.

Why was the whistle blown so quickly on both? That’s the issue here but the question wasn’t asked and quite frankly, it’s disappointing that it wasn’t. That’s what everyone wants to know.

In the end, it didn’t make a difference as the Vikings still scored enough points to win the football game.

Who’s to blame for the Vikings’ atrocious first half

The first half was so bad that it has us questioning everything

The Minnesota Vikings came back to win the largest comeback in NFL history on Saturday afternoon, beating the Indianapolis Colts at home by a score of 39-36.

The comeback was one point larger than the 32-point comeback by the Buffalo Bills over the Houston Oilers in the 1992 AFC wild-card round, which was ironically orchestrated by former Colts coach Frank Reich.

While the second half and winning the NFC North was an excellent finish, the first half was beyond abysmal. Nothing went right for the Vikings and it reflected in the 33-0 halftime deficit. Who deserves the most blame for the performance? Let’s break it down.

Patrick Peterson at halftime vs. Colts: ‘All we need is 5 touchdowns’

Peterson had his John Candy moment

The greatest performances in NFL history can all be traced back to brief moments below the surface and behind the scenes.

For the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XXIII, Joe Montana pointed out John Candy in the stands during a huddle. The entire offense relaxed, and San Francisco drove 87 yards for the game-winning touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals.

In Week 15 against the Indianapolis Colts, that moment for the Minnesota Vikings looks to have come from the future Hall of Famer cornerback Patrick Peterson. With his team trailing 33-0, Peterson said something at halftime that appears to be their John Candy moment:

“All we need is five touchdowns.”

Quarterback Kirk Cousins divulged the quote when speaking with NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero after the game. Cousins admitted that he thought that Peterson was “being sarcastic.”

Kevin O’Connell said the same thing in his postgame press conference, and he led off his speech to the team with that.

The littlest moments can make the biggest difference, and it appears that Peterson was that on Saturday.