The Minnesota Vikings trailed the Indianapolis Colts 33-0 at halftime of their Saturday afternoon game in Minneapolis. 40 minutes of game time later, the Colts headed to their locker room a loser.
The Vikings, behind superlative efforts from an offense stuck in neutral all afternoon, rallied for a 39-36 overtime win — the biggest comeback in NFL history. KJ Osborn, Dalvin Cook and Justin Jefferson all rose up to deliver massive performances as Jeff Saturday’s team shattered into tiny pieces and were summarily swept up by grown men wearing horns. Indianapolis had several chances to stand up and defend its honor in Week 15. It shrank away from all of them, and not even some horrific bouts of refereeing could save it from an epic collapse.
Came back @KirkCousins8 @dalvincook
đź“ş: @NFLNetwork pic.twitter.com/H7UX39X1BI
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) December 17, 2022
It was a familiar, depressing narrative for Matt Ryan. The Colts quarterback had to watch the New England Patriots come back from a 28-3 second half deficit in Super Bowl 51. Now he owns the record for largest come-from-ahead losses in both the big game and in the regular season after straining uselessly for two-plus quarters like a turtle tipped onto its back.
While the NFL’s first foray into Saturday games for 2022 came up against some stout competition — the Celebration Bowl was extremely good football and the Division II title game, uh, also happened — Indianapolis’ collapse was the headliner for the day. And as you’d expect, everyone was thinking the same dang thing about poor Matty Ice.