Minnesota Vikings 23, Arizona Cardinals 22: Vikings Win Fifth Straight in Comeback Fashion

They got the job done

After winning road games in three consecutive weeks for the first time in franchise history, the Minnesota Vikings returned home to face the Arizona Cardinals, who are in the thick of the playoff chase in the NFC and could, potentially, be a first-round opponent for Minnesota. As always, it wasn’t pretty, but it was effective.

Shaq Griffin’s interception with 33 seconds remaining in the game sealed a come-from-behind victory for the Vikings, who got a 23-22 victory over Arizona to push their record to 10-2 on the season.

Arizona got on the board first in this one, getting a 32-yard field goal from Chad Ryland on the first drive of the game to take an early 3-0 lead. Minnesota answered on their first possession after narrowly avoiding a turnover on the first play when Aaron Jones fumbled. Parker Romo split the uprights with a 44-yard field goal to make it 3-3 with just under five minutes left in the opening quarter.

The Vikings could not avoid the turnover on their second possession, as Jones fumbled again with Arizona recovering at the Minnesota 19-yard line. The Cardinals then called on Ryland again for a 45-yard field goal attempt, and he sailed it wide to the right to ensure the turnover did no damage.

Arizona added another field goal midway through the second quarter, as Ryland connected from 31 yards out to make it 6-3 with about six minutes left in the first half. When it looked like the Vikings might be threatening a touchdown, a sack from Darnold pushed them back. They called on Romo once again, and he blasted one through from 55 yards to tie things at 6-6 with just over a minute left before halftime.

The road team went into the locker room with the lead after another Ryland field goal, as he connected from 24 yards out on the final play of the first half to make it a 9-6 lead for Arizona at halftime.

To start the second half, Romo missed his first field goal attempt as a Viking, pushing a 43-yard attempt wide to the left on the Vikings’ first possession. Arizona responded with yet another Ryland field goal, this one a 40-yarder to make it 12-6 with eight and a half minutes left in the third quarter. Then, Arizona finally got a touchdown, as Kyler Murray found Marvin Harrison Jr. for a 15-yard score to make it 19-6 with just under five minutes left in the third quarter.

Minnesota finally got themselves into the end zone late in the third quarter, as Sam Darnold found Johnny Mundt for a 4-yard score to make it 19-13 with just over a minute remaining in the frame.

The Vikings then got a big defensive play to start the fourth quarter, as Kyler Murray tried to throw one deep and it was intercepted by Byron Murphy, who got a measure of revenge against his former team with his fifth interception of the season.

The Vikings turned the turnover into another Romo field goal, this one a 31-yarder to cut it to 19-16 with eleven minutes left in the contest. Arizona then went on a very long drive that pushed into a goal-to-go situation, but a false start penalty on the Cardinals followed by a call on Murray for intentional grounding pushed Arizona back and forced them to settle for another Ryland field goal, this one a 23-yarder to make it 22-16 with 3:20 remaining in the contest.

The Vikings got off to a fast start on the drive with Darnold finding Jordan Addison for a big gain into Arizona territory, but the drive quickly moved to a 4th-and-7 from the Arizona 34-yard line. Darnold found Justin Jefferson to keep the drive alive, and then Darnold found Aaron Jones for a 5-yard score to take a 23-22 lead with 1:13 remaining in regulation.

That left Arizona plenty of time and all three of their timeouts to make something happen. Jonathan Greenard got a strip-sack of Murray, the team’s first of the day, to bring up third-and-long, and then Greenard took down a scrambling Murray to bring up 4th-and-10 from the Arizona 30-yard line. On the final play, Murray’s pass was intercepted by Shaq Griffin to seal the game for Minnesota and give them their fifth straight victory.

The Vikings move to 10-2 and will host Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons next Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium.

The Minnesota Vikings defeat the Arizona Cardinals in comeback fashion on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium by a final score of 23-22. Thank you to everyone who got their coverage of this week’s game right here at The Daily Norseman!