Minnesota Vikings 42, Atlanta Falcons 21: Kirk Who?

It’s all about Sam Darnold in Minnesota

The big story heading into Week 14’s matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and the Atlanta Falcons was the return of Kirk Cousins to face the team he quarterbacked for six seasons before departing for Atlanta. At the end of the day, the big story was the man who replaced Cousins behind center for the Vikings.

Sam Darnold threw a career-high five touchdown passes, with three going to Jordan Addison and two to Justin Jefferson, and the Minnesota Vikings got their sixth straight victory by defeating the Falcons by a score of 42-21 in Week 14 NFL action.

Atlanta drew first blood in this one, getting a six-yard touchdown run from Tyler Allegier to take an early 7-0 lead on the first possession of the game. The Falcons converted a 4th-and-2 on the play before Allegeier’s touchdown to keep the drive alive and get the game’s first points. After Minnesota punted on their opening possession, the Falcons found themselves in another fourth down situation at the Minnesota 38-yard line, and a pass from Cousins fell incomplete for a turnover on downs.

The Vikings answered in short order on their next possession, as Sam Darnold launched a deep ball to Jordan Addison that went for a 49-yard touchdown to tie things up at 7-7 with just over thirty seconds left in the first quarter of play. Darnold looked like he might have been hit on the play but the ball still found its way to Addison for the tying score.

Minnesota’s defense then generated the first turnover of the game, as Cousins found Josh Metellus for an interception to end a Falcons’ drive that had advanced to midfield.

The Vikings couldn’t do anything with the turnover and the team exchanged punts. Minnesota then pushed into the Atlanta red zone after a 47-yard pass interference penalty on former Viking Mike Hughes. It appeared that the Vikings were going to settle for a 39-yard Will Reichard field goal to take the lead, but the Falcons were called for holding on the field goal attempt and Kevin O’Connell elected to take the points off the board and put the offense back out on the field.

Minnesota rewarded O’Connell’s decision with Justin Jefferson’s first touchdown catch since Week 7, a 12-yard laser from Darnold to give the Vikings their first lead of the game at 14-7 at the two-minute warning.

The Falcons put together a long two-minute drive, but the Vikings held them out of the end zone and forced them to settle for a 20-yard field goal from Younghoe Koo to make it 14-10 going into the locker room at halftime.

It looked like the Vikings were ready to add more points on the first drive of the second half, but Will Reichard’s 47-yard field goal attempt hit the left upright and fell no good. Atlanta then answered with a field goal of their own, as Koo’s 29-yard attempt split the uprights to make it 14-13 with just over five minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Minnesota then quickly increased their lead on an incredible play from Sam Darnold, as he avoided the Atlanta pass rush and unleashed a rope to Justin Jefferson for a 52-yard touchdown to make it 21-13 late in the third quarter of play.

Unfortunately, the Falcons’ offense took it right back, as they marched down the field and got into the end one thanks to a Bijan Robinson touchdown run of 13 yards. At 21-19, the Falcons elected to go for a two-point conversion, and they turned to Robinson again. He just got over the goal stripe, and the game was tied at 21-21 as the game moved to the fourth quarter.

Minnesota answered right back, as Sam Darnold threw his fourth touchdown pass of the afternoon and his second to Jordan Addison, an 11-yard strike that made it 28-21 with thirteen minutes left in the contest.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Minnesota special teams came up big, as Brian Asamoah forced a fumble from Falcons’ returner Ray Ray McCloud and C.J. Ham fell on it for a turnover to give the Vikings the ball in Atlanta territory. The Vikings took advantage again, as the Darnold-to-Addison connection found paydirt again with a 6-yard touchdown to make it 35-21 in favor of the Vikings with eight and a half minutes left.

The Vikings’ defense then got themselves another turnover, as Byron Murphy made a beautiful one-handed interception for his sixth pick of the season to halt a drive that looked like it could have ended in points for the Falcons.

Aaron Jones then put the cherry on the sundae for the Vikings with a 15-yard touchdown run with just under four minutes to play to make it 42-21.

Darnold’s performance made him the first Vikings’ quarterback with 300 yards and five touchdowns in twenty years, as Daunte Culpepper was the last Minnesota quarterback to accomplish the feat back in 2004.

The Vikings can now get into the playoffs this week if the Seattle Seahawks and the Buffalo Bills defeat the Arizona Cardinals and Los Angeles Rams (respectively) in the late window of this week’s NFL action. Minnesota will now prepare for their only Monday Night Football appearance of this season, as they’ll host the Chicago Bears in Week 15 in their “Winter Whiteout” game.

The Minnesota Vikings roll to 11-2 on the 2024 NFL season, taking down the Atlanta Falcons by a score of 42-21. Thank you to everyone who got their coverage of this week’s game right here at The Daily Norseman!