Minnesota Vikings 12, Jacksonville Jaguars 7: Parker Romo Can’t Miss

The new guy scores all the points

On paper, the Minnesota Vikings’ Week 10 matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Everbank Stadium looked like one that they should have won rather easily.

Unfortunately for the Vikings, NFL games aren’t played on paper. But, thanks to a guy who wasn’t even on the Minnesota roster until Tuesday, they managed to do just enough.

John Parker Romo connected on four field goals and the Vikings’ defense forced turnovers on the Jaguars’ last three possessions to escape from Duval County with a 12-7 victory in Week 10 of the NFL season.

The Vikings got on the board first in this one, courtesy of a 45-yard field goal from new kicker Parker Romo to put them ahead by a tally of 3-0 midway through the first quarter. The Jaguars then took the lead on their next possession on a 1-yard sneak from Mac Jones, starting this one in place of the injured Trevor Lawrence, to give the home team a 7-3 lead with a little less than four minutes left in the first quarter.

Minnesota looked to be pushing for more points, but a pass from Sam Darnold intended for Justin Jefferson was deflected into the air and into the hands of Jacksonville’s Foye Oluokun for an interception to stop the drive.

Darnold threw another costly interception midway through the second quarter as his attempt for Justin Jefferson in the end zone was picked off by Montaric Brown to keep Jacksonville in the lead. The pass looked like it hit the ground before it was intercepted but the call ultimately stood for another Minnesota turnover.

The second quarter went by scoreless and the Vikings looked like they might get points on their first drive of the second half, but Darnold turned the ball over in the red zone again, this time getting picked off by Darnell Savage in the end zone on another pass intended for Jefferson, keeping the game at 7-3 early in the third quarter.

Minnesota cut into the Jacksonville lead on another Romo field goal, this one a 33-yarder to make it 7-6 with just over two minutes left in the third quarter. Romo then put the Vikings on top midway through the fourth quarter with a 34-yard field goal that just got inside of the right upright to make it 9-7 in favor of Minnesota. Then, the Vikings’ defense got a huge play of their own as Mac Jones fumbled a snap and Harrison Phillips fell on it at the Jacksonville 25-yard line.

Unfortunately for the Vikings, they only turned the opportunity into three points, thanks to another Romo field goal, a 29-yarder to make it 12-7 with four and a half minutes remaining. The Vikings’ defense then came up big again, as Byron Murphy Jr. came up with his third interception in as many games to give the Vikings the ball back.

The Vikings then had to punt the ball away and the Jaguars got to Minnesota’s side of the field, but Mac Jones launched a deep pass attempt for Gabe Davis that instead found the hands of Cam Bynum for the Vikings’ third turnover in as many series.

The officials ruled that Bynum was down at the 1-yard line for. . .reasons nobody is really quite sure of, and the Jaguars used the last of their timeouts. Aaron Jones was stopped short on a third down run, but Jaguars’ defender Travon Walker committed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that allowed the Vikings to go into victory formation and escape with a victory.

The Vikings beat the Jaguars in an ugly, ugly 12-7 game to move to 7-2 on the season. We thank all of you who got your coverage of this week’s game right here at The Daily Norseman!