Things were looking pretty dark for the Minnesota Vikings late in Sunday’s game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. But, as it turned out, the purple had just enough in the tank to get themselves a victory and head back home with a winning record going into their bye week.
Carson Wentz found Jordan Addison for a 12-yard touchdown pass with less than a minute remaining, and the Vikings overcame a patchwork offensive line and a litany of errors to escape from London with a 21-17 victory in Week 5 action.
The Browns got on the board first, following a Vikings turnover as Jordan Mason fumbled the ball away and it was recovered by Cleveland in Minnesota territory. The score came courtesy of a rookie-to-rookie connection between quarterback Dillon Gabriel and tight end Harold Fannin Jr., a 1-yard score that made it 7-0 in favor of the “home” team with just under seven minutes remaining in the first quarter.
The Vikings answered on their next possession with a bit of trickery, as they lined running back Cam Akers up behind center. He took the shotgun snap, rolled to his right, and lofted a pass to Josh Oliver, who handled the rest for a 32-yard touchdown to tie things at 7-7 with two and a half minutes left in the first quarter.
The Vikings dodged a bullet late in the first quarter, as what would have been a 56-yard touchdown run for rookie Quinshon Judkins was taken off the board by a Cleveland holding penalty. There was no more scoring until the final minute of the second quarter, when Andre Szmyt connected on a 31-yard field goal to allow Cleveland to take a 10-7 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Minnesota took the lead back on their first drive of the third quarter, as Jordan Mason went into the end zone from three yards out to make it 14-10. The drive would have been a three-and-out for the Minnesota offense, but a pass interference penalty on the Browns negated the stop and the Vikings’ offense marched down the field from there.
Cleveland had an immediate answer on the next drive, largely on the strength of the run game as the Vikings continued having problems stopping Judkins. After converting on a fourth down to set up first-and-goal, the Browns got into the end zone on Gabriel’s second touchdown pass of the day, as he found David Njoku from nine yards out to make it 17-14 with just over three minutes remaining in the third quarter.
It looked like the Vikings had gotten some momentum early in the fourth quarter after a three-and-out and a punt return into Cleveland territory, but then Zavier Scott fumbled on the offense’s first play from scrimmage with the Browns recovering for another Minnesota turnover.
Minnesota then got into position for a 51-yard field goal attempt for Will Reichard on their next possession after forcing a Cleveland punt, and he pushed it wide to the right for his first miss of the season to keep the score at 17-14 with less than ten minutes remaining in regulation.
After the Vikings forced another Cleveland punt, they got one more chance on offense with three minutes left and one timeout remaining. Starting from their own 20-yard line, Carson Wentz led the Vikings methodically down the field without using the timeout, and with 25 seconds remaining he found Jordan Addison in the end zone to make it 21-17 in favor of the Vikings.
Cleveland completed a desperation pass to midfield, and after an interception by Isaiah Rodgers on a Hail Mary was taken off the board by the Vikings (apparently) calling a timeout, the Browns got a little greedy and completed a pass in the field of play, and Jeff Okudah kept receiver Jamari Thrash from getting out of bounds, which allowed the clock to run out and the Vikings to escape with a victory.
Minnesota will head back from Europe with a 3-2 record and take their bye week in Week 6 ahead of their matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 7.
It took some last-minute heroics, but the Minnesota Vikings defeat the Cleveland Browns in London by a score of 21-17. Thank you to everyone who got their coverage of this week’s game right here at The Daily Norseman!
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