J.J. McCarthy’s first pass of the night on Sunday Night Football against the Dallas Cowboys was just about as bad as it could be. Fortunately for the Minnesota Vikings, the rest of his night went signifcantly better.
McCarthy had his second straight three-touchdown performance, throwing a pair of touchdown passes to Jalen Nailor and adding a rushing touchdown as the Vikings won their second consecutive game, defeating the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football in Dallas by a final score of 34-26.
The Vikings got the ball first and turned the ball over almost immediately, as McCarthy’s first pass was tipped into the air by Donovan Wilson and wound up in the arms of Quinnen Williams for an interception. Then, the Cowboys faked a field goal attempt, as star kicker Brandon Aubrey took a pitch on the field goal attempt and ran for a first down. The drive ended with Javonte Williams going in from a yard out to give the home team a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
Minnesota’s offense got on the board late in the first quarter, as McCarthy atoned for his interception by finding Jalen Nailor on a 20-yard touchdown strike to tie things at 7-7 with just over two minutes left in the first quarter of play. The score was set up by a pass to Aaron Jones that saw him draw a penalty for a late hit out of bounds that put the Vikings into the red zone to give them the opportunity to tie it up.
Dallas took the lead back on the second play of the second quarter, as Malik Davis gave the Cowboys their second 1-yard touchdown run of the night. That gave the home team a 14-7 lead less than ten seconds into the second frame.
The Vikings then got a big pass from McCarthy to Jordan Addison, the longest pass of McCarthy’s career. It was a 58-yarder to put the Vikings down at the Dallas 4-yard line to set up a first-and-goal.
It came down to a 4th-and-goal from inside the 1-yard line, and the Vikings went for it. They brought in their heavy personnel, and it looked like a handoff to Jordan Mason. . .but, in the end, McCarthy had fooled everybody, taking it in himself for a touchdown run to tie things back up at 14-14.
The Vikings caught a break on the Cowboys’ next possession, when Aubrey pushed a 51-yard field goal attempt wide to the right with just under six minutes left before halftime, giving the Vikings good field position. They turned that into a field goal of their own, as Will Reichard connected from 29 yards out to give them their first lead of the night at 17-14 just after the two-minute warning. The Cowboys then tied it just before halftime on a 37-yard field goal from Aubrey to make it 17-17 heading into the locker room.
Dallas took the lead back on their first possession of the second half, as they got a 26-yard field goal from Aubrey to go up 20-17. After Minnesota went three-and-out on their first possession of the half, Dallas got three more as Aubrey connected from 41 to make it 23-17 with just under five minutes left in the third quarter.
Minnesota then took the lead back, as the Vikings went down the field and got a big fourth-down conversion as McCarthy found Nailor for a 23-yard gain that put the Vikings into the red zone. A few plays later, it was C.J. Ham who carried the ball into the end zone from a yard out to put the Vikings back on top, 24-23, with just over a minute left in the third quarter.
The Cowboys gave Aubrey a chance at another long field goal, but he pushed one wide to the right from 59 early in the fourth quarter to give the Vikings the ball near midfield. Aubrey had just two misses coming into the game, so missing two in the same game is significant.
The Vikings took advantage of the missed field goal, as McCarthy got his second touchdown pass of the night to the same guy he got his first one to. He connected with Jalen Nailor again, this time from four yards out, putting them up 31-23 with just over nine minutes left in regulation.
On the ensuing possession, Dallas faced a 4th-and-7 from the Minnesota 45-yard line with about five and a half minutes remaining and elected to go for it. Prescott’s pass was complete but Eric Wilson brought the ball carrier down short of the line to gain, and Minnesota forced a turnover on downs with an opportunity to close the game out.
They did just that with just over a minute left on the clock, as Reichard connected on his second field goal of the night, this one a 53-yarder to make it an 11-point lead at 34-23. The Cowboys then gave Aubrey a chance at a 41-yard field goal, which he connected on to cut it back to an 8-point game at 34-26 with 19 seconds remaining.
That meant the Cowboys needed to rely on an onside kick recovery to give themselves a chance at winning the game. Aubrey’s onside kick was recovered by Josh Oliver, and that was that for a Vikings upset victory.
Minnesota’s record moves to 6-8 on the season, and even though they have fallen out of playoff contention for this season, they did see some more positive things out of their young quarterback, which is something that I think we were all hoping for going forward this season.
Next week, the Vikings will play their final road game of the 2025 NFL season, as they’ll travel to MetLife Stadium to take on the New York Giants.
The Vikings travel to Dallas and pull off a road upset over the Cowboys by a final score of 34-26. Thank you to everybody who got their coverage of this week’s game right here at The Daily Norseman!
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