Cousins gets his game-winning drive in mistake-riddled game

Vikings give up back-to-back fumble touchdowns and still beat Panthers

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Over the last two weeks, the Minnesota Vikings have gone out of their way to prove that wins over Green Bay, Detroit and Chicago in the middle of the season were little more than a blip. But this time Kirk Cousins wouldn’t let them fall apart.

Last week Cousins came up short on a final drive against the Dallas Cowboys after overcoming a poor defensive showing for most of that game. On Sunday, he succeeded on leading a game-winning drive against the Carolina Panthers despite his team doing absolutely everything to undermine a win.

Early on, things looked like they were going to go according to plan. On the Panthers’ opening drive, Bridgewater incompleted back-to-back passes and Carolina punted. The Vikings took over and took up nearly half of the first quarter on a touchdown drive, which included a Kirk Cousins run for first down and a dart to Justin Jefferson for a touchdown.

At that point, you could have been convinced that the Panthers’ defense would have no shot at slowing the Vikings’ offense, even with Adam Thielen sidelined by COVID.

Bridgewater’s struggles continued as Carolina’s offense went to the ground over and over, moving the ball effectively but failing to pick up many explosive plays. When the Panthers finally made their way to the red zone, Bridgewater was picked off by Eric Kendricks when running back Mike Davis alligator-armed a throw into traffic.

But the Vikings’ offense failed to take advantage. They leaned heavily on Dalvin Cook, as per usual, but the Panthers’ D-line slowed him down and there was no response from Cousins. The Vikings punted on back-to-back drives and finally Teddy broke through.

Either Bridgewater or offensive coordinator Joe Brady understood the recipe for beating a Mike Zimmer blitz on third down because defensive end Ifeadi Odenigbo ended up in coverage against Robby Anderson. That went exactly how you would expect it to go. Anderson cruised to a 41-yard touchdown to tie the game.

As per usual, they opened the final drive of the half with a handoff. With 1:52 remaining, the Vikings’ offense ran the clock out on itself with short throws and a handoff before using their second timeout. Cousins scrambled for a first down and then hit Kyle Rudolph for another but the Vikings only had 16 seconds left at that point following a false start.

They attempted a shot play to Jefferson that fell to the ground and then ran again to set up a Dan Bailey field goal.

Going into the half, the Vikings had a three-point lead.

But they opened the third quarter with every effort to blow that lead. On third down, Cousins got strip-sacked on a play where the offensive line got confused by a Carolina stunt and safety Jeremy Chinn walked into the end zone to give the Panthers a 14-10 lead.

On the next play, the Vikings fumbled again. Cook lost the ball amidst a gang tackle and Chinn was Jeremy On The Spot again, cruising for another score.

These are the types of miscues that have defined the mediocre 2020 Vikings season. Whether it’s been interceptions or fumbles or cornerback confusion or special teams gaffes or poor offensive line play or lack of pressure on the opposing QB. It’s become a weekly staple.

Even after bumbling two straight drives to start the half, the Vikings weren’t out of the game. That says something about Carolina too. The Parcells-ism “you are what your record says” was never more true on Sunday for both teams.

On their third drive of the half (still, amazingly, with 12 minutes on the clock), the Vikings preferred to try a hard count, take a delay of game penalty and punt at the 45-yard line on fourth-and-1.

While the Panthers’ next drive ended in a blocked field goal, they wound six minutes off the clock.

Still, the Vikings were in the game. Following the blocked kick, they dinked and dunked their way down the field, mixing in a few more runs. When they had a chance to come within a touchdown, the offense stalled and kicked a field goal to go down by eight points. The drive took 5:34.

Zimmer’s timeout management didn’t make a comeback any easier. On a third down completion early in the fourth quarter, Zimmer challenged a play that was far too close to throw the red flag and lost a timeout. That left them with only one.

A deep pass from Bridgewater to Anderson just two plays later was questionable on whether Anderson maintained possession but the Vikings were out of challenges. Carolina kicked a field goal to get back to a 11-point lead.

To finish a long drive that cleared a huge chunk of remaining time in the fourth quarter, Cousins finally found Jefferson open for his second touchdown and then converted the two-point conversion to come within three points.

Wouldn’t you know it, the blown timeouts came back to haunt them. Bridgewater completed a pass for a first down and then Carolina continued to easily plow the Vikings’ defense on the ground. But the Panthers dropped two passes, setting up a potential game-winning drive for Cousins — a miracle in itself, considering how poorly the Vikings played.

And yet the Vikings found yet another way to fall apart. Chad Beebe, who has always been a poor NFL punt returner, muffed a fair catch and the Panthers recovered.

But Carolina wanted absolutely nothing to do with winning this game either. They ran twice and then Bridgewater missed a wide open touchdown pass. That’s is what bad teams do. They leave the door open.

Cousins finally got his game-winning drive, picking apart the Panthers’ defense, traveling 75 yards on just seven plays and finishing off the drive with a touchdown pass to Beebe, who redeemed himself with the grab.

Incredibly, the Vikings still gave Bridgewater a shot. He completed a deep pass to Curtis Samuel and a first-down throw to Anderson to set up a 54-yard field goal. And in maybe the most improbable thing of the day, Carolina’s kicker shanked it wide left.

Now here’s the craziest part: Arizona lost to New England, leaving the Vikings just one game back in the playoff race.

It wasn’t pretty but nothing else, you won’t forget this one anytime soon. What it says about the Vikings and Cousins is that if they are going to make the postseason, the QB will probably need a few more of these games in which he overcomes every attempt by the roster to lose.

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