The Vikings trailed the Bills by 17 points in the third quarter of their Nov. 13 meeting in Buffalo before beginning a rally that would culminate with a 33-30 overtime victory in what appeared certain to be Minnesota’s greatest comeback of the season.
The win gave the Vikings an 8-1 record and a chance to keep the momentum going the following Sunday against the Cowboys at U.S. Bank Stadium. Only that didn’t happen. Dallas jumped out to a 23-3 halftime lead and never took its foot off the gas. The Vikings’ 40-3 loss to the Cowboys was their most embarrassing defeat of the season.
Coming off an emotional win, the Vikings clearly hadn’t been in the right frame of mind to play a solid Cowboys team.
So what did first-year coach Kevin O’Connell and his players learn from that experience? We’re about to find out.
Minnesota’s incredible rally from a 33-0 halftime deficit for a 39-36 overtime victory over the visiting Colts last Saturday was the biggest comeback in the NFL’s 103-year history. The Colts aren’t nearly as good as the Bills, but that doesn’t make the Vikings’ ability to dig themselves out of a huge hole any less remarkable.
What the Vikings must prove now is they know how to move on from that emotional victory. The New York Giants (8-5-1), who are the sixth seed in the NFC playoff race, will face the Vikings on Saturday at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Vikings (11-3) clinched the NFC North by beating the Colts but are only one game ahead of the San Francisco 49ers for the second seed in the conference.
The NFL’s playoff structure no longer gives the second seed a first-round bye, but the Vikings would have home-field advantage for their first two games if they can retain their current seed. The Vikings are 7-1 at home this season and the noise generated by their fans in the indoor stadium gives them an important advantage.
With only three regular-season games remaining, O’Connell gave his players Sunday and Monday off in hopes of having them rejuvenated when they returned to work on Tuesday.
“We talked after the Buffalo game about handling the success and being able to handle the emotional toll of games like that,” O’Connell said. “Our team, we’ve got some experience now with that game and some of the others coming back, pouring everything into the ends of games to try to get
that bump. It’s definitely something we’ve talked about this week.”
The Vikings’ overall resilience has been impressive this season. Ten of their 11 wins have come by one score, and Kirk Cousins has an NFL-leading seven fourth-quarterback comebacks. That’s what made the one-sided loss to Dallas surprising. It wasn’t that the Vikings didn’t win the game so much as it was how they lost. Dallas was coming off a 31-28 overtime loss in Green Bay before dominating the Vikings in every area.
O’Connell has talked all season about his need to grow and learn from mistakes and that doesn’t appear to be lip service. While that might be mainly focused on his play calling and in-game decisions, there’s plenty to be gleaned when it comes to team chemistry and getting the most from players in a long season.
The Colts win, or the one against the Bills, are interesting examples because as joyous as the team felt afterward, there also was a ton to learn from in the negatives of getting behind by 17 or 33 points. Getting caught up in the excitement, or taking a deep breath and thinking the work is done, are detrimental to the goal of continued success.
“I think it’s two-part, right?” O’Connell said of the process. “I think you acknowledge the emotional toll that it takes when you put everything you’ve got in you to achieve something, but also to absolutely acknowledge the accountability and the ownership of the things we need to get better at. And that starts with me. There’s a ton I can do better for our team.
“They know that, but they also know I’m demanding the level of standard of how we need to play football and how we need to worry about doing our jobs at a level that will continue (to lead to playing) winning football and helping the guy next to you play winning football. It all works together, and that message is clear, and we’ve got to put it into action.”
How that looks come Saturday will go a long way toward showing what O’Connell and Co., learned from the Dallas debacle.
Judd Zulgad is co-host of the Purple Daily Podcast and Mackey & Judd podcast at www.skornorth.com
