THE DEAD RISE

VIKINGS 23

CARDINALS 22

Returning home to the purple palace after nearly a month away, the Vikings spent the first 40 minutes of their game against the Arizona Cardinals as if in a catatonic state. I mean, they had NOTHING. They were a dead team trudging towards a disappointing loss.

And then a switch flipped, the team snapped out of their stupor, and with a couple of key breaks, they managed to pull off their least likely and most thrilling win of the year.

But oh, those first 40.

Did the Vikings have a late Thanksgiving meal, and were still feeling the tryptophan? They came out flat on both sides of the ball.

On offense, we were getting the bad version of Sam Darnold, the one who stands there holding the ball far too long. Add to that an OL that was getting crushed, often by Cardinal blitzing. Aaron Jones fumbled twice, losing one deep in Vikings territory. The offense was getting killed on time of possession, cause they couldn't stay on the field.

On defense, we were struggling to contain Kyler Murray, whose ability to run seemed a surprise to the Vikings. Overall, our usually stout run D was giving up yards, and not tackling well. We at least were only giving up field goals, but we were getting killed on time of possession, cause we couldn't get off the field.

Thankfully, the Cardinals weren't playing well either. The Jones fumble led to a missed field goal. Arizona kind of conceded a couple of the made field goals. For them to only be up 9-6 at halftime was a Vikings win.

But after halftime, the poor play continued. Our opening drive ended in a sack of Darnold, and Parker Romo's 1st missed field goal as a Viking (in possibly his last game before the return of Will Reichard). Arizona drove to another field goal. Then we haplessly go 3 and out again and the boos rained down.

When the next Cardinals drive ended with a big DPI on Fabien Moreau (in for an injured Stephon Gilmore) and then a TD to Marvin Harrison Jr, the Cardinals led 19-6 and we were just dead.

But it was like it took staring a gross home defeat in the face to snap those team out of their collective stupor.

The Vikings got the ball back, and now suddenly Darnold morphed into a different guy. He got the ball out fast on a 6 play drive where we zipped right down the field, capped with a Johnny Mundt TD, and just like that we were back in the game headed to quarter 4.

The Cardinals' next drive ended with Murray getting rare pressure, and, I think, trying to throw the ball out of bounds. But it never made it and was picked off by ex-Cardinal Byron Murphy.

Darnold threw 2 of his best passes of the year on the next drive, a pair of biggies to JJ and JA to get us into the redzone. Then he threw a perfectly placed ball to the endzone, which was dropped by Aaron Jones. Rough game. And we had to settle for a field goal, but with plenty of time to go. 

But then the Cardinals embarked on one of those soul crushing drives. 16 plays, almost 8 minutes, a couple of dagger conversions in there. They got all the way down to the 5 yard line, and with 1st and goal looked to be ready to dagger our comeback attempt.

But then, in maybe the biggest play of the whole game, we got pressure on Murray, and he threw the ball away...but IN the pocket for intentional grounding. We almost screwed up by letting the Cards gain a lot of the yardage back by 4th down. I thought they were going to go for it and attempt to end the game right there, but instead, they took the field goal and a 6 point lead.

Enter the newest biggest drive of Sam Darnold's Vikings career. Go get a touchdown, or we lose. 

Darnold quickly hit Addison for a big play past the 50. We seemed to be hurrying too much, and that I didn't get. A short run and a couple of incompletions got us stuck in a 4th down hole for the ballgame. But Darnold hit JJ for the 1st and there was no stopping us after that. 3 plays later, Darnold swung one out to Jones, who DID catch it this time and gritted into the endzone for the tying touchdown (and then go ahead PAT).

But did we score too quickly? I mean, you gotta score, but the Cardinals still had over a minute to go and 3 timeouts, and had moved the ball all day, and only needed a field goal.

But the defense stood strong. Jonathan Greenard burst around the edge, slapping the ball out of Murray's hands, and giving Gink our 1 sack of the day. Then, pinned in a 4th and long, Murray chucked a deep ball that was picked off by Shaq Griffin to seal the game.

I don't know if it's just that they played their best football in the 4th quarter that makes this one feel less ugly of a win. They got away with playing very poor football for 2/3 of a game, but it reflects well on the team that they were able to rise up in the biggest spots. 

This comes back to Darnold, for me. He has obviously exceeded every reasonable expectation this year, but seeing him now multiple times rise up and play his best, sharpest football in these biggest moments, I think the Vikings may have their long term guy. I know the plan is to hand it over to JJ McCarthy next year, now possibly with Daniel Jones as the backup reclamation project, but what Darnold is showing he is capable of doing is not to be dismissed easily. And there is no guarantee McCarthy cannot this, or even be healthy.

Now, Darnold may also want to cash in on his big season with a big payday, but what are the odds he leaves and gets in a situation as good as this? If he wants to build a long career, this is the place for him, and maybe he would take a more reasonable contract to stay.

And so, this most unexpected season rolls on. 10-2, keeping pace with the Lions and ahead of Green Bay (none of us can lose lately). Next week brings the long-awaited Atlanta game, and the return of Kirk Cousins, who threw 4 picks in an ugly loss on Sunday. He and his team look to be fading out, so that could be an easy win. And I believe the Vikings DO have a playoff clinching scenario next week.

Imagine that. From having little hope of a playoff season 3 months ago to maybe clinching a spot with a month to spare.