SPOILER SEASON

VIKINGS 34

COWBOYS 26

The Vikings' Sunday began with bad news, as the Bears win over Cleveland officially eliminated them from the playoffs, clinching the season as a rather colossal failure.

It meant the Vikings would play 4 games after being eliminated, the most such games for them since way back in 2011. So all that's left then is to play spoiler, to hope that our misery can be spread to others.

And Sunday night was a good opportunity for that, playing in Dallas against a Cowboys team still clinging to their own longshot postseason hopes.

I wish the game meant something for the Vikings, because for the first time all year they won back to back games, led by a very good game from JJ McCarthy (clearly inspired by me labeling him Strychnine). They're suddenly looking a bit like the team we all expected 3 months ago.

It certainly didn't start like it would be another promising game. McCarthy's very first pass was picked off on a deflection, and the Cowboys used that and a successful fake field goal to take a 7-0 lead.

But the Vikings tied it up by the end of the 1st quarter, on a terrific scramble and throw from McCarthy to Jalen Nailor.

Dallas grabbed the lead back. The Vikings responded with a 4th and goal fakeout TD run by McCarthy. And the teams swapped field goals for a 17-17 halftime tie. You know, if the games don't matter, at least be entertaining.

It briefly looked like the Cowboys were going to take control of things in the 3rd quarter, with a pair of scoring drives sandwiched around a Vikings 3 and out. But, even though the Vikings' defense was not nearly as good this week, they held the Cowboys to field goals on back to back redzone trips.

Down 6, the Vikings had their best drive of the day, featuring a couple of McCarthy's best throws: a zip down the middle to Hockenson, and a great back shoulder throw to Nailor on 4th down. CJ Ham dinished the drive with his 1st TD of the season, and the Vikings regained the lead. 

Maybe the biggest play of the whole game happened on the next Cowboys drive, when their elite kicker Brandon Aubrey, who had already missed a field goal in the 1st half, missed a 59 yarder to preserve the Vikings lead. When was the last time a kicker facing the Vikings missed two kicks in a game?

The Vikings took the short field and quickly scored again, on another Nailor catch. 

The defense turned Dallas over on downs, and Will Reichard hit a long field goal to clinch the game.

The focus is always on the quarterback, and JJ McCarthy truthers can rejoice, since this was his best game. He threw for a whopping 250 yards, and while this was not his first quality game, it was the first time it felt like we didn't have to worry on every snap that he might do something terrible. 

These last 2 games have been against bad defenses (and JJ's other strong game was against a bad Lions D), but being able to play well against bad defenses is something any QB has to be able to do.

We gotta figure out why McCarthy can't seem to connect with Justin Jefferson, though.

So, 3 more meaningless games to go. But we're at least seeing some small signs that the future might hold some promise.