Vikings Fumble Upset Effort Against Cardinals
Carl Knowles
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The Minnesota Vikings scored 10 unanswered fourth quarter points to tie the game at 20-20, but Chandler Catanzaro kicked a 47-yard field goal with 1:23 to play lifting the Arizona Cardinals to a 23-20 victory Thursday night.
On the Vikings final drive of the game Teddy Bridgewater hit Kyle Rudolph, Stefon Diggs and Jarius Wright to move the Vikings to the Arizona 31-yard line. With no timeouts and only 13 seconds to play, Dwight Freeney strip-sacked Teddy Bridgewater on 3rd-and-long to end the game. In heartbreaking fashion, Blair Walsh was robbed of the opportunity to kick a 47-yard field goal to tie the game.
Bridgewater threw for 335 yards on 25 of 36 attempts finding 11 different receivers in a career performance. Unfortunately, three fumbles by the Vikings offense (Bridgewater, Wright, and Peterson), spoiled their heroic upset effort in the desert.
Adrian Peterson scored the first touchdown of the game on a 9-yard run to give the Vikings a 7-3 first quarter advantage. Carson Palmer (25/35 for 310 yards), hit John Brown down the sideline for a 65-yard score to regain the lead near the end of the first quarter. Blair Walsh kicked a 44-yard second quarter field goal knotting the game at 10-10.
The Cardinals scored a touchdown on a 42-yard pass from Palmer to Michael Floyd in the third quarter and added a 23-yard field goal to move ahead 20-10.
Walsh was perfect on the day and connected on a 54-yarder to cut the score to 20-13 with just over 12 minutes to play.
Chad Greenway, Anthony Harris and Eric Kendricks led a short handed defense with 8 tackles each and forced a big three-and-out with 10:05 to play. The Vikings then mounted a 13 play 88-yard drive capping it off with a Mike Wallace’s 7-yard game tying touchdown reception.
Peterson ran the ball well early in the game but finished with 69 yards on 23 carries and a fumble on a reverse handoff to Wallace. The Vikings fall to 8-5 and remain in the Wildcard playoff picture.