The Vikings Ended the Damn Drought
On October 20th, 2019, the Minnesota Vikings defeated the Detroit Lions — simpler times, right? — 42-30 at U.S. Bank Stadium, nudging the club’s record to 5-2.
The Vikings Ended the Damn Drought
The game featured 4 touchdown grabs from Marvin Jones on the other team, while Kirk Cousins delivered 4 touchdown passes to no interceptions.
Nobody knew it at the time, but that contest would be the last time for five years that the purple team would score 40+ points in a single game. The Vikings didn’t necessarily play poorly from the 2019 remainder to present, but they did not handily beat opponents, failing to score 40 points or more in a game for 1,876 days.
Then, against the same Cousins, but on a different team, Minnesota got off the schneid on Sunday, downing the Cousins-led Atlanta Falcons 42-21 at U.S. Bank Stadium. The win gave Minnesota an 11-2 record this season, and the franchise is one win or Los Angeles Rams loss away from the postseason.
The drought is over.
How did it end? Simple — the quarterback, Sam Darnold, produced the game of his life, delivering 5 touchdowns to no interceptions or fumbles. His pass-catchers, mainly Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, utterly feasted, tabulating 5 touchdowns between them.
The offensive line performance faltered in the 1st Half, leading to a close game and anxiety from onlookers that Minnesota could lose the “Kirk Cousins revenge game.” However, on the brink of the 4th Quarter, the Vikings flipped a switch, scored 3 touchdowns, and allowed no more.
Cousins and Co. departed Minneapolis in sorrow, and for the first time in over five years, Minnesota hung 40+ points on a team.
Head coach Kevin O’Connell said about the dub, “What it was, in my opinion, was an incredible growth moment for him to just come back the next week and start stacking some things that are kind of leading into a layered kind of success type approach, which is what happened to a lot of quarterbacks in this league, especially the ones that their trajectory over the course of a season or their career is pointing sky high.”
The Vikings next play the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football and are expected to prevail by seven.
“This day will be something he can build off of — I truly do believe that. And our offense, there’s a lot of things we’ll be able to highlight, about who we want to be about as a football team that will show up on tape,” O’Connell added.
The naughty streak is over. Forty points are in the books for the first time in five years.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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