The Minnesota Vikings and Cincinnati Bengals played a very entertaining game that went back and forth, and the latter got the win at home, 27-24 in overtime.
The game itself was a fascinating one, and injuries highlighted the first quarter. The Bengals suffered two brutal knee injuries, including one to star nose tackle D.J. Reader on the first series. He was immediately ruled out and did not return to the game.
That injury spurned a great rushing attack from Vikings running back Ty Chandler. In the first start of his NFL career, he became the first 100-yard rusher for the team this season and the first since Week 10 of 2022.
Quarterback Nick Mullens also got his first start in a Vikings uniform on Saturday afternoon. There was plenty of good from Mullens, including two touchdown passes to Jordan Addison, but two interceptions deep in enemy territory prevented the Vikings from putting more points on the board.
On a drive late in the fourth quarter, Mullens tried throwing a screen pass to Justin Jefferson. That nearly needed in disaster as it was intercepted by Germaine Pratt and taken for a touchdown. Luckily for the Vikings, Trey Hendrickson was offside, and it led to a touchdown pass to Addison on what can only be described as a bad decision.
Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins made a massive impact on this game. He caught a touchdown pass on the first play of the fourth quarter and the tying score on an immaculate catch where he skied for the ball and reached it over the goal line as he was being driven out of bounds.
The game went into overtime, and the Vikings got a stop right away. Unfortunately, they were stopped on back-to-back tush push attempts, which led to the Bengals converting a 29-yard field goal.
There will be a lot of discussion about the failed tush push attempts by the Vikings, who had Brandon Powell trying to push Mullens instead of someone who is bigger and stronger.
Up next for the Vikings are the Detroit Lions on Christmas Eve. Minnesota still has an outside chance to win the division.
