The Arizona Cardinals find themselves in what is undoubtedly the most pivotal game of the season to this point. Sitting at 3-4, the difference between beating the Vikings and returning to .500 or falling to 3-5 is season-defining.
The Vikings and Cardinals haven’t played all that much in recent history, but did last season in what was one of the most entertaining games of the year.
Minnesota is leading the all-time record 17-12 — 15-12 in the regular season and 2-0 in the postseason. Since 2008, the Vikings have won six of the last nine matchups. The Cardinals’ last two wins were in 2022 and 2015.
Prior to kickoff, let’s take a look at how the recent matchups between these two teams have gone.
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2021: Cardinals 34, Vikings 33
This game was a thriller and certainly added a few highlight-reel plays to Kyler Murray’s resume.
This game truly had it all. Minnesota came out swinging early, with a 64-yard touchdown pass to K.J. Osborn on the first offensive play of the game. Murray and the Cardinals would answer with a DeAndre Hopkins touchdown pass on former Cardinal Patrick Peterson.
Minnesota’s offense couldn’t be stopped early, as they jumped out to a 20-7 lead with touchdown receptions by Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen.
The rest of the way, however, it was Arizona’s offense that was rolling. This game had a 77-yard touchdown pass to Rondale Moore and a 12-yard rushing touchdown by Murray.
On the last play of the game, Vikings kicker Greg Joseph missed a 37-yard kick that would have won the game for Minnesota.
Murray had 400 passing yards and four total touchdowns on the day. Moore was the leading receiver on the day with seven receptions for 114 yards and a touchdown.
2018: Vikings 27, Cardinals 17
In what was the infamous 3-13 season for the Cardinals, the team held their own against Kirk Cousins and the Vikings for most of this game.
Quarterback Josh Rosen had 241 passing yards and an interception on the day. The Cardinals were kept in this game by their defense, which had an interception of Cousins and a strip-sack touchdown on the day. Early in the second quarter, Chandler Jones stripped Cousins and Budda Baker returned it for a touchdown.
While this could have been a momentum-shifting play, the Cardinals’ worst-ranked offense, unsurprisingly, could not play their part. They had one offensive touchdown on the day by way of a David Johnson one-yard score in garbage time.
For the Cardinals, the leading receiver on the day was Christian Kirk, who had six receptions for 77 yards.
Defensively, the team was gashed by Vikings running back Latavious Murray, who had 155 yards rushing and a touchdown. It was a theme for the Cardinals all season, as they had the worst-ranked rush defense in the league.
2016: Vikings 30, Cardinals 24
2016 was one of the most disappointing seasons in recent history for the Cardinals. They were fresh off a blowout NFC Championship loss and had only improved the roster with the trade acquisition of Chandler Jones.
Instead, the Cardinals failed to make the playoffs and ended the season with a record of 7-8-1. This game was extremely disappointing, as the Cardinals outplayed the Vikings, but two plays changed the course of the game.
With a chance to take the lead, quarterback Carson Palmer was picked off in the endzone by cornerback Xavier Rhodes, who returned it 100 yards to the house.
On the first play of the second half, receiver Cordarrelle Patterson had a 104-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Take those two plays out and the Cardinals should have won this game.
The Cardinals had two touchdown scorers on the day, two going to David Johnson and the other to Jermaine Gresham. 2016 was the magical season from Johnson and he showed out in this one.
Defensively, they kept Sam Bradford and company in check for Minnesota, but the two aforementioned plays made coming back nearly impossible.
