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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Christian D'Andrea

The last 2 minutes of Vikings-Bills were pure, glorious football chaos

Bills Vikings Justin Jefferson Christian DAndrea Kirk Cousins Josh Allen Dalvin Cook Gabe Davis Minnesota (Organization) NFL

For roughly 30 minutes of game time, it appeared the Buffalo Bills were going to cruise past the Minnesota Vikings. Then the gridiron gods, bored with an underwhelming early slate of games that subjected viewers to three hours of Russell Wilson and Ryan Tannehill doing things that could only charitably described as “football,” decided to work their magic.

Kirk Cousins, Dalvin Cook and Justin Jefferson banded together to rally the 7-1 Vikings in an effort to prove their record wasn’t merely the result of an weak early schedule. An injured Josh Allen and the league’s fourth-ranked defense attempted to hold on to a 17-point lead to keep their dream of a first-round bye and homefield advantage through the playoffs alive.

The final two minutes of regulation saw Minnesota complete its comeback from a 27-10 deficit despite getting stuffed at the goal line, twice, on fourth-and-goal. That stretch saw one of the greatest catches in NFL history, a redux of the final play of Super Bowl 34, a stunning botched snap and a furious rally that probably shouldn’t have happened to help the Bills force overtime.

Let’s walk through it, step-by-step, beginning with Justin Jefferson and an act of borderline witchcraft.

Justin Jefferson saves the game with one of the greatest catches of all time

Cousins had been sacked on second and third down to set up fourth-and-18 at the two minute warning. Pressure got to him again on what could have been his final play of the afternoon and he lofted a prayer in his WR1’s direction.

Jefferson answered.

A one-handed grab, in traffic, roughly eight feet in the air, to keep this game alive. Of course we weren’t done there.

After setting up first-and-goal Kirk Cousins, uh, does this:

Cousins hit Adam Thielen and then Jefferson again to put Minnesota on the doorstep of the goal line trailing 27-23. And then:

This was, incredibly, the second time he’d tangled his feet and fallen straight on his back while taking a snap in Week 10.

Justin Jefferson scores the game-winning touchdown, only to have it overturned

This was straight-up shades of Kevin Dyson getting stopped to end Super Bowl 34, and it set up fourth-and-goal at the half-yard line:

On fourth-and-goal, Dalvin Cook drops what could have been a game-winning touchdown

Fortunately for him, the Bills jumped offside to move the ball roughly three inches closer to the goal line and give the Vikings one more shot.

Kirk Cousins tries to sneak it in on fourth-and-goal, generates almost no forward momentum and is ruled short

A truly awful quarterback sneak. It looks like the Bills will survive, right?

All the Bills have to do now is run out the clock to seal a 27-23 win

Spoiler: they do not. Allen botches the snap from center Mitch Morse and the Vikings recover in the end zone.

The Bills, with 35 seconds left and the ball at their own 20 and no time outs, rally to force overtime

Allen made a handful of clutch throws to keep his team alive. The biggest play was this 20-yard strike to Gabe Davis:

Which, as you can see in slow motion, shouldn’t have been ruled a catch but wasn’t reviewed on the field.

The Vikings win the overtime coin toss and drive 60 yards for a field goal

Minnesota took an OT lead 33-30 thanks in large part to more heroics from Jefferson.

Josh Allen leads the Bills all the way to the Vikings' 20-yard line ... and throws a game-ending interception

A pair of big scrambles put Buffalo in position to win this game before overtime could expire. Instead, Allen threw his second end zone interception of the game and the Vikings escaped with a 33-30 win in the wildest game of 2022 to date.

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