The NFL Has Learned Its Lesson with the 2022 Vikings
Josh Frey
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The Minnesota Vikings have now been the architects of two miraculous comebacks this season, and overall, they’ve won seven games via 4th quarter comebacks led by QB Kirk Cousins. In Week 10, they orchestrated a 17-point comeback to topple the Buffalo Bills in overtime. Then in Week 15, they nearly doubled that impressive outing by overcoming a 33-point deficit against the Colts.
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In the aftermath of this latest comeback, it seems the NFL has learned its lesson regarding these 2022 Minnesota Vikings. That lesson is, “no lead is safe with the Vikings”. Following the game, that is what the official NFL Twitter account has changed its bio to. It’s also paired with a spiffy cover photo of star wide receiver Justin Jefferson.
Indeed, it truly does seem this season that there is no lead that Vikings opponents can feel comfortable with. So far this season, Kirk Cousins has led a whopping seven 4th quarter comebacks, and the Vikings QB has seven game-winning drives. In the last eight seasons, the Vikings are the only franchise to overcome 20+ point halftime deficits, and they’ve now done it twice.
Further proving the point that no lead is safe with the Vikings, we can no longer consider these games among the Vikings most impressive comebacks of the season:
- 10-point 4th quarter comeback against the Lions in Week 3
- Two separate 10-point comebacks against the Chicago Bears in Week 5
- 10-point 4th quarter comeback against the Commanders in Week 9
There are entire seasons where a team won’t have a double-digit 4th quarter comeback. These Vikings have now done it five times in a span of less than three months. Their 10-0 record in one possession games is a complete transformation from their 5-9 record in such games during 2021 as well.
Just a couple weeks ago, we saw the FOX broadcast covering a Vikings 40-3 blowout loss to the Dallas Cowboys switch their coverage to a different game. It’s hard to imagine that, assuming the Colts and Vikings weren’t the only two teams playing, a coverage switch would have happened again this weekend.
After this latest comeback, if the Vikings somehow managed to fall down by 30+ points again, it’s hard to believe that the NFL would be able to switch the game away. For better or worse, they’d probably stick through it to the end in order to see what these Vikings can pull off. Hopefully, for the sake of our sanity, we won’t have to find ourselves in another of these scenarios.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing. He also earned minors in History, Human Biology, and Journalism. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys marathon training, playing video games, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. For more of his opinions, check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.