On Mon, Nov 9, the Minnesota Vikings hosted the Buffalo Bills in a Monday Night Football matchup at U.S Bank Stadium. Both teams were 6-1 entering this game and leading both of their respective divisions. But the Vikings had a big switchup at QB as Kyler Murray was ruled inactive with a hamstring injury. Carson Wentz was making his second start of the season and the seventh one of his time in Minnesota. With Wentz as the starter, the Vikings would have to make some big adjustments but the biggest matchup of the week was clearly the Bills top-ranked offense going up against the Brian Flores defense, which was the top-rated defense in the league entering Week 9. With Josh Allen at QB, Buffalo has amassed high averages in points per game as they scored in the thirties in five of their six victories. Meanwhile, the Minnesota defense had held every opponent under 23 points in their first seven games. Something had to give and the big stage of a nationally televised game would provide the answer.
The game started with the Bills getting the first possession and a long kickoff return by Greg Dortch placed the ball in Vikings’ territory right away. At the Minnesota 36-yard line, Buffalo was already in field goal position but a false start foul backed them up and on third down, Allen was sacked by Dallas Turner for a loss of seven yards. The punting unit came on for the Bills and Tommy Doman booted it into the end zone for a touchback.
The opening drive for the Vikings offense with Wentz on the field began with a three-yard run by Aaron Jones and on second down, Wentz attempted his first pass of the game. It sailed over the head of T.J Hockenson for an incomplete pass and on third down, Wentz threw the ball to Hockenson again but he was tackled short of the line to gain. On fourth down, Brett Thorson booted the ball down the field and the Bills’ next drive would begin at their 35-yard line.
A big pass play occurred on a third down conversion as Allen found DJ Moore for a 15-yard gain and a first down. Another first down was picked up when Allen threw an up-the-middle pass to Khalil Shakir for nine yards to get Buffalo back into field goal territory. A couple of short runs by James Cook set up a third down run by Allen for seven yards and another first down. On the next play, Allen had to throw the ball away when he was pressured by Andrew Van Ginkel, but a flag was thrown for intentional grounding on Allen due to the ball not getting near any eligible receivers or making it past the line of scrimmage. A 13-yard loss pushed the Bills to the edge of field goal range and a short pass by Allen to Ty Johnson went for no gain of yardage. On third and super long, the Bills were in shotgun formation as Allen looked to complete a long pass for a potential touchdown. But when the ball was thrown, Byron Murphy Jr tracked where it was heading and he intercepted the pass in the end zone. Murphy ran out of the end zone and went all the way towards midfield before being tackled. An incredible turnover there as an overly aggressive play call backfired on Buffalo.
The Wentz-led offense for Minnesota had a golden chance to score off the turnover and from their 47-yard line, the Vikings were in good position to get into field goal range for Will Reichard at the bare minimum. On the first play of the drive, Wentz took the snap and threw a sideways pass to Justin Jefferson, who was unable to make the catch and the ball fell to the field as an incomplete pass. But the Bills thought the pass attempt went backwards from where Wentz threw it and Joe Brady decided to throw the challenge flag to see if it was a fumble as Greg Rousseau made a clear recovery of the ball. The replay officials took a look at the play and it was clear that Wentz had thrown a backwards pass and Jefferson was positioned behind him. Thus, the play was reversed to a fumble recovered by Buffalo. A horrible turnover by the Vikings offense after the exciting interception by Murphy.
The Bills took advantage of their good field position as Allen completed a third down pass to Dalton Kincaid for 12 yards and a first down. Allen then threw a short pass to Dawson Knox for seven yards and on third down, Cook tried to pick up the first down from two yards out, but he was tackled by Eric Wilson. After an offensive holding foul on Buffalo was declined, the field goal unit came on and Tyler Bass attempted a 39-yard field goal that went through the uprights. The Bills had the first score of the game, but the Brian Flores defense did a good job to prevent a touchdown from being scored.
On the ensuing kickoff, Myles Price ran it back for a good amount of yards, but the kicker Doman hit Price from the side and the ball came out for a brief moment. Ben Yurosek was thankfully next to Price when the fumble happened and he grabbed the ball and rumbled forward for eight more yards before being tackled at the 45. The Vikings offense had good field position once again and looked to redeem themselves from the ugly turnover on the previous drive. Jordan Mason got his first carry of the night and ran for a gain of five yards, then Wentz tried to throw the ball to him, but the pass was incomplete. On third down, Wentz had to escape out of the pocket from a potential sack and he then threw a high pass towards Jefferson, who tried to catch the ball, but he lost control of it when he landed down on the field. Jefferson was banged up on the play and the Vikings’ medical staff checked on him. Jefferson was able to walk off on his own power and from midfield, another punt happened as Thorson kicked the ball and it landed inside the 15-yard line.
The first quarter ended with Allen throwing a couple of incomplete passes and a three-and-out drive ended with a punt by Doman that went to the Minnesota 45-yard line. The second quarter began with a three-yard run by Jones and on the next play, Wentz threw a short pass towards Jefferson that came up woefully short. Before the third down play, Brian O’Neill committed an untimely false start foul and the offense went back five yards. Wentz completed his second pass of the game to DeeJay Dallas, who only picked up two yards on the play as Terrell Bernard took him down. Another punt by Thorson went down to the 13-yard line as the Vikings’ offense continued having serious struggles early on in this primetime game.
Another three-and-out drive occurred for Buffalo and the Minnesota offense got the ball back at the 42-yard line. The drive began with Wentz facing pressure and getting sacked by Rousseau, but there was a flag on the field for defensive holding on Damar Hamlin. The five-yard penalty gave the Vikings their first chain mover of the game. Another first down was picked up when Wentz threw a short pass to Hockenson, who picked up 14 yards on the play. Now in field goal range, things took a bad turn when another false start was called on Blake Brandel and Wentz got sacked by Rousseau for a loss of six yards. The next two plays were Wentz incompletions towards Jefferson and the fans inside U.S Bank Stadium started to boo loudly in being greatly displeased by the offense’s performance. The ensuing punt by Thorson was a great one as Tai Felton made sure that the ball did not go into the end zone and he downed it at the one-yard line.
The Brian Flores defense had a golden chance to make a big play with the field position being unfavorable to the Bills offense. Buffalo picked up a first down on an Allen pass to Knox for nine yards, but on the next play, Allen got split sacked in the pocket by Jalen Redmond and Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins. On second down, Allen threw a short pass to Moore, who was stonewalled for no gain. On third down, Allen was in shotgun formation and after he took the snap, he got hit hard by Van Ginkel, who forced the ball out of his grasp. It was a fumble right near the goal line and it was recovered by Van Ginkel at the one-yard line. An amazing play made by the long-haired linebacker and the Vikings had a golden chance to score a touchdown. However, the replay officials took a deeper look at the “strip sack” and saw that Allen’s shin was down on the field before Van Ginkel forced the ball out. Therefore, the ruling on the field was reversed to a sack with no change in possession. Another replay review that went against the Vikings but the ensuing punt by Doman was returned by Price for a good gain of 12 yards and the ball was firmly in Buffalo territory.
Already in field goal range for Reichard, the Minnesota offense sought to get into the red zone and potentially score a touchdown. A four-yard run by Jones was followed by a Wentz incomplete pass to Hockenson. On third down, Wentz found Jones for a short pass up the middle that came up a yard short of the line to gain as Cole Bishop made a big tackle. On fourth down, Kevin O’Connell elected to bring the field goal unit on for Reichard to try a 44-yard field goal. Reichard made the kick handily as the Vikings had tied this game up at three points apiece.
The Bills would start their next drive at the 20-yard line and it began with a seven-yard run by Cook. Allen would complete an eight-yard pass to Jackson Hawes for a first down and a three-yard run by Cook occurred before the two-minute warning. With all three of their timeouts, Buffalo had plenty of time and space to work a good two-minute drill. They did so by having Allen throw short sideways passes to the three starting receivers in Shakir, Moore and Keon Coleman, who all picked up good chunks of yardage that resulted in first downs that pushed the ball deep into Vikings’ territory. Brady called his team’s first timeout with 53 seconds left on the clock and before the next play, O’Connell called the second timeout of the half for the Vikings. The ensuing play was an Allen scramble that took him to the edge of the field near his team’s sideline and he launched a ball before being hit by Van Ginkel that went up and landed in the hands of tight end Keleki Latu for a touchdown. An incredible play by Allen that put some big points on the board for the Bills. The extra point by Bass was good and Buffalo had a huge 10-3 lead over the Vikings, who had some time to potentially get a score before the end of the half.
The final possession of the first half began at the 20-yard line for Minnesota and Wentz threw an incomplete pass towards Price to start the drive. But Wentz settled in and completed a deep pass to Jefferson, who gained 24 yards as he finally had his first reception of the night. O’Connell called the team’s final timeout with 32 seconds left on the clock and the next play was a Wentz completion to Jordan Addison, who got both feet in bounds before going out of bounds for a 12-yard gain and a first down. Before the next play, Price got called for a false start but Wentz completed his third pass in a row to Jefferson, who gained 15 yards and was tackled down in bounds by Christian Benford. The offense hurried up to the line of scrimmage and Wentz spiked the ball with 13 seconds left. Following a Wentz incomplete pass on second down, on third down O’Connell opted to bring the field goal unit on in not wanting to take any chances of an offensive play ending in bounds. Reichard attempted a 53-yard kick and it was good as the Vikings had scored on a second straight drive to close the half out strong.
The first half was one filled with struggles for the Vikings offense and with good play from the defense. The flow of the game was kind of choppy from the get-go with a couple of different reviews occurring that went against Minnesota. A couple of momentum-draining plays happened for both teams as the Bills could have scored more than ten points in the first half. The Vikings would get the ball first to begin the second half and they would hopefully be motivated by the halftime induction into the team’s Ring of Honor for legendary running back Adrian Peterson, who became the 29th member of the Ring of Honor as the all-time leading rushing yards leader in team history. Peterson gave a good speech thanking the Wilf family for drafting him and keeping him in Minnesota for ten years and praised his former teammates and his family for supporting him in his career. Peterson was the 2012 MVP and Comeback Player of the Year and currently sits in fifth place on the all-time rushing yards list. With a Hall of Fame induction certain to happen in the future, Peterson is now forever enshrined with his name and number placed on a placard inside U.S Bank Stadium.
The second half began with Price returning the ball to the 38-yard line and the drive began with a three-yard run by Jones, who was taken down for only a pickup of one yard on second down. On third down, Wentz looked to pass and he threw a high ball that went into the Bills’ sideline. But there was a flag on the field for pass interference on Bernard, who tackled Jones when the ball came near him. The 19-yard penalty placed the ball at the Buffalo 37-yard line for a huge first down. With the ball squarely in field goal range, Minnesota was in a good spot. But on first down, Wentz threw a deep pass intended for Hockenson that was intercepted by Dorian Williams at the 11-yard line. A huge mistake by Wentz on an even more questionable play call from O’Connell. Now the Bills had a chance to go on a long drive in a game where they were already dominating in terms of possession time.
The Vikings’ defense was already tired in being on the field for a sizable amount of time and they would be tired out even more with some good runs by Cook. Allen would throw a deep pass down the left side of the field to Johnson, who picked up 36 yards for a huge first down in Minnesota territory. An offsides foul on Turner was followed by an Allen pass to Knox for 12 yards and a first down. Allen ran for five yards into the red zone and had another scramble occur for a pickup of three yards. Cook then ran up the middle on third down for a pickup of four yards and a first down inside the ten-yard line. On first & goal, Cook picked up three more yards and on second and goal, Allen dropped back to pass and threw a ball that sailed over the head of Coleman in the end zone. After an injury timeout for the Vikings(the second one of the drive), a third down stop was made as Allen threw a pass that was defensed in the end zone by Blake Cashman, who nearly had an interception off Allen earlier in the game. The Bills field goal unit came on and Bass made a chip-shot 25- yard kick to increase the lead to seven points.
With only three points scored off another Vikings’ turnover, Buffalo continued to rely on its defense as the next drive for Minnesota began at its 26. A couple of good runs by Mason picked up a first down and running the ball seemed to be a good formula for the offense to follow. Unfortunately, they didn’t keep themselves to that plan as Wentz threw a short pass on second down that was intercepted by Bernard. Another horrible turnover by an anemic offense. The Bills tried to take advantage of a second consecutive interception by Wentz as Allen completed a slant pass to Shakir for a big gain of 22 yards. However, Allen was sacked by Ivan Pace Jr and a couple of pass plays were unable to make up the yardage gap. On fourth down, the field goal unit came on for Buffalo but they were called for a false start on the potential 54-yard attempt by Bass. The Bills went back even further on another false start foul on the punting unit. A touchback occurred on the punt by Doman and the offense for the Vikings came back onto the field with very little time left in the third quarter.
A four-yard run by Mason could have been the last play of the third quarter, but instead O’Connell wanted to catch the Buffalo defense off guard. Wentz got the snap in shotgun formation and threw a pass that was almost intercepted by Bradley Chubb, who dropped the ball out of his hands. With the clock stopped at seven seconds, another play had to be run before the end of the quarter. Wentz would scramble outside the pocket and throw a downfield pass towards Price that was incomplete. The quarter ended and the Vikings fans in the stands booed even more viciously towards an incompetent offensive unit coordinated by O’Connell and Wes Phillips.
The fourth quarter began with a good punt by Thorson and the Buffalo offense started this crucial drive from the 16-yard line. A first down was picked up on an 11-yard run by Moore and Allen threw a pass to Coleman that picked up another first down at the 40-yard line. Cook then ran the ball on five straight plays and the ball was squarely in Minnesota territory. On third down, the Bills did their “Bison Plow” formation as Allen was pushed forward on a short yardage situation that picked up a first down. But O’Connell wanted to challenge the call on the field and after a thorough review, Carl Cheffers announced that the ruling had been reversed to a fourth down. On fourth and short, the Buffalo offense stayed on the field to do their Bison Plow again and Allen was pushed forward but making a stop in the middle was Domonique Orange, who stopped Allen from getting the ball across the line to gain. But another video review occurred and the ruling on the field was changed to a first down as Allen had apparently gotten the ball past the line to gain before being pushed back by Big Citrus. More time was drained off the clock as Cook ran the ball down the throats of the Vikings’ defensive line and a couple of passes by Allen to Kincaid and Knox set up a big 11-yard run by Cook into goal to go range. The next play was a Cook five-yard run into the end zone for a touchdown. The Bills had gotten a backbreaking score and the PAT by Bass made it a 20-6 lead.
It was almost an insurmountable lead for the Vikings to overcome at this point and with six minutes left on the clock, the offense came back onto the field for a last chance drive. Wentz threw a short pass to Price for six yards and then threw an incomplete pass. Wentz would throw consecutive incomplete passes to Jefferson on third and fourth down. The game was essentially over and a field goal by Bass made it a 17-point lead for Buffalo. Max Brosmer came in to play at QB on the final offensive drive of the game and he completed some good passes to Hockenson, Addison and Jefferson that got the ball down into the red zone. But Brosmer couldn’t get the ball into the end zone and the Vikings failed to score a touchdown.
An awful 23-6 defeat at the hands of Buffalo plunged Minnesota to its second straight loss and they were no longer in first place in the NFC North. With the other three teams in the division all winning their respective games in Week 9, the Vikings are now in third place at 6-2. But there are a massive sleuth of problems for the offensive unit of this team and it was on full display in what was the third game of the season where no touchdowns were scored at all in the entire 60 minutes of action. This rematch of an epic 33-30 OT victory from four years ago at now-demolished “Ralph Wilson Stadium” in Orchard Park, New York was a whimpering defeat for Minnesota, whose offense looked like the most underwhelming one in the league. With horrible passing from Wentz, who only completed eight of his 25 passing attempts for 81 yards and threw two bad interceptions, the offense was also hamstrung by the lack of a running game for the second straight week. Jefferson only caught three passes on 11 targets in the game and no targets were thrown to Odell Beckham Jr, who made his Vikings debut with Jauan Jennings out for this game. The Brian Flores defense did all it could to contain the top-ranked offense in the league, but time of possession was grossly against Minnesota. With 42 minutes and 32 seconds of possession, Buffalo wore down the Vikings defense, which was only able to get one takeaway against Josh Allen in this game. A couple of almost turnovers occurred and a heavy reliance on the Brian Flores defense to make big plays is a massive flaw of this team.
With a hard road game coming up against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field, the Vikings risk falling down to last place in the division standings unless they make some big changes and soon. A potential acquisition of a key offensive player at the NFL trade deadline could occur, but there is no indication that Nolan Teasley will make a big move to acquire someone like Jonathan Taylor from the Indianapolis Colts or another key running back. In terms of QB depth, the Vikings did not carry an emergency third QB on their roster with Murray inactive with a hamstring injury. With Wentz getting benched, it is clear that he won’t be the starter in Week 10. Whoever is must be prepared to go up against a Packers defense that gave Drake Maye and the New England Patriots a hard time while their offense put up 45 points in Foxborough, Mass. There is still time for this team to improve themselves offensively, but the hard stretch of games against worthy opponents will continue. The only question is whether this Minnesota Vikings team can sustain a powerful defense with a mediocre offense and that answer is becoming more clear with each bad performance from the offense.
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