Vikings defense saves the day in win over Cardinals
Back-to-back sacks by the Vikings ended a wild 34-26 win over the Arizona Cardinals Sunday afternoon in Minneapolis. It's the fifth straight win for Minnesota, who improve to 6-1 overall – well ahead of the Packers, Bears and Lions in the NFC North.
Down 34-26 with the ball, Kyler Murray and the Cardinals drove the ball into Minnesota territory only to see Murray get sacked by Za'Darius Smith with 27 seconds left and no timeouts, and on the final play of the game Murray was tripped up and sacked by Harrison Phillips as time expired.
In a game that Minnesota won the turnover battle 3-1, the Vikings could never shut the door. They led 14-3 late in the second quarter only to find themselves trailing 21-17 with nine minutes left in the third quarter.
Another spurt put the Vikings up 28-17 with four minutes to play in the third quarter, but before they knew it the Cardinals were back within two at 28-26 with more than 12 minutes left in the game.
Even when Minnesota scored to go up 34-26, Greg Joseph missed the extra point to keep it a one-score game. And then after Jordan Hicks' big fourth down tackle to give the offense the ball back with 2:45 to go, a holding penalty on Johnny Mundt stopped the clock, serving as a freebie for the Cardinals who forced a three-and-out and got the ball back with just under two minutes to go.
How the Vikings did, by the noteworthy numbers:
- Kirk Cousins: 24-of-36, 232 yards, 2 touchdowns and a 17-yard rushing TD
- Dalvin Cook: 20 carries for 111 yards and 2 touchdowns
- Justin Jefferson: 6 catches for 98 yards
- Adam Thielen: 6 catches for 67 yards
- Za'Darius Smith: 3 sacks
Murray threw for 326 yards and three touchdowns but he was intercepted by Harrison Smith and Cam Bynum.
DeAndre Hopkins killed the Vikings with 12 receptions for 159 yards and a touchdown.
