Vikings Complete Biggest Comeback in NFL History With 39-36 Win Over Colts
MINNEAPOLIS — The 2022 Minnesota Vikings might be the most entertaining team of all time.
They were down 33-0 at halftime on Saturday.
Read that again: they were down 33-0 AT HALFTIME.
But they didn't roll over and stop fighting. Instead, Kevin O'Connell's team — which has shown a flair for the dramatic all season — pulled off the biggest comeback in NFL history, scoring 36 second-half points and beating the Colts, 39-36, in overtime to clinch their first NFC North title since 2017. With the win, they move to 11-3 and hold onto the No. 2 seed in the NFC.
No team had ever come back from a 30-point deficit in regular season history. The previous largest comeback ever came in 1993, when the Bills rallied from 32 down in a playoff game against the Houston Oilers.
The Vikings just topped that. I watched it all with my own two eyes, and I'm still not sure how it happened.
A little over a month after the Vikings beat the Bills in one of the greatest games in recent memory, they one-upped themselves on a cold mid-December Saturday in Minneapolis. In the 1,000th game in franchise history, the Vikings pulled off the greatest comeback the NFL has ever seen.
The first half couldn't have gone any worse for the Vikings. Everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong. Teams that trailed by 30 at any point were 1-1,548-1 since 1930.
You can add another win to that first column.
In a game that felt over, the Vikings started chipping away. A K.J. Osborn touchdown made it 33-7. Osborn had the game of his life, finishing with career highs of 10 catches and 157 yards. The Colts responded with a field goal with five minutes left in the third quarter.
They wouldn't score again.
The Vikings added another touchdown on a C.J. Ham run late in the third. Then Kirk Cousins — who threw for a career-high 460 yards and four touchdowns — hit Justin Jefferson to make it 36-21 early in the fourth. Meanwhile, the Vikings' much-maligned defense was stacking up stop after stop.
Cousins hit Adam Thielen with 5:30 left to make it 36-28. Then, right after the Vikings got the ball back just before the two-minute warning, Dalvin Cook took a screen pass 64 yards to the house, electrifying a U.S. Bank Stadium crowd that couldn't possibly have been more frustrated in the first half. Cousins hit T.J. Hockenson for the much-needed two-point conversion to tie the game.
It went to overtime, where both teams were unable to score on their first possession. The Vikings got the ball back with less than two minutes to play and Cousins calmly moved it into field goal range. With one second left, four full hours after the game started, Greg Joseph drilled a game-winning field goal to complete the historic comeback.
This was a rollercoaster ride of pure emotion, heart, and chaos.
There were two overturned fumble return touchdowns by Chandon Sullivan, both of which were blown dead by the officials. There were incredible plays and mind-numbing gaffes by both teams, in all three phases of the game.
I've never seen anything like it, and I probably never will again.
The 2022 Minnesota Vikings are something else. They really are.
They're also NFC North champions. And the owners of the biggest comeback ever.
No matter how this season ends, it's been a journey everyone involved will remember for the rest of their lives.
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