Upon Further Review: Vikings revert back to old ways in loss to Cowboys

Two steps forward, three steps back.

Just when Minnesota looked like it was primed for an improbable playoff push, the Vikings fumbled away a chance to even their record at 5-5 and lost 31-28 to the lowly Dallas Cowboys.

It was a loss reminiscent of the first six weeks of the season, which had the Vikings sitting at 1-5 with both their short-term and long-term plans in jeopardy.

Minnesota’s defense was to blame Sunday. Dallas, which was averaging 10.3 points per game over its last four contests without quarterback Dak Prescott, went off for 31 points with veteran Andy Dalton under center. Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliot collected 114 total yards on 23 touches, and backup tailback Tony Pollard gashed Minnesota for a 42-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

The Vikings’ defense, which was lauded over the last three weeks for locking down opponents in the red zone, surrendered three touchdowns on Dallas’ four trips inside the 20-yard line.

Second-year cornerback Kris Boyd had a tough game. He had back-to-back blunders on special teams in the first half. And with Dallas inside Minnesota’s 5-yard line on its final drive, Boyd had an interception fall out of his hands in the end zone, and the Cowboys scored the game-winning touchdown two plays later.

However, the Vikings offense wasn’t perfect, either. Minnesota had two punts, two turnovers and just one score over its five first-half possessions. Even prized rookie Justin Jefferson made a rare mistake, dropping a wide-open pass on the Vikings’ final drive that would have moved the chains.

It was an unfortunate reality check for the Vikings, who are discovering a 1-5 start to the season might be too deep of a hole to recover from.

Here’s a recap of Sunday’s game (STORY | PHOTOS):

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Adam Thielen was ridiculous yet again. He celebrated his 100th game in a Vikings uniform by catching eight passes for a season-high 123 yards and two scores. For the second consecutive week, Thielen found the end zone with an eye-popping one-handed grab, a clutch catch in the corner of the end zone to trim Dallas’ lead to two points. The 30-year-old now has four games this season with multiple scores and leads the NFL with 11 receiving touchdowns.

Let’s watch this @athielen19 catch again. And again. And again. And again…..

Via @Vikings
pic.twitter.com/UdH3ih9sqZ

— FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) November 22, 2020

DON’T FORGET ABOUT ME

It’s rare to watch the Vikings lose and have quarterback Kirk Cousins escape the bulk of the accusations. While Cousins could be blamed for his first-half fumble and the Vikings’ sluggish offensive start, he was solid in the second half, finishing with 314 passing yards, three scores and no picks while completing 22 of 30 attempts. It all added up to a 140.1 passer rating. It was his fifth game with 300+ passing yards, 3+ touchdowns and no interceptions since joining the Vikings in 2018. Over the last four weeks, Cousins has logged a passer rating of 128.2.

Kid’s gonna be a superstar ⭐️

Via @Vikings pic.twitter.com/oOaqZIbQYD

— FOX Sports North (@fsnorth) November 23, 2020

THAT MOMENT

Early in the second quarter, the Vikings led 7-6, but Minnesota’s offense was sputtering. The Vikings faced a fourth-and-10 from their own 39-yard line. Minnesota punter Britton Colquitt noticed cornerback Kris Boyd split out wide, all alone, so he handled the snap and tossed a perfect pass Boyd’s way. Boyd caught it to move the chains — but wait — a flag. Boyd never got set before the snap and was called for an illegal shift. On the ensuing punt, Boyd was flagged for an illegal block above the waist, a rare penalty for a punting team to take. Not ideal.

THIS NUMBER

3 — The number of return yards that rookie K.J. Osborn collected against Dallas. Of the Vikings’ many issues on special teams, the return game is a big one. The Cowboys punted three times – two of those resulted in a fair catch, and one was taken three yards up the field by Osborn before he coughed it up. Luckily, the Vikings fell on it. But with no kick returns (five touchbacks) and a lackluster effort on punt returns, Osborn’s role has to be up for grabs next week. Right? Marcus Sherels, where art thou?

THEY SAID IT

“Yeah, just a heartbreaking loss today. It was hard-fought, it was back and forth. It’s one of those games, and so many NFL games are like this, but one or two plays makes the difference in the end. You know that going in and you feel that during the game, but we just didn’t come out on the right side of enough of those plays to win the game, obviously.” — quarterback Kirk Cousins

“I really felt like we were going to win the ball game throughout the whole course of the game even as bad as we started offensively because we were clicking again in the second half offensively. Unfortunately, Dalton made some plays.” — head coach Mike Zimmer

“It was a tremendous catch. He’s capable of that daily at practice, and you see it so much that I’m probably not as wowed as others because I see it all of the time. It’s just a tremendous effort, the combination of the catch but the ability to keep your feet down and get two feet in is very special. It’s one more reason why he’s such a great player and has had such great production for so many years.” — Cousins

WHAT’S NEXT

Now two games under .500, Minnesota will stay home to host the 4-7 Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Former Vikings fan-favorite Teddy Bridgewater’s status for Sunday is unclear, as he missed Week 11 due to a knee injury. P.J. Walker, who starred in the XFL last year, made his first career NFL start and led Carolina to a 20-0 victory over Detroit.