It wouldn't be fair to say Daniel Jones and Isaiah Hodgins were better than Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson, but it would be accurate to say Minnesota's defense had no business being in a playoff game because they were lit up like the New York skyline as the Giants ended the Vikings' season 31-24 Sunday in Minneapolis.
The defensive failures mirrored the issues that plagued the Vikings during the regular season, only this time the offense wasn't there to save the day.
After the Vikings defense allowed a fifth scoring drive of 75 or more yards the Vikings were down 31-24 with under seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Kirk Cousins and the offense went 3-and-out. A failure at a critical juncture.
The defense was then given a chance to step up, and they did thanks to Darius Slayton dropping a pass that would've been a first down on 3rd-and-15. Instead, the Giants punted the ball back to the Vikings with 2:56 remaining.
Cousins, who tied the NFL record with eight fourth quarter comebacks this season and was mostly excellent on Sunday, brought the Vikings to near midfield and on 3rd-and-8 K.J. Osborn couldn't hold onto a pass.
On fourth down, with their season on the line, Cousins threw short to Hockenson for a turnover on downs.
Season. Over.
How the game unfolded/unraveled
A critical play happened on 3rd-and-1 late in the first quarter. Rather than run the ball against one of the worst rushing defenses in the NFL, the Vikings ran a reverse to Justin Jefferson, who threw it back to Kirk Cousins and the result was a two-yard loss.
Minnesota punted and the Giants went 49 yards on a pass to Slayton on first down and four plays later Jones hit Isaiah Hodgins on a 14-yard strike for a touchdown, although the Giants got away with an obvious false start by left tackle Andrew Thomas.
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Another mistake that bit the Vikings was tight end Irv Smith's Jr.'s drop on 2nd-and-3 early in the second quarter. Minnesota failed to convert on third down and pinned the Giants at their own 9-yard line with a punt, but the Giants labored their way down the field on a 20-play, 85-yard drive that ended with a Graham Gano field goal and a 17-7 lead.
The drive chewed 10 minutes, 52 seconds off the clock. That's 18% of the game. It would've ended a few plays earlier on a touchdown run by Jones, but an illegal shift negated the score. The Vikings scored on a touchdown pass to K.J. Osborn late in the second quarter and went into the half trailing 17-14.
New York blew up the Vikings with 267 yards of offense in the first half and the started the second half with a six-play, 75-yard drive that ended on a touchdown from Jones to rookie tight end Daniel Bellinger.
Cousins and the Vikings answered with a 75-yard drive that lasted eight plays, the last being a touchdown pass to Smith Jr. in the back-left corner of the end zone. Down 24-21, it was just getting started.
After their first defensive stop of the game, Minnesota moved the ball to midfield where they faced a 4th-and-2 in the waning seconds of the third quarter – and Cousins mustered up some moxie and delivered a strike to T.J Hockenson, who absorbed a huge hit, for a critical first down entering the fourth quarter.
Later in the drive – with 13 minutes left in the game – the Vikings faced 4th-and-1 from the New York 16-yard line. They chose to go for it but a false start knocked them back and Greg Joseph's 38-yard kick was good. Score: 24-24.
New York responded with a 12-play, 75-yard drive that ended with Barkley's second touchdown of the game. And again, the drive was a clock-killer, taking 4 minutes and 47 seconds off the clock. Score: 31-24.
Minnesota came out on the ensuing drive with a 4-yard loss on a pass in the flat to Dalvin Cook followed by a two-yard gain to Hockenson, setting up 3rd-and-12 and the pass to Cook was incomplete. Punt.
Minnesota's season is over. The Giants will go to Philadelphia for the Divisional Round while the San Francisco 49ers play the winner of the Buccaneers-Cowboys game.
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