Viktor
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- Mar 19, 2019
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MINNEAPOLIS — Whew.
Wide left was a good thing for the Vikings for once.
A 54-yard field goal attempt by Carolina's Joey Slye pushed left of the uprights, and Minnesota exhaled with a 28-27 victory on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Chad Beebe's 10-yard touchdown reception on a pass from Kirk Cousins and an extra point by Dan Bailey gave the Vikings the winning margin with just 46 seconds left in the game.
Cousins drove the Vikings 75 yards in seven plays and 1:05, going 6-of-7 passing for all 75 yards of the game-winning drive.
Teddy Bridgewater, the 2014 first-round pick of the Vikings who made his first start against his former team, drove Carolina to the Minnesota 36 with 0:06 left on the clock.
Mistakes nearly doomed the Vikings. Beebe had muffed a punt with 2:10 left in the game, giving the ball to the Panthers at the Minnesota 9-yard line.
The Vikings defense, however, held and forced just a field goal by Slye that put Carolina up 27-21 with 1:51 to go.
Minnesota led for less than two minutes of the second half.
The Vikings coughed up the football twice in their first four plays of the third quarter, leading to touchdowns of 17 and 28 yards on fumble returns by rookie Jeremy Chinn.
The mistakes occurred on consecutive snaps, turning a 10-7 halftime lead for Minnesota into a 21-10 deficit with 13:51 remaining in the third quarter.
That put the Vikings playing uphill against the Panthers the rest of the way.
Minnesota rookie D.J. Wonnum blocked a 28-yard field goal attempt by Joey Slye with 5:21 remaining in the period, and the offense followed with a 25-yard field goal by Dan Bailey to make it 21-13 with 14:47 left in the game.
Carolina responded with a 53-yard drive and made it 24-13 on a 40-yard kick by Slye but only consumed 3:16 of time.
Cousins finished 34 of 45 passing for 307 yards with three touchdowns and a passer rating of 115.7.
Four different Vikings totaled seven receptions on a day without Adam Thielen, who was placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list on Nov. 23.
Bisi Johnson led Minnesota with 74 yards, and Justin Jefferson added 70 yards and two scores. Kyle Rudolph gained 32 of his 68 yards on the day during the winning drive, and Beebe finished with 63 yards through the air.
Cousins completed 13 of 18 passes for 84 yards with a touchdown for a passer rating of 100.2 in the first half. He also gained a pair of first downs on scrambles of 9 and 11 yards, getting the first on Minnesota's opening possession that ended with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Justin Jefferson.
Cousins' other scramble in the first half helped set up a 53-yard field goal by Dan Bailey as the first half expired.
Bridgewater was 7-of-15 passing for 96 yards with a touchdown and interception (passer rating of 62.1) in the first half.
Eric Kendricks nabbed the pick off Bridgewater at the Minnesota 7-yard line in the second quarter. It was Kendricks' third interception in four games.