Vikings At Packers Final Score: Minnesota Blows Lead, Settles For Tie

Nearly 35 years to the day of the last time it happened. . .and at the same location, no less. . .the Minnesota Vikings had a game end in a tie with their opponents. Minnesota had a 16-point fourth-quarter lead, but watched it slip away and had to settle for a 26-26 tie with the Green Bay Packers.

The Vikings last tie prior to this game also took place at Lambeau Field, and it happened way back on November 26, 1978 in Fran Tarkenton's final appearance at Lambeau Field. That game ended in a 10-10 tie, with Tarkenton's 5-yard pass to Ahmad Rashad knotting the score at 10.

As was pointed out by the folks from The Viking Age on Twitter, and confirmed by the database at Pro Football Reference, today's game was the first 26-26 final score in NFL history.

The rushing game for the Vikings made some serious hay against the Green Bay defense in this one, with Adrian Peterson and Toby Gerhart combining for 237 yards on 40 carries. Gerhart averaged over 11 yards per carry, and Peterson found the end zone to give the Vikings their first lead near the end of the second quarter.

Christian Ponder played a fairly effective game, completing 21-of-30 passes for 233 yards and a 12-yard touchdown pass to Rhett Ellison. He appeared to have thrown a game-winning touchdown pass to rookie Cordarrelle Patterson in overtime, but Green Bay defensive back Davon House got just enough of the ball where Patterson couldn't get control of it until he was out of the back of the end zone.

Minnesota was up 23-7 going into the fourth quarter of play, but the Packers rallied behind Matt Flynn, their fourth quarterback of the 2013 season, who came in to relieve the largely ineffective Scott Tolzien. The teams went to overtime tied at 23, and both Mason Crosby and Blair Walsh connected on field goals in the extra session to provide the final score.

The tie prevents what would have been a three-way tie atop the NFC North standings, as the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions both lost today to drop to 6-5 on the year. The Packers are now 5-5-1 with today's tie, while the Vikings move to 2-8-1.

So, yes, that means that all four NFC teams took the field today, and none of them won. . .despite the fact that two of them played against each other.

We'll have more on this game over the next day or two, folks. Thank you for coming to The Daily Norseman to enjoy all of our coverage of today's contest.