Minnesota Vikings 28, Detroit Lions 24: Cousins to Osborn gives Vikings last-second win

There might be an amusement part inside of the Mall of America, but the biggest roller coaster in the Twin Cities on Sunday afternoon was located at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Kirk Cousins, who was up and down all day, found K.J. Osborn for a 28-yard touchdown with less than a minute remaining to give the Minnesota Vikings a thrilling 28-24 victory over the Detroit Lions in Week 3 NFL action.

The Lions got the football first in this one and missed an opportunity at points when a 48-yard field goal attempt from Austin Seibert bounced off the right upright and was no good. Minnesota answered with a missed field goal of their own on their first possession as Greg Joseph was no good from 56 yards out.

Detroit got on the board on their next drive, courtesy of a 2-yard touchdown run by Jamaal Williams. The key play of the drive for Detroit was a 30-yard pass from Jared Goff to Amon-Ra St. Brown on 4th-and-6 from the Minnesota 32 to set up the score. Seibert’s extra point was good and the Lions were ahead 7-0 with just under seven minutes left in the opening quarter.

Early in the second quarter, after converting another fourth down, the Lions added to their lead on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Goff to T.J. Hockenson to extend their lead to 14-0. The Vikings finally got an answer as Kirk Cousins found Adam Thielen on a 1-yard score to cut the deficit to 14-7 with about eight and a half minutes remaining in the half.

After the Vikings’ defense stopped the Lions on a fourth down for the first time on the afternoon, Cousins and Thielen continued to move the Vikings downfield and Dalvin Cook finished things off with a 4-yard touchdown run. Joseph’s extra point tied things up at 14-14 with just over a minute left in the half.

That’s how they went into the locker room, and the Lions took the lead back midway through the third quarter on a 40-yard field goal from Seibert to make it 17-14. Joseph then missed another attempt from 56 yards out wide to the right to keep the score the same with just under five minutes left in the quarter. Detroit took advantage of the good field position as they got another touchdown from Jamaal Williams, this one a 13-yard run to make it 24-14 with just over two minutes left in the third quarter.

The Vikings looked like they had something going on their next drive as they quickly moved into Detroit territory, but Dalvin Cook fumbled the ball away after running into his own player and the Lions recovered for the game’s first turnover. The Vikings’ defense held, however, and eventually cut the deficit back to three after a six-yard touchdown run from Alexander Mattison to make it 24-21 with just under eight minutes remaining in the contest.

On the ensuing possession, the Lions pushed down to the Vikings’ 30-yard line and found themselves facing a 4th-and-1. Dan Campbell elected to go for it again and the Vikings got a HUGE stop of Jamaal Williams to force a turnover on downs.

The Vikings got the ball near midfield on the next possession, but turned it over on downs when Cousins couldn’t connect with Thielen. That gave Detroit the ball back with two and a half minutes left, but the Vikings had two time outs and the two-minute warning. The Lions had a 4th-and-4 from the Minnesota 36 after the two-minute warning, and Dan Campbell called on Austin Seibert to try a 54-yarder that he missed to give the Vikings life.

And then. . .it happened.

After an incomplete pass to K.J. Osborn on first down, Cousins found him on two consecutive plays, each covering 28 yards and the second one putting the Vikings into the end zone to take the lead, 28-24!

The Lions got the ball back with 45 seconds left and one timeout, and they couldn’t get the ball into the end zone, giving the Vikings the win after Josh Metellus iced it with an interception.

The Vikings move to 2-1 on the season and have a trip to London next week to take on the New Orleans Saints. Detroit falls to 1-2 and will host the Seattle Seahawks next week. We’ll have plenty more on this game over the next day or two.

The Minnesota Vikings win a thriller over the Detroit Lions in Week 3 of the NFL season by a final score of 28-24. Thank you to everybody that got their coverage of this week’s game right here at The Daily Norseman!