Denver Broncos 21, Minnesota Vikings 20: Offense squanders great defensive effort in Denver

On Sunday Night Football in Denver, the Minnesota Vikings’ defense held the Denver Broncos’ offense out of the end zone for 59 minutes. Unfortunately, that just wasn’t quite long enough.

Russell Wilson found Courtland Sutton for a 15-yard touchdown pass with a minute remaining, as the Vikings couldn’t overcome three turnovers and wasted an outstanding effort by the defense to fall to the Broncos on Sunday Night Football, 21-20.

After the Vikings turned the ball over on their opening possession on an ill-advised trick play, the Broncos got on the board first courtesy of a 31-yard field goal from Will Lutz to take an early 3-0 lead. The Vikings got the game’s first touchdown on the first play of the second quarter, as Josh Dobbs found Josh Oliver for a 3-yard score to take a 7-3 lead.

Minnesota extended their lead on their next possession on a 34-yard field goal from Greg Joseph to make it 10-3 midway through the second quarter of play. The Broncos then got another field goal from Lutz, this one a 30-yarder to make it 10-6 with about four minutes left in the first half. Lutz then added a 52-yarder with time winding down to make it a 10-9 game at halftime.

The Vikings then extended their lead on their first possession of the second quarter, as Dobbs got the job done on the ground with a 10-yard run to extend Minnesota’s lead to 17-9 midway through the third quarter.

Denver looked to have an opportunity to tie things up but had to settle for another field goal from Lutz, this one a 37-yarder to cut it to 17-12 early in the fourth quarter. Then, two plays into the Vikings’ next possession, Dobbs was hit as he threw and intercepted by Ja’Quan McMillian to set the Broncos up with a goal-to-go situation. The Vikings’ defense, once again, stood up and forced another Lutz field goal attempt, this one a 28-yarder to make it 17-15 with just over ten minutes left in the contest.

The Vikings looked like they were going to go three-and-out on their next possession, but Kevin O’Connell dialed up a fake punt with Ty Chandler that went for a big 31-yard gain to keep the drive alive.

The Vikings then converted another fourth down on a sneak by Dobbs in Denver territory. Unfortunately, the drive stalled deep in Denver territory and the Vikings had to settle for a 30-yard Greg Joseph field goal to make it 20-15 with just over three minutes remaining.

Minnesota’s defense then gave up their only touchdown of the evening on a 15-yard pass from Russell Wilson to Courtland Sutton with just over a minute remaining to make it 21-20, and the Broncos went for the two-point conversion and did not convert, leaving the Vikings 1:03 and three timeouts to try to get into position for the win. Unfortunately, they couldn’t move the ball and the clock ran out on the Vikings’ efforts.

The Vikings fall to 6-5 on the year and will have a second consecutive prime-time game coming up as they’ll host the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football.

The Minnesota Vikings had their opportunities on Sunday night but couldn’t capitalize, falling to the Denver Broncos on Sunday Night Football by a final score of 21-20. Thank you to everybody who got their coverage of tonight’s game here at The Daily Norseman!