Vikings-Cardinals

The Minnesota Vikings have their first winning streak of the season. Two games. The Vikings followed last week's win over the Philadelphia Eagles with yesterday's 27-17 win over the visiting Arizona Cardinals.

The Vikings had some other season firsts:
-first rushing touchdown
-first game with more than 100 yards rushing
-first 100-yard rusher-Latavius Murray with 155 yards

The Vikings finally had something resembling a running game. It was actually much more than a resemblance. It was a running game. 195 yards. With 216 passing yards, the Vikings had offensive balance.

Despite a 10-point margin, a margin that felt like it could've been much more, the Cardinals were feisty throughout. A pass rush led by Chandler Jones overwhelmed the Vikings offensive line for four quarters. Jones had 1.5 sackes, Corey Peters had 2, and Markus Golden had 0.5. There could've been more. When Cardinals pass rushers didn't get to Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins they often batted away his passes. It looked like a volleyball game had broken out on passing downs. Six passes were batted away, four in the first half. The Vikings offensive line had a tough task with the Cardinals pass rushers.

With a 13-10 lead at the half, the Vikings turned the game completely in their favor in the third quarter. After receiving the second half kickoff:

Vikings offense: Touchdown. 10 plays, 75 yards.
Vikings special teams: kick coverage forced Cardinals to start at the 7.
Vikings defense: 3 plays, -5 yards
Vikings special teams: Marcus Sherels returns punt 20 yards to Cards 43.
Vikings offense: Touchdown. 3 plays, 43 yards.
Vikings defense: Interception at midfield.

Offense, defense, special teams. Complimentary football turned a tight 13-10 game into a comfortable 27-10 lead over the first 12 minutes of the second half.

Sometimes it feels like the Vikings cruise a bit after they take control of a game. This game was like that. On their first two possessions of the second half the Vikings offense moved the ball with ease. That changed after Anthony Harris intercepted Cardinals quarterback Josh Rosen at midfield with three minutes to play. With great field position and filled to the brim with momentum, the Vikings offense went three-and-out, only gaining six yards. After the Vikings defense turned the Cardinals over on downs with about twelve minutes to play in the fourth quarter, the Vikings offense lost one yard on three plays. After the Cardinals cut their deficit to 27-17 with just under seven minutes to play, the Vikings offense had another three-and-out, gaining six yards. On three consecutive possessions after taking complete control of the games, the Vikings offense had three straight three-and-outs. They had nine plays that gained a total of 11 yards. Saying that the Vikings offense went from very productive to not productive at all simply because they started to cruise isn't entirely accurate. The Cardinals defense had a lot to do with that ineffectiveness. They made plays when they had to make them. They got the ball back to their offense when they absolutely had to do so. If the Vikings want to be in contention for a title, they can't have offensive droughts like this. No matter how well a defense is playing, the Vikings offense has to be able to get first downs, extend drives, and score points. They got away with a stretch of offensive ineffectiveness today. They can't do it against the New Orleans Saints in two weeks. They can't do it against the New England Patriots later in the season. They can't do it against any of their division opponents. The Vikings offense is too good to go so cold.

For the game, the Vikings converted five of 14 third downs. That isn't very good.

Vikings receiver Adam Thielen had his sixth consecutive 100-yard game. He'll have a chance to tie Charley Hennigan next week for the longest such streak in league history. Hennigan had seven consecutive 100-yard games for the AFL Houston Oilers in 1961. I sure wish that the NFL would embrace All-America Football Conference statistics as they have AFL statistics but that's a personal historical issue for another day. Back to Thielen. He's been great. Actually, great doesn't do him proper justice. He's made defensive backs look silly. He had 11 catches for 123 yards and a touchdown yesterday. With all-everything corner Patrick Peterson playing nearly the entire game against Stefon Diggs, the Cardinals really had no answer for Thielen. No team really has. Through six games, he's caught 58 passes for 712 yards and 4 TDs. It's ridiculous to stretch those numbers out to 16 games because 155 catches for 1900 yards feel too far out there. With the way Thielen is shredding defenses no numbers feel too far out there.

Kirk Cousins entered the game with four consecutive games of more than 30 completions. That streak came to an end as he completed 24 passes. Statistically, this wasn't his best game. He threw an interception. He had a fumble that was returned for a touchdown. He had six passes batted away at the line. His play was better than those numbers. Under intense and consistent pressure he still completed over 70% of his throws. His touchdown throw throw to Thielen threaded a narrow needle. His fake to C.J. Ham helped clear a seven-yard path to the end zone for himself. 70.5% completion, 233 yards passing, a touchdown pass, and a touchdown run is a nice stat line on a day in which the Cardinals defense didn't give things up easily.

In a game in which the Vikings played well in all phases, it was the defense that played the best. The Cardinals are relying on rookie quarterback Josh Rosen to lead their offense. That's a tough thing for a team that entered the game at 1-4. Rosen is a tremendously talented passer with some very talented weapons around him. But he's still a rookie quarterback. The Vikings defense didn't make it easy for him. The Cardinals converted none of their third down attempts and neither of their fourth down attempts. One of those fourth down attempts was on the Vikings one-yard line. The defense had four sacks and two takeaways. The defense only gave up 10 of the 17 points.

Two of my favorite players from the past two drafts play for the Cardinals. Defensive back Budda Baker and receiver Christian Kirk. Both look like they're going to be franchise cornerstones for a long time. Baker made an immediate impact on special teams as a rookie last year. Now he's making an impact on defense. He returned a Kirk Cousins fumble for a touchdown. Christian Kirk had six catches for 77 yards. He was the Cardinals top offensive playmaker in the first half. Rosen-to-Kirk could be one of the most fun passing combinations in the league for a long time.

Speaking of fun Cardinals players, Larry Fitzgerald is one of may all-time favorites.

Hopefully the four-day stumble that the Vikings had against the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Rams in Weeks 3 and 4 is a distant learning experience. It's time to start stacking wins. Next week it's the New York Jets in New Jersey.