Vikings lean on ‘backbone’ to frustrate Joe Flacco, halt losing streak

Sam Darnold threw for 290 yards and three second-half touchdown passes and Minnesota didn’t allow the Colts to penetrate past the 23-yard line in a 21-13 win on Sunday night. The victory snapped a two-game losing streak and moved the Vikings (6-2) into second place behind the league’s best team.

Minnesota also spoiled the first game of Joe Flacco’s tenure as the permanent Colts starter, after Indianapolis benched first-round draft choice Anthony Richardson earlier in the week. The Vikings spotted Flacco four good snaps out of the gate, then frustrated him all night. Safety Harrison Smith recovered the quarterback’s fumble on a botched snap to thwart the first drive, and cornerback Byron Murphy intercepted his last pass of the night.

“Starting with our defense, I thought they were really the backbone tonight for us,” said head coach Kevin O’Connell, whose Vikings held the Colts to just 227 total yards and without an offensive touchdown. “Not only forcing two turnovers with Murph and Harry, but just the way they were able to answer the bell, even on a short field there in the second half.”

The defense answered the bell after the Colts took a 7-0 lead into halftime, thanks to Kenny Moore’s scoop-and-score, 38-yard fumble return after Grover Stewart strip-sacked Darnold.

But Darnold led the Vikings on a pair of comeback drives after halftime, throwing touchdowns to Jordan Addison — who made a jaw-dropping catch — and Jalen Nailor. He then kept his focus after a fourth-quarter interception set up a Matt Gay field goal that cut the Vikings’ lead to 14-10. In his most crucial pass of the night, Darnold found Josh Oliver for a 14-yard touchdown with 2:09 remaining. It was an important sign that Darnold is ready to lead Minnesota deep into January and perhaps beyond.

“Yeah, we just got to come back out and play football,” said Darnold. “You know, it’s that simple. You come out, you make a mistake, obviously it sucks, you don’t want it to happen, but it’s part of the game. You just got to continue to go out there and play football.”

Just prior to Darnold’s go-ahead touchdown pass to Nailor late in the third quarter, he nearly threw a touchdown pass to Justin Jefferson, who finished with seven catches for 137 yards. The receiver got 41 of them on a deep pass against rare single coverage.

“Yeah, any time — really any time we get that matchup, if we have the play called — it’s going to be tough cover for anyone,” Darnold said. “Really for any of our skill guys, if they get a matchup one-on-one, I feel very confident about them beating the guy in front of them. To be honest, I underthrew it. Didn’t want to overthrow it. If I had thrown a perfect ball he would have gotten a touchdown, but just, again, he beat him and I tried to put it on them as best I could.”

The Vikings need that effort to avoid a letdown as they prepare for three winnable games – all on the road – at Jacksonville (2-7), Tennessee (2-6) and Chicago (4-4).