The Minnesota Vikings traveled from Dublin to London for their second game of the international series, taking on the Cleveland Browns in hopes of securing a much-needed win before the bye week. Before the game, the Browns made a change at quarterback, starting rookie Dillon Gabriel over veteran Joe Flacco. It was an understandable change for a Browns offense that had been stalled out all season long. Still, it presented the Vikings with a golden opportunity against an inexperienced starter on a struggling team on the road in a different country. And yet Minnesota barely eked this one out, 21-17.
Cleveland took advantage of Jordan Mason’s fumble on Minnesota’s opening driver to take an early 7-0 lead, thanks to their trio of rookies, with Gabriel, Quinshon Judkins, and Harold Fannin Jr. all making crucial plays on the drive.
Minnesota’s offense responded with some trickery. Cam Akers lined up in the wildcat formation and found Josh Oliver on a 32-yard touchdown pass. The Browns offense would tack on a field goal before the end of the half, and the Vikings would go to the locker room down 10-7.
The teams traded touchdowns early in the second half, and then a long stretch of stout defense and floundering offense let the clock tick down to the final four minutes with Cleveland hanging on to a 17-14 lead. Carson Wentz led a crisp, efficient 80-yard drive to score the game-winning touchdown on a beautiful throw to Jordan Addison with just 25 seconds left on the clock.
Here are five numbers that tell the story of Minnesota’s hard-fought win against the Browns in London.
4
The Vikings deployed their fourth starting offensive line combination of the season this year. Minnesota prioritized bolstering the offensive line in the offseason. Adding Will Fries, Ryan Kelly, and Donovan Jackson was supposed to solidify the line and provide some much-needed stability.
Things haven’t exactly gone as planned. The offensive line has been without Jackson, Kelly, Christian Darrisaw, Justin Skule, Michael Jurgens, and Brian O’Neill at different times in this young season. The Vikings had to delve into the recesses of their depth chart against Cleveland, with Blake Brandel starting at center and undrafted free-agent rookie Joe Huber starting at left guard, both positions having already had three different players start in them.
While it is an early bye week, Minnesota’s offensive line will look to get healthy and recover for the difficult stretch of the season.
1
The Minnesota Vikings tied the game at 7-7 after Cam Akers threw his first career pass, a 32-yard touchdown to Josh Oliver.
Vikings fans will remember a few years back, during Josh Dobbs’ first game against the Atlanta Falcons, when Akers served as the emergency quarterback. In college, Akers was known for similar trick plays, throwing eight passes in his three seasons at FSU, completing five of them.
The Vikings’ offense was able to move the ball early through a balance of runs and quick passes to the outside. While this was effective, it wasn’t the explosive play that they were seeking.
Akers caught Cleveland’s defense off guard and hit Oliver, who had slipped behind the Browns to get into the end zone untouched. Given all the offensive injuries, it makes sense that O’Connell would have to reach deep into the playbook to generate an explosive play.
10
Brian Flores now has 10 wins out of 11 against rookie quarterbacks as a head coach or defensive coordinator. Going into this week, there was a lot of discussion about a rookie quarterback facing Flores’ defense, which has been known to confuse savvy veterans.
While the defense didn’t necessarily play the game-wrecking style expected of them, they were exceptional at keeping everything in front of them and limiting the big plays.
The run defense needs to be addressed. However, Minnesota’s defense didn’t let Dillon Gabriel settle into a rhythm as a passer and forced him to just take quick checkdowns. He completed just three passes of more than 10 air yards, two of them in the desperate final drive of the game.
3/3
The Browns were three for three on fourth downs. Cleveland’s running game dominated Minnesota’s front, allowing Judkins and the Browns to control the clock and maintain possession. Cleveland’s offense excelled in getting second- or third-and-short situations and played smashmouth football.
When they got themselves into fourth-and-short situations, Kevin Stefanski was fearless, lining up and going for it every time. The Browns extended both of their touchdown drives by going for it on fourth-and-short. The Vikings’ defense needs to get much better at defending the run and stopping teams in these fourth-and-short situations.
2
The Vikings’ offense turned the ball over twice. A big part of what has hindered the offense this season has been their inability to take care of the football when they have momentum on their side. This week was no exception.
On the first drive, it looked like the offense had soothed the woes of last week with the quick-passing game working to perfection early. Then, around midfield, Mason fumbled for the second time in two weeks on the opening drive, allowing the Browns to get an early lead to support their rookie quarterback in his debut.
After the defense made a crucial stop on third-and-one, the Vikings managed to get the ball around the Browns 42-yard line. They would go on to turn the ball over on the first play of the drive as Xavier Scott was met in the backfield by a pair of Browns defensive linemen, who forced the fumble. Twice the Vikings lost their momentum in a highly winnable game that nearly slipped out of their reach.