The Vikings Escaped the Clutches Of Oblivion In London

Cam Akers’ first NFL pass was a 32-yard touchdown toss to Josh Oliver in London.

For a brief moment, his second-ever pass could have been as the Minnesota Vikings’ backup quarterback.

Max Brosmer entered the game for Carson Wentz on Minnesota’s final drive of the first half of their 21-17 win over the Cleveland Browns in London. Wentz had suffered a shoulder injury scrambling for a first down on the previous drive, and the Vikings had waived Desmond Ridder before the game.

Therefore, if Wentz couldn’t return from his shoulder injury, and Brosmer got hurt, Akers would take the field as Minnesota’s quarterback.

The Vikings had to waive Ridder to activate enough players to field a viable team in London, especially against Cleveland’s vaunted front seven. On the offensive line alone, Brian O’Neill, Ryan Kelly, Michael Jurgens, and Donovan Jackson were out. The Vikings also had Darrisaw on a snap count after he played 76 snaps against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Dublin.

So there they were, 4,000 miles away from home, down 10-7 with Akers as their backup quarterback. National Lampoon’s Vacation was less chaotic. Will Fries was Minnesota’s only expected lineman in the game. The defense didn’t have Andrew Van Ginkel and Blake Cashman. J.J. McCarthy and Aaron Jones also watched this game from the sideline.

“We knew this was going to be a very hard-fought football game,” said Kevin O’Connell. “That’s one of the best defenses in the NFL, and they do a lot of challenging things running the football and just keeping you off-balance defensively, so I knew we would have to battle.”

Minnesota will downplay its injury situation because every team has a next-man-up mentality.

“I’m a big believer that if you’re looking for obstacles and excuses, you’re probably gonna find them,” O’Connell said during the week. “So why would we take the time and energy to look?”

The Vikings didn’t have to look very far to find turbulence in their journey abroad. Still, they won a game shorthanded against the league’s No. 1 defense. They return home for the bye week, then play the Philadelphia Eagles, the Los Angeles Chargers, and the Detroit Lions on the road, and the Baltimore Ravens in Minneapolis with a chance to hover around .500.

“We were able to get it done,” said Wentz, who returned for the second half and finished 25 of 34 for 236 yards and a touchdown. “That makes that flight a lot more bearable going home.”

Still, it’s not too fatalistic to suggest the Vikings stood on the edge of oblivion as they entered the Tottenham Stadium locker room at halftime. Wentz, 32, is a journeyman backup. Brosmer is an undrafted rookie, and Akers is a running back. The defense is missing key components. Drop to 2-3, and the season starts slipping.

“I’ve done plenty of looking ahead in my life,” said Wentz. “I’m done doing that.”

Wentz returned for the second half, and the Vikings rallied. They opened the third quarter with an eight-play, 71-yard touchdown drive to take a 14-10 lead. Cleveland responded by scoring a touchdown to go up 17-14 on the next drive, and it looked like Minnesota was staring into the void again.

Minnesota’s next four drives went:

• Punt.
• Their second fumble of the game.
• Will Reichard’s first missed field goal, a 51-yarder that he typically hits.
• Punt.

Still, in between, Minnesota’s shorthanded defense forced the Browns to punt four times. With 2:40 left in the game, Wentz led the Vikings on a 10-play, 80-yard drive, culminating in Jordan Addison’s diving touchdown catch with 25 seconds left in the game.

“We still looking for [an identity],” Justin Jefferson admitted after the game. “But what I can say is there’s a lot of character traits about this team that are phenomenal, and I’m very, very happy to be a part of it.”

It’s hard for any team to have an identity when they don’t know who’s healthy enough to suit up on Sundays. Still, they mustered enough to beat the Browns and their No. 1 defense with a banged-up offensive line. Sometimes, they had to get clever, like with Akers’ trick play that started the scoring.

Akers is a Mississippi legend who threw for 3,128 yards and 31 touchdowns, and also had 2,105 rushing yards and 34 touchdowns, at Clinton High School. He throws a tight spiral and has a running back’s speed. However, he was a running back at Florida State and hadn’t thrown a pass since leaving Mississippi.

Perhaps it’s for the best that he didn’t have to step in during the second half in a London game against Cleveland’s defense.