Vikings Blog: A Pair Of Rookies Lead Vikings To Victory
By Craig D. Schroepfer
Last week in Buffalo, the Minnesota Vikings held onto a lead late in the fourth quarter before losing on the final play of the game.
Thanks to a pair of rookies, history didn't repeat itself today.
With under two minutes to play in regulation, Minnesota found itself trailing Tampa Bay 13-10. That's where quarterback Teddy Bridgewater took over.
Bridgewater went five for eight, executing a 54-yard drive that set up the game-tying field goal by Blair Walsh to force overtime. Bridgewater was 24 for 42 on the day with 241 yards and a touchdown, but it was his two minute drive that gave the Vikings a chance to win.
"It was just one of those deals where we knew we had to go down and get some points, some way, some how," Bridgewater said. "The guys in the huddle believed in each other and the coaches reminded us that it was going to take four quarters. Even though it went to overtime today, the guys continued to just focus in and play for one another. That last drive, the guys just made big plays for this team."
In overtime, the Buccaneers won the coin toss and elected to receive. They only had one play as Mike Glennon's pass to Austin Seferian-Jenkins was stripped by linebacker Anthony Barr, who returned the fumble 27 yards for the game-winning touchdown.
"I was a little late to get there, but I was able to get my hands on the ball and strip it. Fortunate enough to pick it up and score," Barr said of his touchdown.
To Barr, the most important thing was finishing strong after last week.
"I think we still want to finish better than what we did," Barr said about the Buccaneers final drive. "That last drive they scored on, that's not typical of the way the game went. We have to do better there. But standing up and making big plays when they needed to be made, we were able to do that."
Head Coach Mike Zimmer was pleased with the play of Bridgewater after the game saying, "That was a great finish today. Sometimes, when your team plays as good as we did last week and didn't come away with it, it's important for us to be able to finish. Today it was important that that when Tampa scored that touchdown, that, Teddy [Bridgewater] took them down there and Blair [Walsh] hit the field goal. I told the offense that's kind of what defines you now, that when we get in situations like this: what are you going to do with it."
Zimmer also praised Barr after the game saying, "I knew he was a great athlete. You always have a little bit of doubt when a guy is learning a new position. Sometimes the outside linebacker defensive end pass rushers that move to a 4-3 linebacker like we play have a real difficult transition. He has not had that. Rick [Spielman] and I sat in there and talked about different ways we can use this guy to try and affect offenses and he's been doing that really good."
With the win the Vikings move to 3-5 on the season. That's not bad, considering the adversity the team has faced during the first half of the schedule.
While the playoffs are a long shot this season, the important thing is for the team to build a foundation and for Zimmer to find players who can be part of this team going forward.
Today the two rookies drafted in the first round showed their worth when the game mattered most.
Follow Craig D. Schroepfer on Twitter at @CDSWCCO.