MINNEAPOLIS — Kevin Stefanski's homecoming might have left Mike Zimmer feeling better about the Vikings' defense than Stefanski could about the Browns' offense. But none of it was worth much consolation, as Cleveland departed U.S. Bank Stadium with a 14-7 win that dropped the Vikings to 1-3.
Despite a raft of missed throws from quarterback Baker Mayfield, the Browns got just enough to get past the Vikings, who gave up a pair of scoring drives before halftime for the third time in four weeks and could not score in the second half. Their seven points were their fewest since a Week 4 loss to the Bears at Soldier Field in 2019.
The Vikings had 255 yards of offense, their worst since a Week 2 loss to Indianapolis last year that quarterback Kirk Cousins called one of the worst days of his career. Dalvin Cook — who'd been questionable to play with a right ankle injury — had just 11 touches that gained 44 yards, and the Vikings gained only 65 on 23 rushing attempts overall.
The Vikings had held the Browns scoreless through most of the first half, but after last week's win over the Seahawks provided a respite from the defensive issues they'd had before halftime during the first two weeks of the season, they gave up eight points in the final 1:19 of the half.
Cleveland needed six plays to gain the final three yards of its touchdown drive — the Browns got a new set of downs when Eric Kendricks put his hand on Donovan Peoples-Jones' hip and was flagged for a holding penalty that had the U.S. Bank Stadium crowd howling — and Kareem Hunt scored from a yard out to finish an 18-play drive.
The scoring march also forced the Vikings to use all of their timeouts in an effort to get the ball back, and when the Vikings received a delay-of-game penalty after a player unintentionally signaled for a timeout the team didn't have, the Browns lined up for a two-point conversion to take the lead.
Minnesota went three-and-out, in part because of an Ezra Cleveland false start, and punted back to the Browns, who added a field goal for an 11-7 lead before halftime.
That was the only scoring before a Chase McLaughlin field goal in the fourth quarter, as the Browns' pass rush started to affect Kirk Cousins and the Vikings forced Mayfield to hold the ball with defensive ends flushing him from the pocket.
With 6:08 left, Cousins uncorked a deep shot to Adam Thielen as cornerback Greedy Williams turned into the receiver. Williams mirrored Thielen's route after the initial contact, and picked off the throw to end Cousins' streak of passes without an interception at 226.
The Vikings' defense held, though, and Cousins got a chance to lead a drive that could tie or win the game for the third time in four weeks. The Browns' pressure got to the quarterback on a fourth-down attempt from the Cleveland 33, and all Cousins could do was desperately flip a pass forward as he fell to the ground.
There was time for one more drive after Stefanski let Mayfield again throw deep on third down, and the quarterback missed a chance for a game-winning play with a pass that was behind Odell Beckham. A pass interference call on Troy Hill wiped out an interception that would've ended the game, but after Cousins hit Thielen for 19 yards to move the Vikings to the Browns' 32, Cousins threw a pass that fell incomplete in the end zone three plays later as time ran out.
