MINNEAPOLIS — The Vikings will open the playoffs at home, playing a postseason game at U.S. Bank Stadium for the first time since the Minneapolis Miracle.
It would be difficult for any game to eclipse that one in Vikings lore, but in terms of sheer drama, the manner in which they clinched that playoff spot came close.
Down 33-0 at halftime Saturday to the Indianapolis Colts, the Vikings scored 36 second-half points to force overtime, winning on a 40-yard Greg Joseph field goal as time expired.
The improbable victory in a season full of them for the Vikings (11-3) was the biggest comeback in NFL history, besting the Buffalo Bills' 32-point rally over the Houston Oilers in 1993.
It clinched the Vikings' first NFC North title since 2017. Kirk Cousins completed 34 of his 54 passes for a career-high 460 yards, throwing four second-half touchdown passes. He threw for 43 yards in the first half; he threw for 417 in the second half and overtime.
The Vikings won the coin toss in overtime, but their drive stalled at the Colts' 39. The defense needed to stop Indianapolis one more time and forced a punt, giving the Vikings the ball at their 18 with 1:41 left.
The Vikings were assured of a NFC North title with at least a tie. Cousins, though, found Justin Jefferson for 13 yards on his final completion of the day, and officials tacked on a 5-yard penalty when Indianapolis defenders tried to pin Jefferson to the ground in an effort to run out the clock.
Joseph hit from 40, sending U.S. Bank Stadium into mayhem.
It appeared, at various points, the comeback would be nothing more than a footnote.
Midway through the fourth quarter, after Stephon Gilmore leveled an airborne Jefferson and forced him out of the game for a mandatory concussion check, Cousins threw deep for Jalen Reagor, and Rodney Thomas picked off the pass at the Colts' 2 after Reagor stopped his route, preserving a 15-point lead for Indianapolis.
With the Vikings down 36-28, officials ruled Deon Jackson was down by contact before Za'Darius Smith stripped him of the ball. Chandon Sullivan recovered the fumble and returned it for a touchdown that would have given the Vikings a chance to tie the game. The cornerback removed his helmet to shout an expletive after learning the play had been blown dead, while an incredulous Patrick Peterson lay on the turf.
A review gave the Vikings the ball, but not the touchdown, and the Colts stopped the Vikings on fourth down.
But the Vikings then stopped Matt Ryan's fourth-down run, and a replay review confirmed the on-field ruling. On the next play, Cousins hit Dalvin Cook for a 64-yard touchdown, then found T.J. Hockenson for a two-point conversion to tie the game with 2:15 left.
The first half ended with the Vikings facing the second-largest halftime deficit in franchise history, after two quarters full of the stupefying events usually required to make a NFL game so lopsided.
Indianapolis began the game with a 50-yard return and drove to the Vikings' 4 after an end around from Michael Pittman went for 19 yards and Ryan found Pittman for an 11-yard gain on third down. The Vikings held the Colts to a field goal. The next series ended in disaster.
Former Vikings defensive end Ifeadi Odenigbo surged up the middle and brushed Ryan Wright's punt with his right hand. The ball bounced straight into the air and landed in JoJo Domann's arms, before a convoy of Colts escorted the linebacker into the end zone to make it 10-0.
The first play of the Vikings' next drive was a 40-yard run for Cook. The next was a fumble that gave the Colts the ball at their own 34. Ryan conducted another scoring drive to make it 17-0, leading coach Kevin O'Connell to start trying to convert fourth downs in the Vikings' territory.
After a third-down jet sweep to fullback C.J. Ham went nowhere, the Colts stopped Cook for no gain on fourth-and-1 from the Vikings' 31. They turned it into a field goal that made it 20-0.
One series later, O'Connell called for the fake punt the Vikings had practiced this week, with Wright trying to hit Jalen Nailor for a first down on a fourth-and-1. The play worked against the Saints in London in October; on Saturday, Wright threw too high. The Colts turned it into another field goal to go up 23-0.
DeForest Buckner sacked Cousins to force a three-and-out on the Vikings' next series. Shortly thereafter, the Vikings were replaced by referee Tra Blake's officiating crew as the subject of the U.S. Bank Stadium crowd's ire.
When Brian Asamoah stood Pittman up on a third down, Sullivan ripped the ball from the receiver's arms and raced in for a touchdown that would have made it 23-7. But officials blew the play dead before Sullivan's strip. Instead of the Vikings scoring, the Colts ended the drive with a punt and Kris Boyd holding penalty that backed the Vikings up to their own 5.
Jefferson left the game with a chest injury after landing awkwardly on a 9-yard completion on second down. Reagor, in for Jefferson on third down, stopped his route in the middle of the field; Cousins' throw was behind him, and Julian Blackmon picked off the pass for a touchdown that put the Colts up by 30.
Their lead was 33 after two quarters, six points larger than the 27-0 lead they had in their first trip to U.S. Bank Stadium in 2016 and only two points behind the Seahawks' margin in 2002 for the largest halftime deficit in Vikings history.
It sent a portion of the U.S. Bank Stadium crowd to the exits early. The fans who left in disgust might long regret what they missed.
