Vikings win in OT

By Chris Tomasson
St. Paul Pioneer Press
TAMPA, Fla. - Anthony Barr might not do it with the bat, but he’s quite a hitter in his own right. So it only was appropriate that a baseball analogy was used Sunday.
“That was a walk-off touchdown,’’ said Vikings safety Harrison Smith.
Like a first-pitch home run for a victory, this was a first-play win by Minnesota. On the initial play from scrimmage in overtime, Barr stripped the ball from Tampa Bay tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins. The Vikings linebacker then scooped it up and ran 27 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown just 17 seconds into the extra period for a 19-13 win at Raymond James Stadium.
That was just three seconds longer than the fastest regular-season overtime game in NFL history, a New York Jets win over Buffalo in 2002. The fastest overall was Denver needing 11 seconds to defeat Pittsburgh in the 2011 playoffs.
“I saw the ball out,’’ Barr said. “It was an opportunity. I had to seize it.’’
And just like that, Minnesota (3-5) stopped a three-game losing streak.
The Vikings, though, were also that close to another devastating loss. Seferian-Jenkins had scored on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Mike Glennon with 2:02 left in regulation to give Tampa Bay a 13-10 lead.
It looked like it might be more of the same for the Vikings. They lost four times last year on last-minute touchdown passes and the previous week had fallen 17-16 at Buffalo on a TD pass with one second left. But there was one big difference this time.
“Having 2:02 left is definitely a lot of time and we still had two timeouts left, so we had a lot of time,’’ said wide receiver Jarius Wright. “After they got that late touchdown, (wide receiver) Greg Jennings looked me in the eye and I looked back at him, and we both said, ‘Let’s go.’ It’s definitely a different demeanor about this team than has been in the past.’’
Minnesota now has rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, who is getting a reputation as a clutch guy. After leading the Vikings down the field to a dramatic last-second win over Arizona during the preseason, wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson started calling him “Two-Minute Teddy.’’
The 1:57 left when Bridgewater got the ball back at his own 20 was almost exactly that amount of time. Bridgewater led the Vikings on a nine-play, 61-yard drive that culminated with a Blair Walsh 38-yard field goal on the final play of regulation to tie the score 13-13.
“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.
But before the Vikings did that, Bridgewater came close to throwing the game away. With 42 seconds left, Tampa Bay cornerback Jonathan Banks dropped an easy interception just past midfield.
All Buccaneers coach Lovie Smith could do after the game was shake his head and say, “It was just a huge play.’’ Meanwhile, Bridgewater offered up a quip.
“That’s why they play defensive back,’’ said Bridgewater, who completed 24 of 42 passes for 241 yards and a touchdown, a 17-yard pass to Jennings in the third quarter for a 10-0 lead.
There was plenty to laugh about on the Vikings’ side after they broke a three-game losing streak. A loss would have dropped them to 2-6 at the midpoint of the season and all but eliminated them from the playoff race.
“It was a must win,’’ said Vikings defensive end Brian Robison. “We came here and did what we needed to do.’’
Minnesota’s defense had a third straight solid game, having now given up an average of just 15.7 points during that period. The Buccaneers managed just 225 yards of total offense, and Glennon was sacked five times.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the afternoon was Tampa Bay’s defense, which came in last in the NFL in points and yards allowed. Perhaps Leslie Frazier, the Buccaneers’ defensive coordinator and Minnesota’s head coach a year ago, knew something about his old team that helped.
“We definitely have a hard time scoring points,’’ said Vikings coach Mike Zimmer, whose team at least did better than the 9.7 it had averaged during the three straight losses. “We’ve got to do a better job.’’
Still, Zimmer said the Vikings “protected much better’’ after giving up 19 sacks in the previous three games. Bridgewater was dropped just once.
Bridgewater’s afternoon was up and down. But he got ample help from running back Jerick McKinnon, who rushed for 83 yards on 16 carries, and Patterson, who broke out of a slump to catch six balls for 86 yards.
“It’s important,’’ Jennings said of protecting Bridgewater. “He has to be able to be standing up in order to make plays.’’
In the end, the Vikings were standing tall. After all, it was a walk-off win.
The Pioneer Press is a media partner with the Forum News Service