November 14, 2005
Going into halftime of their game against the Giants, the Vikings led 7-6. The odd thing about that is, they only had six yards of total offense -- those points came on an interception runback.
Thinking this couldn't possibly last, I watched them take the second-half opening kickoff... and run it back 80 yards for another touchdown. Total points, 14. Total yards, still 6.
And after they managed to get more yards than points, the Vikes showed me what is probably the longest third-down yards-to-go I've ever seen. The Vikings receiver pushed off in the end zone, making it 1st and 20. Then Mike Tice ran out on the field to argue, which is an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty. Since it was after the play, it didn't cancel out the offensive pass interference. Now it's 1st and 35.
Then they re-ran the down and lost a yard. 2nd and 36. Then the had an incomplete pass, which was the best play on that set of downs. Then an offensive lineman jumped, making it 3rd and 41. At that point I was rooting for them to get a holding penalty on third (they wound up gaining two on a screen pass) so they could have more than half the field to go.
