Vikings finish off Aaron Rodgers, Jets with a defensive flourish and head into bye week 5-0

LONDON — The 17-point lead the Vikings once held had shrunk to six, and the New York Jets had crossed the Minnesota 30-yard line in the final minute of the game. The Vikings’ 31st and possibly final meeting with Aaron Rodgers, their longest-standing nemesis, seemed perilously close to ending with one more shot of pain.

Rodgers dropped back against a four-man rush and targeted wide receiver Mike Williams in single coverage against Stephon Gilmore, the 34-year-old five-time Pro Bowl pick the Vikings signed this past offseason to shore up a secondary that lost two late-season games on last-minute touchdown passes a year ago.

Back-shoulder throws, Gilmore knew from his three previous matchups against the quarterback, were Rodgers’ specialty. The Vikings spent all week drilling them, safety Camryn Bynum said, in hopes they could avoid being victimized by him.

Rodgers underthrew the ball to Williams. Gilmore turned his head to find it and cradled it as he fell to his back, sealing a 23-17 win Sunday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The 1,004th, and possibly final, pass the future Hall of Fame quarterback would throw against the Vikings ensured they would bid him farewell with his first three-interception game against them.

“You think back to last year,” coach Kevin O’Connell said. “If you insert ‘Gilly’ into some of those moments, you can get a little stickier with your coverage. He’s really kind of on an island, as we’re trying to worry about where Garrett Wilson is. He knows the ball might find him in those moments, and he’s ready to not only make the play but catch the football.

“You have to have finishers.”

How many times, in the 16 years since Rodgers beat the Vikings in his first NFL start, could that sentence have been a lament? How many players had moments seared into their hippocampus in which the quarterback was just a bit better than them?

Rodgers was in pursuit of his 11th game with three or more touchdown passes against the Vikings. On his first one of the day, he’d dusted off one of his classics to win a duel with Harrison Smith, moving to his right after eluding Andrew Van Ginkel and firing a dart to Allen Lazard once his footwork had lured Smith out of his spot in coverage.

“Vintage Rodgers,” Smith said. “And I know better [than to follow his footwork], but you don’t play Rodgers every week.”

The Vikings would get the last word against the quarterback this time, though, because they had acquired the finishers O’Connell and defensive coordinator Brian Flores knew they needed. The game ended in Gilmore’s hands; Van Ginkel, signed as a free agent this past offseason, put the Vikings up 10-0 with his second interception return TD of the year, lining up over right guard Alijah Vera-Tucker as part of an all-out blitz look before dropping into Rodgers’ throwing lane and snatching the quick post throw he’d meant for Wilson.

The Vikings sacked Rodgers three times and hit him 11, frustrating the 40-year-old with consistent pressure and nearly sending him into the medical tent after a third-quarter hit from Patrick Jones II that Rodgers said left him with a low ankle sprain.

The Vikings again built a big first-half margin. Their running game fizzled when Aaron Jones left because of a right hip injury, and after facilitating the Jets’ comeback with special teams mistakes and a fourth-quarter interception thrown by Sam Darnold, they needed every bit of the grit they could muster to leave London with a 5-0 record as a steady mist picked up and Rodgers flicked short throws ahead of their pressure.

They could enjoy their free Sunday night in London and their 4,000-mile flight home because of the play Gilmore made to seal it.

“We were just telling each other: ‘Somebody’s got to make a play. It’s going to come down to us,’” he said. “One of us is going to make it, and it was me today. We’re built for those moments. We’re not always going to be up by 14, 20 points. If we’ve got to win it at the end and make a play, we’ve got to do it.”

Early on Sunday, it appeared the Vikings wouldn’t need the late-game escape. They held the Jets without a first down in the first quarter, becoming the first team to intercept Rodgers twice in the first quarter of a game. Van Ginkel’s 63-yard interception return came first, staking the Vikings to a 10-0 lead, and Bynum snatched an overthrown pass intended for Lazard on the next series.

In the second quarter, Darnold hit Justin Jefferson for 27 yards, and the wide receiver drew one of the three pass interference penalties the Vikings accepted against a grabby Jets secondary, this one when D.J. Reed latched onto him near the goal line. The Vikings finished the drive with C.J. Ham scoring on a short handoff, on a clever play design in which Jalen Nailor’s jet motion and Darnold’s fake pitch to Ty Chandler pulled several Jets players out of the middle of the field.

But after the Vikings forced a Jets punt, Jay Ward was flagged for an illegal block, forcing the Vikings to start the drive at their own 9. A delay-of-game penalty pushed them back to the 5. When the drive stalled, Xavier Gipson returned Ryan Wright’s punt to the Vikings 31, putting New York in position to score before halftime on Rodgers’ throw to Lazard.

The Vikings ran only 10 plays in the third quarter, losing Jones on their first possession after halftime and punting on their first two possessions. They had stopped the Jets after the two pressures that sent Rodgers toward the medical tent, but Ivan Pace Jr. was flagged for roughing the punter.

“I’ve got to take a look at it,” O’Connell said, “but it seemed pretty standard as far as [hitting] the plant leg of the punter. We just got a big-time stop right there, a chance to have the field position. Those are kind of the real [momentum] movers in the game, those types of penalties.”

It extended a Jets drive that covered 83 yards in 17 plays and ended with a field goal by Greg Zuerlein to make the score 17-10. But on subsequent Vikings drives, Darnold, who finished just 14-for-31 for 179 yards, overthrew Jordan Addison and Jefferson on deep balls, before missing Addison on an in-breaking route that Brandin Echols intercepted with 9:47 left and the Vikings leading 20-10. Soon, the Jets had cut the lead to three.

“There were definitely opportunities there that I missed,” Darnold said. “We’ll watch the tape and get better that way. But again, there’s a lot of opportunity out there to be had.”

O’Connell has talked recently about how his aggressive play-calling reflects his confidence in his players, and Sunday, he said the deep shots were a countermove against a Jets secondary that continued to play tight coverage and take away quick throws.

“We’re live in a world where we can maybe use that against them and get the ball downfield,” he said. “We took some shots, and what happens is, when those are incomplete, a lot of times you’re either falling into second-and-long or third-and-long. You throw in a couple presnap penalties, it’s going to be tough sledding, a play or two away from looking differently.”

With the ball in Rodgers’ hands late in the game, the Vikings were a play or two away from a loss. Gilmore came up with the one play that would take them to 5-0 and maintain their perfect record in London.

“It’s easy to say that [you know what’s coming], but to go out there and make the play, that’s a different deal, man,” Smith said. “There aren’t many people in the world who can do that. That’s why he’s here.”

After the interception, O’Connell hugged Flores on the sideline. “I just love doing football with him, simple as that,” O’Connell said.

“I have ultimate trust in our defense,” he added. “That’s why we went and got Gilly, to put a game away, tight coverage like that, and makes a hell of a catch there, so we’re kneeling it out for win number five.”

The Vikings exchanged postgame greetings with their longtime foe, and players filed into the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium locker rooms while Prince’s “Purple Rain” played over the sound system. Vikings fans lingered in the late afternoon London mist, singing along with the song’s cathartic falsetto after Gilmore shielded them from one last Rodgers heartbreak.

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