Vikings, now 8-2, shake off the tense moments in a 23-13 win over the Titans

NASHVILLE — The Vikings won Sunday for the eighth time in a season in which oddsmakers set their over-under at 6.5 wins. Their victory, their third in a row over an AFC South opponent with a losing record, was something less than spectacular.

As the singer who made her first millions in Nashville before becoming a global superstar and the NFL’s most famous significant other might say, it was a champagne problem.

Though the Vikings’ 23-13 victory over the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium was their first win by double digits since Sept. 22, it paled in comparison with the 27-point romp over the Houston Texans that helped make them a surprise early entrant to the NFC’s list of contenders. It came with tenuous moments, just like their previous wins over the Jacksonville Jaguars and Indianapolis Colts, and sent them home with familiar issues to fix.

The Vikings averaged a season-low 2.5 yards per rush, as their offensive line (with Dalton Risner replacing Ed Ingram at right guard) struggled to handle standout Tennessee defensive tackles Jeffery Simmons and T’Vondre Sweat. The Titans sacked Sam Darnold only twice and hit him four times, but their pressures had the quarterback on the move, either to escape on three scrambles or to throw on the run.

On Sunday, though, the Vikings avoided giving a two-win opponent enough oxygen to chase them down.

The Vikings (8-2), who had turned the ball over six times in their previous two games, shook off a fumble on a botched toss play from Darnold to Aaron Jones in the first quarter and went the final 50 minutes without a giveaway. When they allowed the Titans (2-8) to get to within six points on Will Levis’ 98-yard stunner to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Darnold directed a 65-yard drive (with the help of a third-and-11 illegal contact penalty on Jarvis Brownlee Jr. on Justin Jefferson) that put the Vikings back up by 13.

Their defense ended the Titans’ last three possessions with a fourth-down Patrick Jones II sack, a fourth-down Levis incompletion with pressure from Jones and Jihad Ward, and the 36th career interception from Harrison Smith. The Knoxville, Tenn., native spun the ball on the Vikings’ sideline in celebration before Ivan Pace Jr. retrieved the memento and handed it to a team staffer for safekeeping.

Smith had both the ball from the interception and the game ball he had been presented by coach Kevin O’Connell under his arms as he left the locker room after a victory the 13-year veteran knew not to take for granted.

“I think at this point in my career, there’s no homecoming games out here,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what people’s records are. Everybody has Pro Bowlers, everybody can score on one play like what happened today. There’s no easy buckets. You have to be locked in, and they all count as one. That is my mindset. It’s not thinking about too much of it, just being present. It’s kind of cliché, but that’s just the reality of it.”

The Vikings defense pressured Levis on 46.4% of his dropbacks, according to NFL Next Gen Stats, generating five sacks when they rushed four or fewer. Levis beat their blitz on the 98-yard score in the third quarter, throwing deep from the Titans end zone while Josh Metellus got turned around in coverage.

Playing behind a feeble offensive line, though, the second-year quarterback operated under strife almost immediately. The Vikings pressured him four times on five dropbacks to start the game. Tennessee got the ball in position to score on its second drive after Darnold’s fumble, but a sack by Blake Cashman forced the Titans to settle for a field goal.

“Regardless of how experienced a quarterback is, I think I called it organized chaos earlier in the week,” Cashman said. “It’s just creating that stress for everybody that’s involved in the protection. We want to dictate what the quarterback has to do. So they made some plays and they executed. But, you know, that’s what this game came down to: playing physical, and then who was going to be the one to execute at a higher level, especially in the second half.”

The Titans’ penalties also helped the Vikings maintain their margin. Tennessee was flagged 13 times, giving up 91 yards on penalties and losing a 51-yard touchdown late in the third quarter when practice squad call-up Isaiah Prince was called for the second of his three illegal formation penalties of the day, nullifying Levis’ strike to Calvin Ridley.

Both of Brownlee’s penalties against Jefferson gave the Vikings third-down conversions. His pass interference infraction in the first half preceded Darnold’s 47-yard touchdown throw to Jordan Addison on the dagger concept the quarterback likes so much.

On the Vikings’ second touchdown drive of the first half, Sweat jumped offside before Tennessee stopped Darnold on a fourth-down quarterback sneak. Four plays later, Darnold threw for Addison in the back of the end zone, where safety Mike Brown leveled the wide receiver, drawing an unnecessary roughness call for a hit Titans coach Brian Callahan contended was legal.

Callahan stormed onto the field, arguing with three officials like a baseball manager screaming at an umpire and earning an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to go with Brown’s personal foul. Darnold scored on a quarterback sneak on the next play, making it 13-3 before Parker Romo suffered the Vikings’ first extra-point miss of the year.

“They get in those moments, and they just let you yell at them,” Callahan said. “They don’t really say much. So, at that point, the call had already been made, we already had a first down, so I figured I’d let them hear. It wasn’t going to cost me anything at that point.”

O’Connell, who has had his own frustrations with officials lately, could sympathize.

“Although maybe those went heavily in our favor today, I’ve had some dialogue about some other plays over the last few weeks as well,” he said. “I’ve learned whatever I say really does not matter. They’re trying to do the best they can. The game is happening fast out there. Replay assist is stepping in when they can to help correct some things that happen fast.

“But they’ve got a tough job. And fortunately [for us], some of those plays were big. But I do know that we still did execute and still did get off the field there on some fourth downs and [took] the ball away at the end.”

The Vikings bled the final 1:50 with Smith receiving congratulations as the hometown hero, salting away their eighth win of a season that, as O’Connell was quick to point out, began with low expectations.

With those modest beginnings as a backdrop, gripes about the aesthetics of a victory seemed like welcome problems.

“I’m old enough to remember when nobody thought we were very good. So, the same way that I answered that question, I’ll answer it now: We just got to continue to get better and prove it. 8-2 means absolutely nothing,” O’Connell said. “We know that we’re a good team. We have confidence in that. But that’s been the name of the game all season long. It’s just understanding where we can improve based upon performances like today, where we do get the win. And keep stacking chances to win football games and then finding ways to do it.”

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