Late in the third quarter of the Vikings’ game Sunday at Soldier Field, the Fox broadcast mentioned a statistic so absurd that it would have held up as the most memorable part of the game if not for, well, the rest of the game.
RandBall: These aren’t the Dayton Triangles — or the same old Vikings
Just about every other incarnation of the Vikings in franchise history would have lost Sunday’s game, so it’s a tribute to Kevin O’Connell’s squad that they didn’t.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
November 25, 2024 at 7:24PM
The Vikings were near the Bears goal line, and it was revealed that they had gone 27 consecutive games without a rushing touchdown by a running back in the second half. It’s oddly specific and full of qualifiers, but then we learned they were creeping up on the record for such things.
The Dayton Triangles, who had a very rough go of it about 100 years ago in the early NFL, went 31 games without a rushing TD by a running back in the second half. That’s quite an accomplishment given how much teams used to run the ball back then, but it probably speaks to why the poor Triangles went 5-42-4 in their final seven seasons between 1923-29.
In any event, about 10 seconds after the Dayton Triangles’ claim to infamy was mentioned on the broadcast, Aaron Jones plunged into the end zone from two yards out to break the Vikings’ 27-game spell. All the descendants of the Triangles’ finest players could pop champagne, their record intact.
The Vikings led 24-10 at that point, seemingly well on their way to a comfortable win — as Patrick Reusse and I talked about on Monday’s Daily Delivery podcast.
Even when the Vikings had to settle for a field goal on a long drive later to make it 27-16, the game seemed well in hand. The Bears were out of timeouts and needed two scores with less than two minutes left. Not even the Dayton Triangles could mess this up.
And then, for Vikings fans, the bargaining began.
OK, the Bears got a long kickoff return. But they still have to go 40 yards.
OK, they converted a fourth down but they used a lot of clock.
OK, they scored a touchdown but there’s barely any time left.
OK, they got the two-point conversion, but they still need to recover the onside kick.
OK, they got the onside kick but they still need to get into field-goal range.
OK, they got into field-goal range but they still need to make it.
OK, now it’s overtime and the Vikings are going to lose for sure.
Almost every other Vikings team in history would have lost that game after giving up, improbably, 11 points in the final 22 seconds.
They would have lost the coin toss (as the Vikings did Sunday) and it would have been over in a minute.
But this one wasn’t. The Vikings got a quick defensive stop, then Sam Darnold went 6-of-6 for 90 yards on a long, gutsy drive. Their kicker split the uprights. And instead of a crushing loss it was a win, then a loss, and then a win again.
These are not the Dayton Triangles. And more importantly, these are not the same old Vikings.
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