The Vikings survived comeback attempts by Jared Goff and Sam Darnold to get to 3-3 before their bye week. The quarterback they ultimately could not stop was Cooper Rush, owner of one NFL regular-season completion before Sunday night.
Rush, making his first NFL start for Dallas in place of the injured Dak Prescott, directed an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive in the game's final minutes, hitting Amari Cooper on a 5-yard end-zone fade over Cameron Dantzler for a touchdown that delivered the kind of stunning defeat the Vikings had managed to stave off in two games before the bye.
The Vikings have now blown second-half leads in their past three games; they never led by more than seven on Sunday night, but let the Cowboys (6-1) creep back into the game. The Vikings went 1-for-13 on third downs; their 7.6% conversion rate was the worst single-game mark in the NFL this season, and they went three-and-out on three consecutive drives in the second half.
"We've got to quit just hanging in games," Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen said. "Every game we just hang around, hang around, hang around, let a team hang around, instead of just putting our foot on the gas and going. We went down and scored on the first drive; we have to put our foot on the gas. I don't know what we need to do that, but we've been saying that since Week 1."
The Vikings began the game willing to test the Cowboys defense downfield, but drifted into a conservative offensive approach throughout the night. They lost defensive end Danielle Hunter to a shoulder injury just before halftime, and their sack leader watched the second half in street clothes, as Rush got more comfortable testing the Vikings secondary.
The quarterback completed 14 of his 23 second-half passes for 225 yards and a pair of touchdowns, gaining confidence as the Vikings offense seemed to pull back.
Kirk Cousins went 16 of 20 for only 79 yards in the second half. His average throw, according to NFL Next Gen Stats, traveled only 4.2 yards downfield.
"I think it was a combination of coverage and pressure," Cousins said of the Vikings' lack of downfield shots in the second half. "I think you trust your reads, you trust the way you've played. You also understand the situation of the game, and understand how you need to play."