By Jim Souhan

The Vikings fell to 1-7 on Sunday after threatening to win a game that would have threatened their position in the 2014 draft.

The secondary saved them. The secondary played admirably most of the day, holding down on of the league's best passing offenses, but again failed in the waning minutes, for the third time costing the Vikings a victory in the late going.

Tony Romo led the Cowboys on a game-winning, nine-play, 90-yard touchdown drive, torching a depleted Vikings secondary. On a day when the Cowboys looked lackluster and vulnerable, they did just enough to win.

The Vikings did plenty to lose. Kicker Blair Walsh missed an extra point, Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder fumbled in his own end zone to give the Cowboys an easy touchdown, and Ponder threw an inexplicable interception on one of the rare times the Cowboys pressured him.

The Vikings' defensive line played an impressive game and Adrian Peterson rushed for 140 yards and an inspiring late touchdown, but by the end of the game the Vikings still looked like a team looking for a quarterback.