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Rocky Mountain sigh: Overtime fumble spoils comeback
Vikings quarterback Tarvaris Jackson led a fourth-quarter comeback, then fumbled the ball away in overtime. The game was a must-win, but the Vikings were going to miss the playoffs anyway as Washington won handily.
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The Minnesota Vikings ended the season with an 8-8 record.
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DENVER – This is what average teams do. They take possession in the fourth quarter of a game with playoff implications and produce this run of plays: Completion, incomplete, incomplete, false start, false start and, finally, a safety.
Average teams disappoint you and then tease you with a surprise. After that mess of a series Sunday at Invesco Field, the Vikings scored 16 unanswered points to send what appeared to be a lost cause into overtime.
By definition, however, average teams can’t sustain success. Sunday, the Vikings needed only two plays in overtime to apply their final self-inflicted wound.
Quarterback Tarvaris Jackson followed the best quarter of his young career with a fumble on the second play of overtime, handing Denver a 22-19 victory in the regular-season finale. Jason Elam’s 30-yard field goal saddled the Vikings with an 8-8 record in the second season of the Brad Childress Era, making them an average team mathematically and otherwise.
The Vikings would have missed the playoffs even with a victory — Washington beating Dallas ensured that fate — but most Vikings were unaware of that result until after Elam’s kick.
“This group battled all year long,” Childress said. “The bottom line is my disappointment in not being able to take this team to the playoffs this year. I’d go back to the saying [former NFL coach] Bill Parcells always had: You are what your record says you are. We are an 8-8 football team.”
Ultimately, these Vikings proved a tease. Their disappointments outweighed their surprises. How else to describe a team that lost six of its first nine, then reeled off five consecutive victories but finished with two sloppy losses?
Sunday proved a microcosm of the seasonlong missteps that left them out of the 2007 playoffs.
Rookie tailback Adrian Peterson was benched for the first drive because he was late for a team bus, afterward managing only 36 rushing yards to continue his late-season slowdown. Meanwhile, his Vikings teammates lost two sure touchdowns — one when officials ruled that tailback Chester Taylor fumbled before scoring on a 3-yard run in the first quarter, and another when wide-open receiver Troy Williamson dropped what would have been a sure 72-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
The Vikings trailed 19-3 after tackle Ryan Cook’s personal foul in the end zone led to a safety with 13 minutes, 4 seconds remaining in the game. Jackson led a furious comeback, hitting receiver Bobby Wade for touchdown passes of 5 and 22 yards, while also converting a pair of two-point conversions on scrambles.
Recent Access Vikings stories
| Date/Opponent | Time | W | L | Score |
| Sep 13 - at Cleveland | 12:00 PM | 1 | 0 | 34-20 |
| Sep 20 - at Detroit | 12:00 PM | 2 | 0 | 27-13 |
| Sep 27 - vs. San Francisco | 12:00 PM | 3 | 0 | 27-24 |
| Oct 5 - vs. Green Bay | 7:30 PM | 4 | 0 | 30-23 |
| Oct 11 - at St. Louis | 12:00 PM | 5 | 0 | 38-10 |
| Oct 18 - vs. Baltimore | 12:00 PM | 6 | 0 | 33-31 |
| Oct 25 - at Pittsburgh | 12:00 PM | 6 | 1 | 17-27 |
| Nov 1 - at Green Bay | 3:15 PM | 7 | 1 | 38-26 |
| Open | ||||
| Nov 15 - vs. Detroit | 12:00 PM | 8 | 1 | 27-10 |
| Nov 22 - vs. Seattle | 12:00 PM | 9 | 1 | 35-9 |
| Nov 29 - vs. Chicago | 3:15 PM | 10 | 1 | 36-10 |
| Dec 6 - at Arizona | 7:20 PM | 10 | 2 | 17-30 |
| Dec 13 - vs. Cincinnati | 12:00 PM | 11 | 2 | 30-10 |
| Dec 20 - at Carolina | 7:20 PM | 11 | 3 | 7-26 |
| Dec 28 - at Chicago | 7:30 PM | 11 | 4 | 30-36 |
| Jan 3 - vs. NY Giants | 12:00 PM | 12 | 4 | 44-7 |
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