The red-hot Denver Broncos extended their winning streak to four games with a big win against the Minnesota Vikings in Denver last Sunday night, November 19th. The Broncos have had an impressive turnaround to their season going from 1-5 to going 5-5 with the win against the Vikings. The Broncos came into the game very hot with impressive wins against the Chiefs and the Bills the past two games.
The Broncos had a great start to the game after forcing a fumble by Josh Dobbs which was recovered by Ja’Quan McMillian were unable to find the end zone in the first half, but kicker Wil Lutz went 3/3 with field goal attempts. Vikings were able to find the end zone from a 3-yard pass from Josh Dobbs after dodging a couple of tackles to tight end Josh Oliver at the beginning of the 2nd quarter. The two teams went into the half with the Vikings leading 10-9. The first half also involved a questionable hit by Denver cornerback, Kareem Jackson on Josh Dobbs but no penalty was called.
The Vikings did not seem to ever get going in the game after they had 2 scoring possessions again in the second half with Greg Joseph’s second kick of the game and a 10-yard scramble touchdown by Josh Dobbs in the 3rd quarter. Wil Lutz continued an impressive night with two more field goals, going 5/5 on the night. Josh Dobbs had a tough second half after the touchdown and threw an interception to Ja’Quan McMillian for his second takeaway of the night. Denver was very patient throughout the night and eventually was able to take advantage of Minnesota’s offensive mistakes with a 15-yard touchdown from Russel Wilson to wide receiver Courtland Sutton with a little over a minute remaining in the game to make it 21-20. The Broncos went for a 2-point conversion but were unable to convert. But, the Vikings were not able to convert anything on their final drive of the game.
Two players who stood out tonight on both teams were cornerback Patrick Surtain ll from the Broncos and rookie running back Ty Chandler from the Vikings. Patrick Surtain ll gave current Vikings WR1 Jordan Addison a tough night who only had 3 receptions for 44 yards. Surtain also had 3 tackles. Vikings fans expected a big game for Ty Chandler after he had a breakout game against the New Orleans Saints a week prior and Alexander Mattison going into Sunday Night’s game questionable. Mattison eventually played, but Chandler was the one who stood out with 73 rushing yards and 37 receiving yards with four receptions, including a 31-yard rush on a fake punt.
Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell was not impressed with there being to flag called on Kareem Jackson’s hit on Dobbs and he told Star Tribune, “On the field, it felt like that. I’ll have to go back and look at it. Coming from the second level the way he did, it seemed like a pretty direct helmet-to-helmet hit but I’m sure they saw it differently.”
Jackson was eventually suspended for four weeks because of the hit which now means he has been punished by the NFL for the 4th time this season. The Broncos will look to continue their hot streak next week as the Vikings will look for a comeback win after a tough loss.
