Border Battle Results in ‘Confidence’ Boost, ‘A’…

The Vikings bagged back-to-back wins to get back to .500, most recently defeating the Packers with a walk-off field goal at U.S. Bank Stadium Sunday.

It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t pretty every step of the way, but a monster game from Justin Jefferson and refusal by Minnesota to give up in the final minutes lifted the team over Green Bay.

ESPN asked its beat reporters to weigh in on their respective teams’ Week 11 performances, and Courtney Cronin spoke largely favorably about Minnesota. After a confidence rating (0-10) of 4.5 last week, she jumped all the way up to a 7 after Sunday’s outing. Cronin wrote:

The Vikings beat the best team in the NFC by hanging on late and staying aggressive on offense. If they can beat San Francisco in Week 12, the rest of their schedule favors them securing another postseason bid.

Cronin summarized the win by highlighting the offensive performance, saying the unit “answered the bell” in the “wild, back-and-forth” contest.

Minnesota built off its win over the Chargers by continuing to establish an identity by getting the ball to its playmakers, and Justin Jefferson keeps taking his game up a notch. The second-year receiver caught eight passes for 169 yards and two touchdowns and was at 100 yards receiving at the end of the first quarter. Teams will always throw added defenders Jefferson’s way, but the Vikings got creative in getting him open by lining him up in the backfield before sending him out on a shallow route over the middle on his first touchdown. Jefferson also drew a 37-yard pass interference in the first half that set up Adam Thielen’s touchdown. Cousins utilized his top two receivers, with Thielen contributing eight catches for 82 yards and the TD.

The Vikings win doesn’t eliminate all concerns, though. Cronin pointed out that Minnesota once again lost hold of a double-digit lead, ultimately enduring yet another nail-biter.