Vikings Game Today, Final: Bills Wear Down Minnesota 23-6, Cook Runs for 107 and the Only Second-Half Touchdown
Buffalo closed Week 9 with a 23-6 win in Minneapolis on Monday night, holding the ball for more than 42 minutes, forcing three turnovers and holding Minnesota without a touchdown as the Bills improved to an AFC-best 7-1 and the Vikings fell to 6-2.
Monday Night Football ended the way the halftime file in this desk suggested it might: slowly, and then all at once in Buffalo's favor. The Bills beat the Minnesota Vikings 23-6 at U.S. Bank Stadium to close Week 9, a game that sat at 10-6 at halftime and never produced a Minnesota touchdown. James Cook III carried 31 times for 107 yards and the game's only second-half touchdown, and Josh Allen completed 21 of 31 passes for 234 yards with one touchdown and one interception, according to Reuters' game file, read in full this run. Buffalo ran 79 plays, gained 399 yards and held the ball for 42 minutes and 32 seconds against Minnesota's 17:28 — a possession gap that explained the night better than the score did.
The scoring came in a thin line. Tyler Bass opened it with a 39-yard field goal late in a scoreless first quarter, Will Reichard answered from 43 yards to tie it 3-3, and Allen capped an eight-play hurry-up drive with a 25-yard touchdown pass to tight end Keleki Latu with 44 seconds left in the half — Latu's first career touchdown. Reichard's 53-yarder, five seconds before halftime, cut it to 10-6. After the break, Bass added a 25-yard field goal at the end of a 14-play, 83-yard drive, Cook powered in from five yards out at the end of a 15-play, 84-yard drive to make it 20-6 with 6:17 left, and Bass closed the scoring from 52 yards with 4:40 remaining.
Minnesota's offense never found the game. Carson Wentz, starting for the injured Kyler Murray, completed only eight of 25 passes for 81 yards with two interceptions, and the Vikings committed three turnovers in all, went 0-for-8 on third down and were out-converted 7-for-18 by Buffalo, per the Vikings' own game-observations file. Justin Jefferson was held to three catches for 58 yards on 11 targets, and Max Brosmer replaced Wentz late, going 6-of-7 for 58 yards. The Vikings, who started the season with six straight wins, have now lost back-to-back games and fall to 6-2 and out of first place in the NFC North. Buffalo improves to 7-1, the AFC's best record — and for the 4-5 Cowboys, watching from the NFC's tenth seed, the top of the conference they are chasing got no easier on Monday night.
