I’m not sure I’ve witnessed a more infuriating loss in the past decade than what I watched today.
Coming into today, all we heard was “Is Josh Allen going to play”… Well we got our answer shortly before kickoff, he was.
The offense went 3-and-out on their opening possession but closed out the first half with 24 points and rode the momentum into the locker room.
(Key Devin Singletary fumble deep in Minnesota territory would cost Buffalo points with about 3 minutes left in the 2nd quarter).
Minnesota opened the second half with Kirk Cousins throwing an interception and Buffalo taking over at basically midfield.
Buffalo would squander this opportunity with a costly holding call to start the drive eventually leading to a quick 3-and -out.
The Bills would add a Tyler Bass field goal with 1:56 left in the 3rd quarter to go up 27-10.
But the entire game would shift on Minnesota’s next offensive play… Dalvin Cook takes the handoff from Kirk and goes 81 yards to the house to cut the lead to 27-17.
Buffalo would kick off the fourth quarter driving and would end up going for it on 4th and 2 from the Vikings 7 yard line (rather than take the easy 3 points). Josh Allen would be intercepted in the end zone and returned 39 yards.
Minnesota would capitalize and drive down the field and score a second consecutive touchdown (but would miss a key extra point) to bring the score to 27-23.
Buffalo would get the ball back and settle for a quick 3 and out giving the ball back to a red-hot Vikings offense with 3:26 left in regulation.
Minnesota would again march down the field and the game would come down to a 4th and goal on the 1/2-yard line and 50 seconds left in the game (so we thought)… Buffalo’s defense stiffened up and stuffed Cousins on an attempted QB sneak! Buffalo would take over on downs from the 1-yard line and needing to run out the remaining 50 seconds…
Well, that was too much to ask, as Josh Allen would fumble the snap under center and the Vikings would recover in the end zone for a touchdown… Taking a 30-27 lead with 49 seconds remaining in regulation.
Buffalo would dink and dunk their way into field goal range and would tie the game at 30 with only 2 seconds left in regulation.
Onto overtime we went… Buffalo lost the coin toss (shocker) and the defense would surrender a go-ahead field goal to go up 33-30.
The Bills would drive down into field goal range on their next possession but we all knew they weren’t going to settle for 3. As a result, Josh Allen would throw a second end zone interception, ending the game.
As I said to my fellow writers, this team needs to do some soul-searching if they think they’re going to win this division or even make the playoffs. Players yes, but coaching for sure as well.
The Bills drop to 6-3 on the season and will play host to the Cleveland Browns next Sunday.
I’m off to have a few Labatt Blues and cry.
-Jason Harris