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The Vikings beat the Lions on Sunday, but ... they missed an extra point, had a field goal blocked, completely mismanaged the clock at the end of regulation and allowed Golden Tate to score a touchdown he had no business scoring in overtime. So, where it counted most, Minnesota lost.

The Lions won 22-16, but only because the Vikings couldn't stop making critical mistakes.

When Minnesota appeared to tie the game in the third quarter, Blair Walsh missed the extra point to keep the score at 10-9. When Walsh tried to redeem himself with a go-ahead 46-yard field goal, his kick was blocked.

Despite those errors, the Vikings had the game won. With 46 seconds remaining, the Vikings had the football at the Lions' 2-yard line. Trailing by four points, the Vikings handed the ball to Matt Asiata. He was stopped short of the goal line, but the Viking still had two more downs to get into the end zone. Meanwhile, the Lions were out of timeouts.

So, the Vikings could run out the remaining time on the clock so that their next two plays would essentially be the final two plays of the game. If the Vikings scored, they did not want to give the Lions any time to mount a quick game-tying drive.

The Vikings could run out the clock, but they didn't do that. Instead of running their third-down play with 15 or so seconds left, they called a timeout with 27 seconds remaining. Keep in mind: The Vikings still had their third timeout available to them. There was no reason to call a timeout with 27 seconds showing on the clock. They had enough time to snap the ball with 15 or so seconds left, get stuffed and call a timeout to set up another play.

The Vikings scored on that third-down play, taking a three-point lead with 23 seconds remaining. And that was enough time for Matthew Stafford to lead the Lions down to the Vikings' 40-yard line. Matt Prater drilled the 58-yard field goal as time expired, sending the game into overtime.


The Lions won the coin toss and took the ball to begin overtime. They won the game 11 plays later, when Golden Tate turned what should've been a first down into a winning touchdown. Tate caught the sideline pass between two defenders, tapped his toes in bounds and proceeded to waltz into the end zone.

Just kidding. He back-flipped into the end zone as Vikings safety Andrew Sendejo tried to save the game.

And that's how the Lions stole a win. As a result, the NFC North is officially wide open.