On Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings winning over the Green Bay Packers seemed unlikely for much of the game. A touchdown late in the third quarter by the Vikings, followed by a dominant fourth quarter, gave Minnesota an unexpected come-from-behind win over its division rival.
While not an exact facsimile of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ game against the Houston Rockets on March 25, there are similarities. Both Minnesota teams looked certain to take an L but instead they came away with stunning wins.
Two awesome comebacks from Minnesota teams in six months
Let’s refresh our memories about what went down for the Wolves on March 25. On that day, they defeated the Rockets in overtime.
It wasn’t a typical overtime win, though; it was an unprecedented one for the Timberwolves. Tied at 95 entering the extra frame, Houston scored the next 13 points over the first two minutes. All Minnesota did to respond to Houston’s scoring rampage was score the next 15 points over three minutes to win by two.
That was the largest overtime comeback since at least the 1997–98 season, the start of the play-by-play era.
According to OptaStats, the Vikings became the first NFL team on Sunday to trail by 12 or more points with fewer than 20 minutes remaining and win by at least 17 points. Trailing 22-10 late in the third quarter, Minnesota would go on to score the last 29 points of the game, winning 39-22.
The Timberwolves were without their superstar, Anthony Edwards, for that game against the Rockets, as he was out with a knee injury. Ayo Dosunmu was also injured and didn’t play, Jaden McDaniels left the game with an injury, and Naz Reid was ejected early in overtime.
While new Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray doesn’t have that level of stardom in his sport, he was forced out of the game during the Vikings’ second offensive series due to a potential concussion.
Both teams used turnovers to help secure their miraculous wins. The Vikings used a lost fumble and an interception from Green Bay to score two short-field touchdowns. Two late turnovers by the Rockets in overtime led to five points from Donte DiVincenzo.
The New York Knicks taught the world in last season’s playoffs that no lead is safe with their incredible come-from-behind wins in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals and Game 4 of the NBA Finals. These two games from Minnesota teams in different sports are just two more examples of why fans shouldn’t tune out if they believe their favorite team has an insurmountable deficit.
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