'Sunday Night Football' highlights: Vikings defeat Colts 21-13 to halt 2-game skid

On a night of many mistakes by Sam Darnold, the Vikings quarterback effectively ends the game with a beautiful throw, on the run to the left, to Josh Oliver for a 14-yard touchdown. Darnold has thrown for 290 yards on 28-of-34 passing. He has three touchdowns to two interceptions.

Indianapolis passes on 4th-and-2 at the Minnesota 40 and is stopped when a pair of Vikings defensive backs sandwich Joe Flacco’s intended target. Minnesota takes over leading 14-10 and with 5:20 to burn in the fourth quarter.

It’s Minnesota 14, Indianapolis 10 with 12:41 to go in the fourth quarter after Matt Gay’s field goal from 42 yards for the Colts. Indianapolis used the short field it was given after Sam Darnold’s interception and quickly takes advantage.

Five combined turnovers tonight between these teams.

So much for that opportunity given the Vikings. Right after the Colts turned the ball over with an interception, Sam Darnold threw his second interception of the night to give the ball right back to Indianapolis. After such a promising start to this season, is Darnold regressing to the mean?

Flacco is intercepted when his throw all the way to the left sideline was well short of his intended target, and that is a potentially costly mistake with Minnesota looking to now extend its lead to two touchdowns. With only 14 minutes left in this game and the Colts already struggling to score, it can’t afford to play from behind for long.

Justin Jefferson drew the attention of the Colts secondary, allowing Jalen Nailor to catch a 7-yard pass and stroll into the end zone for a 14-7 Vikings lead, with 2:49 to go in the third quarter.

The drive lasted nine plays and 80 yards. After being held scoreless through the first half, Minnesota has scored a touchdown on each of its first two drives of the third quarter.

Minnesota scores its first touchdown of the night with 10 minutes to go in the third quarter on an unreal display of focus by Vikings receiver Jordan Addison from four yards out. The ball was bobbled before Addison hauled it in, one-handed, while still diving.

Well, this is certainly unexpected. Despite gaining 194 yards, Minnesota finishes a first half with fewer than 10 points for the first time this season. Two missed field goals, an interception and a fumble hampered the Vikings. For the Colts, meanwhile, a fumble ended one drive and a missed field goal another. The Colts gained 92 yards in the first half.

That look of resignation on Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell’s face is the result of watching kicker Will Reichard miss a second field goal in this game. This time, it was from 31 yards, pushed to the right. Reichard had made every kick he’d attempted this season entering tonight, making this extremely unusual.

Colts kicker Matt Gay misses a 53-yard field goal with 2:00 remaining before halftime. Gay, notably, is now 1-4 this season on kicks from 50-plus. The miss ends a drive that started because of Minnesota’s own missed field goal and only traveled 22 yards over its next seven plays.

These teams are having a hard time taking advantage of mistakes. Indianapolis turns the ball over early...and Minnesota throws a pick. The Vikings miss a field goal...the Colts come right back and do the same.

Indianapolis holds onto its 7-0 lead after Will Reichard misses a 53-yard field goal, wide right, with 5:50 left before halftime. Reichard had been 4-of-4 on kicks longer than 50 yards this season.

Sam Darnold’s two turnovers tonight (a first-quarter interception, and second-quarter fumble) are a reminder that one thing that had held Darnold back his first six seasons was his turnovers.

Darnold has 90 career touchdowns (rushing and receiving combined) but also 62 interceptions and 44 fumbles. Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell deserves credit for creating an offensive system that has allowed Darnold to minimize those mistakes up to this point.

Colts 7, Vikings 0 after defensive tackle Grover Stewart mauled his way through the Vikings’ offensive line and forced QB Sam Darnold to fumble. The fumble was recovered by Kenny Moore and ran back for a touchdown after 36 yards.

Minnesota entered this game leading the NFL with 10.3 points scored per first quarter, while Indianapolis ranked fourth, with 5.6. Yet the opening quarter ends in Minneapolis with zero points after drives have started with some promising chunk plays, only to peter out. Joe Flacco is 3-of-4 passing, and Sam Darnold is 9-of-10, but it hasn’t translated on the scoreboard.

Some boos can be heard inside Minnesota’s home stadium after Sam Darnold throws the sixth interception of his season, ending the Vikings’ first drive. It’s not just that he turned it over, but where: Colts linebacker Zaire Franklin caught the pass in the end zone. Minnesota loses out on getting at least a field goal.

The Vikings are heavily favored and 5-2. A win for Indianapolis (4-4) would boost their playoff hopes as they try to keep pace with teams including Denver (5-4) and the Chargers (5-3) ahead of them in the standings. The Vikings were the upstart of the league while starting 5-0 but consecutive losses have dampened some of the enthusiasm, and they need to turn things around.

Indianapolis fumbles the ball away on a bad handoff exchange and Minnesota recovers five plays into the game. Joe Flacco had thrown a nice completion for 22 yards two plays before.

Zaire Franklin was in the spotlight this week for comments he made on his podcast about teammate Anthony Richardson’s decision to remove himself from last week’s game for being “tired.” (“Where I’m at with it, is he said, ‘I ain’t gonna lie, I was tired,’” Franklin said. “Lie.”)

Franklin later said he still views Richardson as the future of the organization and said he could empathize as a rookie-year starter who was later benched.

No longer: Franklin’s 87 tackles this season rank second in the NFL. That total includes 29 solo tackles. Franklin is coming off of seasons in which he finished with 147 tackles in 2022, and 159 tackles last season.

Minnesota quarterback Sam Darnold was in sixth grade when his Colts counterpart tonight, Joe Flacco, made his NFL debut in 2008. At 39, Flacco still has a place in the league because he has protected the football with Indianapolis, throwing one interception in 108 attempts this season.

Both Indianapolis and Minnesota rank in the league’s bottom third defensively in allowing rushing yards, with the Colts giving up an average of 227 yards, and the Vikings 263, which is the NFL’s third-worst average. Can either team take advantage? Neither has been a monster on the ground so far.

The blind-side protection of left tackle is a right-handed quarterback’s best friend. Tonight the Colts won’t have left tackle Bernhard Raimann, however, after he was ruled out for a concussion. Raimann didn’t practice leading up to the game. A rookie, Matt Goncalves, or 2023 draft pick Blake Freeland could fill in.

Colts fans entered the season optimistic Anthony Richardson would be their franchise quarterback for years to come. But after being benched this week for subpar play in favor of Joe Flacco, questions remain about how long he'll be in Indianapolis.

According to reports, multiple teams have reached out to inquire about what it would take to get Richardson but it is doubtful he gets dealt. Richardson is still learning the position and boasts potential for greatness if it comes together. The question is whether it’ll ever come together.

The Indy Star reported the team has no intentions of moving on from Richardson.

After starting the season 5-0, they have lost two straight. During that undefeated five-game stretch they did not allow 30+ points. Over two losses, both them surrendering more than 30 points.

The Vikings acquired left tackle Cam Robinson this week in a trade with the Jaguars, getting a replacement for the injured Christian Darrisaw. Minnesota received Robinson and a 2026 conditional seventh-round pick in exchange for a 2026 conditional 2026 fifth-round pick (can be a fourth).

Darrisaw suffered a torn ACL & MCL in Week 8 vs the Rams

Anthony Richardson entered the season with a ton of potential, but so far accuracy issues have plagued him. He has an NFL-worst 44.4% completion percentage with five total touchdowns and nine interceptions.

Joe Flacco, meanwhile? He has completed 65.7% of his passes with seven touchdowns and one interception over two starts.

Indianapolis lost 23-20 at Houston last week, its third loss this season by three points or fewer.

The Colts are the first team in NFL history to have their first eight games all decided by six points or fewer. In hopes of turning things around, they announced this week that they will start Joe Flacco at QB.