The Atlanta Falcons entered Week 16 on the outside looking in regarding a postseason berth. The week ended with Atlanta clinching its first playoff appearance since 2005. They did that by capitalizing on a plethora of miscues from the Minnesota Vikings, and holding on at the end for a 24-17 win.
Meanwhile, the two teams in front of the Falcons, the Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Bucanneers, both went down to defeat to seal a postseason birth for the Falcons.
Minnesota’s turnover troubles began early in the game. With the score tied 7-7, Bernard Berrian muffed a punt from Michael Koenen and Michael Boley recovered it at the Vikings’ 22-yard line, giving the Falcons good field position late in the first quarter.
Jerious Norwood scored on a shovel pass five plays later from 8 yards out, giving Atlanta the 14-7 lead early in the second.
The Vikings drove down the field on the next drive, but they killed themselves once again when Lawyer Milloy stripped Adrian Peterson at the Atlanta 17-yard line as he fought for more yards. Chris Houston recovered the fumble with 10:35 to go in the half.
Peterson fumbled for a second time later in the quarter when he mishandled an exchange from Jackson in the backfield. Chauncey Davis fell on the ball at the Minnesota 46 with four minutes remaining. A 20-yard field goal from Jason Elam as time expired made it 17-7 at the break.
The Vikings’ turnover troubles continued in the second half. After driving inside the Atlanta 20-yard line to open up the quarter, Kindal Moorehead stripped Jackson and the ball skimmed nearly 30 yards backwards on the turf before Chauncey Davis recovered another loose ball at the Atlanta 46.
Minnesota killed its next drive when an early snap sailed past the head of a surprised Jackson, making it a 22-yard loss for the Vikings and forcing them to punt. That miscue helped Atlanta gain great field position off of the ensuing punt.
They advanced the lead to 24-7 soon after in the most unconventional of matters. On second-and-goal from the 6, Ryan lost control of the football as he dove for the end zone. But guard Justin Blalock came out of the pile with the football to make it 24-7 with 2:38 left in the third.
Minnesota took care of a rare Atlanta mistake to pull back within two scores. The Falcons defense forced Minnesota into a punt on the final play of the third quarter, but they were penalized for having too many men on the field, keeping the drive alive. The Vikings got inside the Atlanta 10, but Chauncey Davis forced Jackson out of bounds as he scrambled on third-and-goal. A 29-yard field goal from Ryan Longwell with 11:36 left closed the gap to 24-10.
The Atlanta offense netted -2 yards after getting the ball back, and Minnesota got the ball at its own 44 with 9:49 left. But the Falcons forced the Vikes into a fourth-and-7, and an under-pressure Jackson overthrew Bernard Berrian deep down the left sideline on the play.
The Vikings looked dead and buried, but their defense played lights out towards the end, sparking a late comeback behind a field goal and a 17-yard touchdown pass from Jackson to Visanthe Shiancoe, drawing within 24-17 with 2:44 to go.
The Atlanta offense went three-and-out, giving Minnesota the ball back at its own 33 with 2:14 left.
The Vikings stumbled on their final drive. Peterson nearly turned the ball over yet again, losing the ball at his own 36 and barely managing to recover. The offense managed one first down before John Abraham nailed Jackson in the backfield, forcing a fumble that was recovered by Minnesota and a fourth-and-15. Jackson threw incomplete on fourth down to effectively end the game.
Michael Turner finished with 70 yards to lead Atlanta’s offense. And he opened up the scoring by rumbling in from 1 yard out on the Falcons’ first possession.
Shiancoe kicked off a great performance by responding with a 21-yard touchdown catch to deadlock the game at 7-7 with two minutes to go in the opening quarter. The tight end provided the vast majority of the offense, catching seven passes for 136 yards and two touchdowns.
Tarvaris Jackson passed for 233 yards and two scores on 22-of-36 passing.
Michael Turner rushed for 70 yards on 19 carries for Atlanta. Milloy keyed the defensive efforts with six tackles and a forced fumble.
Atlanta moves to 10-5 on the season and will play in the playoffs for the first time since 2005 in two weeks. The team will look to do some fine tuning next week at home against the St. Louis Rams.
For the Vikings, the loss left their division lead in jeopardy. The Chicago Bears trail them by just one game. They could catch the Vikes in the NFC North with a win tomorrow night over Green Bay.
Bagriansky can be reached at jbagriansky@scoreatl.com.
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