Evan McPherson booted a 29-yard field goal with 3:11 left in overtime to rally the Cincinnati Bengals past the visiting Minnesota Vikings 27–24 on Saturday.
Jake Browning connected with Tyler Boyd for 44 yards on third-and-9 to move the ball to the Vikings’ 13-yard line to set up the game-winning kick for Cincinnati (8–6).
Tee Higgins caught a pass at the Minnesota 1 and then extended the ball with his right arm and hand over the goal line as he was being tackled by Akayleb Evans for a 21-yard, game-tying touchdown with 39 seconds left in regulation.
Browning finished 29-for-42 passing for 324 yards, two touchdowns with one interception.
The Bengals rallied from deficits of 17–3 and 24–17 in the fourth quarter, scoring 21 points in the 15 minutes to force overtime.
The Bengals stopped Minnesota (7–7) on fourth-and-1 at the Cincinnati 42 with 6:12 left in overtime, giving the Bengals, who had the ball to start the extra period, another chance to win the game.
Vikings quarterback Nick Mullens threw a pair of touchdown passes to Jordan Addison, who finished with six catches for 111 yards while Ty Chandler set up Minnesota’s go-ahead score in the fourth quarter with a 30-yard yard run. Chandler finished with 132 yards on 23 carries and a 1-yard TD run.
Bengals star defensive end Trey Hendrickson was offsides with 6:21 left in the fourth quarter, wiping out a Germaine Pratt pick-6 that would’ve given the Bengals a late lead.
Hendrickson finished with 1.5 sacks and now has 15 for the season, surpassing his official franchise mark of 14 set in 2021.
The Bengals did not have the services of star receiver Ja'Marr Chase on Cincinnati’s game-tying drive, as he headed to the locker room with a right shoulder injury. He had four catches for 64 yards.
Before the 13-yard Browning-to-Higgins touchdown connection to open the fourth quarter, the Vikings hadn’t allowed a touchdown since Courtland Sutton’s game-winning score for Broncos at the end of the game on Nov. 19 in Denver.
The Bengals started the scoring with a 34-yard Evan McPherson field goal for a 3–0 lead.
The Vikings then marched 75 yards in 12 plays for their first touchdown in three weeks, with the drive capped by a 1-yard run from Chandler with 2:23 left in the first quarter.
On the drive, the Bengals lost starting nose tackle DJ Reader to a right knee injury, as he was carted off with 7:46 left in the first quarter.
Later in the first quarter, the Bengals lost another defensive player to a knee injury as DJ Ivey was carted to the locker room with a left knee injury while covering a punt.
The Vikings came out of halftime and established a two-score lead when Mullens stood in during a heavy rush and found Addison over the middle. Addison turned it into a 37-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown and a 14–3 Minnesota lead.
