Minnesota Vikings 23-26 Kansas City Chiefs: Harrison Butker's late field goal wins it for Chiefs
Monday 4 November 2019 12:06, UK
Harrison Butker kicked a 44-yard field goal as time expired to give the Kansas City Chiefs a 26-23 win over the Minnesota Vikings at Arrowhead Stadium.
160 receiving yards and a touchdown from Tyreek Hill, as well as a 91-yard rushing score from Damien Williams, gave the Chiefs the offensive spark they needed with Patrick Mahomes still out of the lineup while recovering from a dislocated kneecap.
Backup Matt Moore completed 25 of 35 passes for 275 yards and a touchdown in another impressive display.
After both teams exchanged punts to start the game, the Chiefs got things started with a classic Hill touchdown. Moore threw a perfectly-placed ball deep down the right sideline and speedster Hill beat double coverage and somehow managed to haul it in and dive into the end zone for a 40-yarder.
However, despite receiver Adam Thielen heading to the sideline after re-aggravating his hamstring injury, Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins put together a 12-play, 65-yard drive to fire back in the first quarter. The drive was capped by a four-yard touchdown pass to Bisi Johnson.
Field goals from Harrison Butker and Dan Bailey kept the game tied 10-10 at half-time, but it livened up after the break.
On their first drive in the second half, third-down back Ameer Abdullah was left wide open and from 16 yards out, Cousins found him and he strolled into the end zone to give Minnesota the lead, despite a missed extra-point attempt by Bailey.
In response, the Chiefs went the length of the field in just two plays. Backed up deep, running back Damien Williams broke through the defense and raced 91 yards for a touchdown. The run was the longest in the NFL so far this season, and tied a Chiefs' all-time record.
Butker added another kick to make in 20-16 to Kansas City, but the Vikings fought back. Early in the fourth quarter, Cousins threw his third touchdown of the game with a three-yard, third-down strike to Kyle Rudolph which put Minnesota ahead again.
As the clock wound down, the Chiefs found a way to win. On their penultimate drive of the day, Hill came down with a spectacular grab - for 41 yards - to get them into field goal position. Despite an 11-yard loss on a sack, Butker drilled a 54-yarder to tie the game.
Then, after a dreadful 27-yard punt from the Vikings' Britton Colquitt had gifted Kansas City great field position with under two minutes left, Moore came up big with first-down completions to Travis Kelce and Hill before Butker won the game from 44 yards out.
With the win, the Chiefs move to 6-3, while Minnesota fall to the same record.
