PLAYING TO WIN - SUX IT DAN CAMPBELL
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The boldness of the play seemed remarkable under the circumstances, partly because McCarthy had completed only 13 passes all game and was playing for the first time in 49 days.
These were good reasons to research what other teams have done when:
• Leading by no more than one score
• Having 2:00 to 1:00 on the game clock
• Facing third-and-3 or longer
• Possessing the ball at their own 40-yard line or worse
• Facing an opponent with one timeout remaining
The 64 teams facing those situations over the past 15 years have passed 56 percent of the time, with only 39 percent of those throws traveling to the first-down marker or past it, per TruMedia.
The Vikings became only the third team over that span to complete a pass traveling longer than 15 yards past the line of scrimmage for a first-down conversion in that situation. Seattle did it with prime Russell Wilson against Philadelphia in a playoff game after the 2019 season. Indianapolis did it with veteran Matt Hasselbeck during a victory over Houston in 2015.
