Final: Vikings 33, Patriots 26 - Special teams, flags doom Pats in Minnesota

The good? Mac Jones and the Patriots' offense finally showed some signs of life at U.S. Bank Stadium — with Jones throwing for 382 yards and recording two touchdowns in his best performance of the 2022 season.

The bad news? Despite some major strides by Jones and Co., that collective effort meant little in the win-loss column, with a leaky defense (due in large part to Justin Jefferson), ill-timed penalties and a horrid showing on special teams dooming New England in what was a 33-26 loss to the Vikings. 

While Jones (who was finally given some time to throw in the pocket) put forth an aerial assault on Thanksgiving, he was pretty much matched by Kirk Cousins (299 yards, three touchdowns, one interception) — with Jefferson in particular (nine catches, 139 yards) dicing up the Pats. 

But when it comes down to momentum swings, it’s hard to not look at both Kene Nwangwu’s kickoff return TD and Pierre Strong running into punter Ryan Wright (which gave Minnesota a first down - and an eventual touchdown) as the sequences that doomed the Patriots from what could have been an impressive road victory.

The road ahead doesn’t get any easier for the Patriots — not with the Bills coming to town next Thursday. 

Regular-season Game #11: Patriots (6-4) at Minnesota Vikings (8-2), 8:20 p.m.
Location: US Bank Stadium, Minneapolis.
TV: NBC10. Mike Tirico (play-by-play), Tony Dungy and Jason Garrett (color), Melissa Stark (sideline).
Radio: 98.5-FM The SportsHub in Boston. **Bedard will be on the postgame show approximately one hour after the game.**
Online: Live Box | Vikings media notes | Patriots media notes | Flipcard
BetOnline.ag Latest Line: Vikings -3, 40o/u
AccuWeather forecast: Indoors.

LAST WEEK

Cowboys 40, Vikings 3: Tony Pollard had two touchdown catches with a career-high 189 yards from scrimmage, and the Cowboys sacked Kirk Cousins a career-most seven times Sunday in a 40-3 victory over the Vikings to end their seven-game win streak.

Patriots 10, Jets 3: Rookie Marcus Jones returned a punt 84 yards for a touchdown with 5 seconds remaining to give the Patriots their 14th straight victory against the Jets. Patriots had nearly 300 yards of offense as Mac Jones completed a career-high 85 percent of his passes, while the Jets had just over 100 yards and Zach Wilson had nine completions and threw for 2 yards in the second half.

STATS

FOOTBALLOUTSIDERS.COM BREAKDOWN

ROSTER MOVES

• Patriots signed OL Conor McDermott from Jets practice squad. G/C Bill Murray was elevated from practice squad.
• Patriots released RB JJ Taylor, then re-signed him from the practice squad.

INJURY REPORT

PREGAME READING/LISTENING

Bedard: Matchup with Vikings should play right into Patriots' wheelhouse
Podcast & Video: Will Patriots offense be enough vs. Vikings? Plus, Jets review
Bedard's Breakdown: Why the Patriots' offense failed to capitalize on chances vs. Jets
Podcast: Bedard on Patriots-Jets, Mac Jones, Zach Wilson with Felger & Mazz 11.22.22
Bedard: How many of the Patriots' sacks were on Mac Jones vs. Jets?

HOW THE PATRIOTS WIN & BEDARD'S GAME PICK

1. Pressure Kirk Cousins: Shouldn't be an issue against this line, which is probably the worst the Patriots have seen. If he's under enough constant pressure, Cousins will just start throwing the ball up to anybody.

2. Run the game through 38 and 85: Another matchup where you'd love to have a fullback to unleash the power running attack, but the Patriots will have to settle for their TEs in the backfield again. Stay under center more. The offense is better that way.

3. Protect Mac Jones: Give him a chance to make some plays down the field by actually protecting him.

4. Limit the negative plays: It's time for the grenade offense (negative play explosions going off every 2-3 plays) to be over with. Sustain blocks, call good plays, protect more than 2.8 seconds and stop with the damn penalties. In other words, look like a professional offense for once. 

5. No big Jefferson/Cook plays: Both are so good that it's impossible to eliminate them, so the goal should be a handful of explosive plays combined and no touchdowns.

GAME PICK

BetOnline.ag Line: Vikings -3. O/U: 42.

Bedard's record: 9-1 straight up, 8-2 vs. spread

The punt return, instead of a FG in overtime, caused me my second loss vs the spread, so I'm a little bitter (idiots not punting out of bounds ... Jetsian). I really love the Patriots in this matchup. I don't see how Cousins has time to do anything. If they have a good day offensively, then it will be because of Kevin O'Connell (Matt Patricia, take some notes). But the Patriots should be the better-prepared team on this short week. They just had a bye and then played a recent team out of it, so the Patriots likely spent most of the bye gameplanning for this game, not the Jets. The Vikings' bye was back in Week 7 and they've played out-of-division teams since (Cardinals, Commanders, Bills, Cowboys). That's a lot of extra work for the coaching staff. And the Vikings aren't that good. Even in their past three games they've been outplayed but have gone 2-1. I think it would be disappointing if the Patriots didn't win this game, even comfortably.

Bedard's Pick: Patriots 20, Vikings 18.