Tennessee didn’t roll over after its fifth punt of the day, though.
The Vikings offense found themselves booting it away on the next series, and Trent Sherfield, Sr., made an excellent play to down the punt and pin the Titans at their 1. But the AFC South squad stayed scrappy and, after being stopped on two run attempts, took advantage of a Flores blitz.
As the Vikings rushed five, Levis quickly got a pass up and over the defenders to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, who was off to the races. Safety Harrison Smith attempted to run the receiver down after he had gotten behind Joshua Metellus, but Westbrook-Ikhine got into the end zone for a 98-yard touchdown.
The score shrunk the Vikings lead to 6 and was a frustrating moment, to be sure, but no one lost focus. Darnold led the offense on a touchdown drive the next series, and Minnesota allowed just one field goal by Tennessee the rest of the day.
The Vikings played excellently against the run, allowing Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears to gain just 15 total yards on the ground. Levis added 18 yards on scrambles to increase Tennessee’s rushing yard total to 33 on 19 attempts.