Buffalo's question going in was the tackles, and it got the bad answer. Dion Dawkins and Alec Anderson were both inactive, so Allen played without his starting left tackle and without the backup who had also been questionable. Minnesota had the Cashman and Van Ginkel front it wanted against a patched-up line. Even so, the Vikings defense didn't turn this into a game it could steal, and the 10 points Buffalo put up in the 4th quarter were the Bills pulling away against a defense that had been on the field all night.
Minnesota's offense finished with 6 points, all of them in the 2nd quarter, and the Vikings were shut out in the other 3. Without Jauan Jennings and Demond Claiborne, Wentz had even less to work with than Murray did, and Murray had already been running a small offense. Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and T.J. Hockenson were the targets Minnesota needed to make something out of nothing. Nobody did. Odell Beckham Jr. was active, and the receiver depth he was brought in for never turned into points.
The line score tells the story. Buffalo scored in every quarter: a field goal in the 1st, a touchdown in the 2nd, a field goal in the 3rd, then a touchdown and a field goal in the 4th. That's the Bills winning a slog, which isn't how they had been winning. They had scored 33, 37 and 36 in 3 of their previous 4 games and needed late points to survive shootouts with the Rams and the Raiders. This time they didn't need anything close to that. A 13-6 game going into the 4th quarter is exactly the game Minnesota wanted, and the Vikings still couldn't find a second scoring drive.
Buffalo had injury scares in the secondary. Damar Hamlin (leg) and Christian Benford (wrist) both left the game, and both came back. Minnesota had its own problems on defense. Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins left with an ankle injury and was questionable to return, while Kyle Van Noy (calf) went out and came back. The Vikings have now lost 2 straight after a 6-0 start, and the defense that kept them afloat can't carry an offense that scored 15 at Detroit and 6 here. Until Murray is healthy, Minnesota is a defense with a quarterback problem.
