6 key plays/moments/decisions that doomed the Vikings against Atlanta

On the ensuing fourth and short from their own 36, McCarthy bobbled the snap from Ryan Kelly and went nowhere, resulting in a turnover on downs that led to the Falcons' second field goal. Just like that, the Vikings were in a quick 6-0 hole.

2. First and goal at the 2

Still down 6, the Vikings finally started to make some things happen early in the second quarter. McCarthy converted a third down to Jalen Nailor. Jordan Mason picked up a couple first downs on the ground. McCarthy hit Adam Thielen for 19 yards on 3rd and 18, then found Nailor for 17 yards to get the Vikings down to Atlanta's 2 yard-line.

First and goal from the 2 is a situation that has to result in a touchdown. Instead, the Vikings went backwards. On first down, McCarthy tried to fake a pitch to Mason but lost the ball. He picked it up and threw high for a tightly-covered Justin Jefferson in the end zone. Had he executed the fake, he may have had Jefferson over the middle for an in-rhythm touchdown.

"He just dropped the ball," O'Connell said. "It was a play we've been practicing for a while, he just happened to drop the ball on the play, which is tough. We might've had Justin potentially there with them kind of selling out to stop the (run). Good sell by the guys up front."

Then came a weird situation on second down. The Vikings substituted and the Falcons did the same, but umpire Roy Ellison held up McCarthy from taking the snap and didn't move until there were two seconds on the play clock. It wasn't enough time to get the ball snapped, so a delay of game was called that moved the Vikings back to the 7.

"We changed personnels. They told me they saw somebody step off our sideline from very much further back, once we made our substitution. That's why they held it," O'Connell said. "My expectation was, at some point during that end-of-clock sequence there, when they had had an opportunity to sub, (Ellison) would step away, and he just didn't. We subbed and got the play in before the headset communication went out. I thought we'd get the play off and potentially get a run off there."

On second down, left tackle Justin Skule was beaten to the edge by rookie Jalon Walker for a seven-yard sack. And on third and goal from the 14, McCarthy tried to scramble and was sacked again. Instead of taking a one-point lead, the Vikings had to settle for a field goal.

"Especially in a game like this, that's a critical, critical time to put the ball in the end zone," O'Connell said.

McCarthy dropping the ball on the fake pitch was unfortunate, but in hindsight, could the Vikings have just handed the ball off to Mason once or twice and maybe scored that way?

3. McCarthy's first interception

The Vikings were still down 6-3 late in the half when McCarthy tried to fire a ball to the right side toward Nailor. The throw may have been a touch late, and Falcons rookie Billy Bowman Jr. made a great play to pick it off while basically on top of Nailor — who definitely could've made a stronger move to come back to the ball and it least prevent it from being picked, if not catch it himself.

That set up another Falcons field goal.

4. Two penalties doom a third-quarter drive

With the Vikings down 12-6 in the third quarter, McCarthy successfully executed a QB sneak on fourth and one inside his own territory (although not by much). Mason then ripped off an 18-yard run, which would've been the Vikings' longest of the day had it not been negated by a (perhaps iffy) holding call on third-string left tackle Walter Rouse, who hadn't been in the game for long at that point after replacing the injured Skule.

Instead of being at the Atlanta 41, the Vikings were back at their own 31. After McCarthy scrambled for 16 yards on 2nd and 20, a false start on veteran right tackle Brian O'Neill made it 3rd and 9. McCarthy then threw a ball too low for Jefferson and the Vikings had to punt.

5. A huge fumble

As the fourth quarter began with the Vikings still down just six points and possessing the ball near midfield, fans were hoping for a repeat of last week's heroics from McCarthy in the final quarter. That did not happen. The first play of the quarter saw Zach Harrison come unblocked at McCarthy and sack him. Even worse, the Vikings' young QB fumbled in the process, and Atlanta recovered.

It's the type of play you just can't have. Parker Romo's fifth field goal made it 15-6 on the ensuing series.

6. An overthrow and a questionable punt decision

Now down by nine points, the Vikings desperately needed to get something going on offense. On 3rd and 1 from their own 28, they came out in shotgun and McCarthy took a deep shot to Nailor up the left side. Nailor had a step on his defender, so it could've been a big play — maybe even a 72-yard touchdown. But McCarthy simply missed the throw by sailing it too far for his receiver to run down.

"Thought it would be our best chance to try to get a 1-on-1 for one of our guys down the field, and just overshot it a little bit," O'Connell said.

That set up a decision. Do you go for it on fourth and one from inside your own territory for the third time in the game? The Vikings were 1 for 2 on such plays at that point. This one was even deeper in their own end, but they were also down by two scores with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game. O'Connell decided to punt — and interestingly, he cited an earlier failure on fourth down when explaining the move afterwards.

"We fumbled a snap early on when I was pretty aggressive with that fourth down early," he said. "Definitely thought about it, but was hoping to get that one more timely stop to try to have 6, 7 minutes left to try to activate the ability to go try to put the ball in the end zone and then see what happens."

The analytical models didn't like the choice from the Vikings. And if they weren't going to go for it on fourth down, the decision to take a deep shot on 3rd and 1 is a bit confusing in hindsight, even if the throw was there.

From there, the Falcons finally wore down the Vikings' defense and put together a long 83-yard touchdown drive that all but sealed the deal. Down 22-6 with just over three minutes left, McCarthy threw a second interception to end any chance at a potential miracle comeback.

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