Minnesota beating the Colts after trailing 33-0 at the half is the largest comeback in NFL history and Jeff Saturday watched it all in disbelief on the Indianapolis sideline that fateful day in Minneapolis.
Saturday, who led the Colts to one win in eight games as the interim head coach after Frank Reich was fired last season, recalled the Dec. 17, 2022 meltdown in Minnesota.
"When you go into the locker room in Minnesota and you're up 33-0, were you guys just eating orange slices? Just kinda like, 'We did it,'" asked Ty Schmit, a member of The Pat McAfee Show.
"I'll be deadly honest with you. We walked in and I was like, 'Boys, we're in trouble,'" Saturday said. "Listen, I don't think we scored a point offensively. I'm dead serious. We got the ball inside the 15-yard line, I think twice, and had to kick field goals. We had a block I think for a touchdown, like everything went our way and I was still scared to death. I was like, 'Man, we can't get a first down.'"
He's not wrong with the exception that the Colts had 11 first downs in the first half. Here's how the first half played out, series by series.
- Colts get to the MN 1-yard line and kick a field goal, 3-0
- Colts block Vikings punt and return it for a TD, 10-0
- Vikings fumble 2 plays later and Colts turn it into a TD, 17-0
- Vikings turnover on downs at their own 31-yard line
- Colts kick a field goal, 20-0
- Vikings fake punt fails at their own 31-yard line
- Colts kick a field goal, 23-0
- Vikings go three-and-out and punt
- Colts punt
- Vikings throw pick-six for a Colts TD, 30-0
- Vikings go five plays and punt
- Colts kick a field goal, 33-0
"We start out the second half and I was like, 'We gotta push the gas right here.' So we called a shot play and it's freaking wide open, bro, and [Matt Ryan] doesn't throw it," Saturday continued.
What's remarkable about Minnesota's comeback is that the first-half follies continued in the third quarter as the Vikings went three-and-out on the opening possession and didn't score a touchdown until there was 8:22 left in the third.
"And listen, if you can't laugh about, I ain't crying about. So it's like, when they saw [Justin Jefferson] outside and you saw them like, and just throwing the freaking back behind and this dude is just jiggy-jacking and taking it to the house and I was like, '[Defensive coordinator Gus Bradley], what coverage are we in?' And he was like, 'We've called 'em all.' We ain't stopping a soul right now. These dudes are taking it to the house on us."
The Vikings were down 36-14 to start the fourth quarter. The touchdown pass to Jefferson, when turned star cornerback Stephon Gilmore to stone with a nasty route, made it 36-21 with 12:53 left in the fourth quarter.
Adam Thielen caught a touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins with 5:32 to play and then Dalvin Cook crossed the goal line with 2:15 to play on a 64-yards screen play. The two-point conversion to T.J. Hockenson completed the comeback and Greg Joseph kicked a 40-yard field goal as time expired in overtime for the win.
"At the end of the day, we had our shot. We just didn't do it," Saturday said.
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