The Giants’ fourth-quarter stop ended the Vikings’ streak of victories in one-score games and gave the N.F.L. playoffs its first upset by a lower-seeded team.
MINNEAPOLIS — The roar of the crowd inside U.S. Bank Stadium dipped and swelled like its replica Nordic ship outside would have done on the sea’s crashing waves.
The game swayed back and forth as the Giants and Vikings compiled more than 700 yards of total offense, but it finished in stunned near-silence as the Giants celebrated a 31-24 win. In the first upset for the lower-seeded team of this N.F.L. postseason, the Giants ended the thrilling season of the Vikings, who had won an N.F.L.-record 11 one-score games.
Up by a touchdown with the Vikings threatening the kind of late comeback that had been their trademark, the Giants came up with a big defensive stop.
The Vikings advanced to their own 33-yard line on a roughing-the-passer call against defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence, who seemed to make a clean hit on quarterback Kirk Cousins. Minnesota took advantage with short throws to drive past midfield. On fourth-and-8, with 1:44 left in the game, Cousins targeted tight end T.J. Hockenson with another short throw, and Giants safety Xavier McKinney slammed him to the ground for an insufficient 3-yard gain.
At the turnover on downs, McKinney took off his helmet and celebrated with the defense, as Coach Brian Daboll signaled to the offense to kneel out the clock.
The sixth-seeded Giants had upset the third-seeded Vikings for the team’s first playoff win since the 2011 season, when they won the Super Bowl, and they advance to a divisional-round matchup with the top-seeded Philadelphia Eagles next week.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do, but it’s enjoyable work to be able to be working this time of year,” Daboll said in a postgame news conference.
The Giants had not appeared in the postseason since 2016, and they justifiably ranked near the bottom of most pundits’ power rankings in August. Daboll was entering his first season as a head coach, after he was hired by new General Manager Joe Schoen in January. The team’s best player, running back Saquon Barkley, had not played a full season since 2018, his rookie year, as he battled injuries. The quarterback, Daniel Jones, faced mounting questions over his long-term future, with an inconsistent career plagued by turnovers and coaching changes.
But Jones has flourished under Daboll, his third head coach. Jones threw for 301 yards and two touchdowns, completing 24 of his 35 attempts, and did not post an interception. In the first playoff game of his career, he said he felt calm and poised.
“I think just trying to focus on what I got to do and focus on just executing and keeping it that simple,” Jones said. “Not making it bigger than that or not getting outside that moment, just trying to stay as kind of present and locked in to what I got to do.”
