Vikings Edge Browns In First London Game Of 2025

By Simon Carroll

London welcomed the NFL for the fortieth time on Sunday having firmly cemented itself as a three-week holiday on the football calendar. A home away from home for the Minnesota Vikings, this was their fifth trip to the Big Smoke having won their previous four games on English soil. And as it was in 2017, the Vikes emerged victorious by beating the Cleveland Browns. Simon Carroll reports back from Tottenham Hotspur Stadium:

More Minnesota London Love

You can forgive me for being pessimistic. A Carson Wentz-led Minnesota Vikings taking on a Cleveland Browns team that has just benched a 40-year old Joe Flacco; it very much seemed as if I had pulled the short straw in The Touchdown’s yearly ‘International Series Roulette’. But, as I have learned from twenty years of watching this sport, good players and good teams do not always guarantee a superior game. And as the 21-17 scoreline suggests, this was a decent, competitive matchup between two franchises determined not to let 2025 be a wasted season.

The scene was peak NFL on tour; Tottenham a thriving mass of different jerseys enjoying the bars and eateries of North London from the early hours of the morning. Not even an outrageous price hike, nor a ticket app debacle that saw thousands of fans stranded outside the stadium at kickoff dampen spirits. One man was more eager than most to imprint himself on this contest, with rookie running back Quinshon Judkins tearing off chunk runs seemingly before the national anthems had finished. The Browns, with another rookie making his debut at quarterback, rode their run game early and often this one. A three headed monster of Judkins, Jerome Ford and Malachi Moore delivered 140 yards on the ground, and that would have been over 200 if heartbreaking flags hadn’t wiped off mutliple runs, including a 56 yard touchdown run from Judkins early in the second quarter. Penalties would hamstring the Browns offense all afternoon.

Nevertheless, Cleveland did score first. Dillon Gabriel, announced as the teams’ latest starting quarterback, found tight end Harold Fannin in the endzone. Gabriel was striving to be the first QB since Tim Couch in 1999 to win on his first start for the Browns. A final stat line of 19-33, 190 yards, 2 touchdowns and relatively mistake-free football showed he didn’t disgrace himself, even if he wasn’t able to deliver a second win of the season to the Dawg Pound.

Oliver Twist

You might have thought that, having been on this side of the pond for more than 10 days, the Vikings would look sharper than their opponents. But the first quarter was a struggle for Carson Wentz, who took some time to remember that he had Justin Jefferson on his team. It took Kevin O’Connell diving deep into his bag of tricks to level the score, running back Cam Akers lining up in the wildcat and throwing a touchdown strike to Josh Oliver with two minutes of the first quarter remaining. Not many would be aware that, at high school, Akers threw for 3,100 yards and 31 touchdowns. Future opponents will be more cautious when he’s on the field as the Vikings strive to find unique ways to inject some spice into their passing game.

The second quarter was more of what some would have expected, with just a 31-yard Andre Szmyt field goal added to the scoreboard. The most notable moment from these fifteen minutes was the introduction of Jordan Addison to the Minnesota offense after serving a team-mandated suspension for the first quarter. Reports of the receiver going missing in London earlier in the week had surfaced prior to kickoff – but Vikings fans were grateful he found his way to the stadium as the third year pass catcher came up with the winning TD reception as the game entered the final thirty seconds.

Wentz looked lost for long parts of the first half. A troubling performance in Dublin was backed up with an uncertain one in London. But after a barefoot Raye had serenaded the Tottenham crowd, the Vikings QB looked a lot more decisive after the break. The difference? He started throwing it in the vicinity of Jefferson, who seemed to be catching any wild throw within a two-block radius. Jefferson’s 123 yards on seven catches helped swing the contest in the Vikings favour, and despite the Browns taking the lead with another Gabriel touchdown throw late in the third quarter, the Vikings’ two-minute drill drive settled the contest.

The Browns proved valiant opponents, but ultimately the best team won. This game was a lot closer than it probably should have been, with Cleveland benefitting from two fumble recoveries. 10 penalties killed any momentum on offense, and Minnesota took advantage to remain undefeated in London.

Head Coach Reaction

And there it was. Game #40 in London. A modestly entertaining contest with some big moments, we left as we came; the Browns alarmingly used to losing despite obvious talent on both sides of the ball, and the Vikings clinging on to playoff hopes despite the loss of JJ McCarthy. Kevin O’Connell was delighted with the win, acknowledging the opponent and overcoming some in-game setbacks:

“We knew this was going to be a very hard-fought football game. That’s one of the best defenses in the NFL, and they do a lot of challenging things running the football and just keeping you off balance defensively, so I knew we would have to battle, we would have to play well in the kicking game, and try to win the turnover battle and do some of the little things right. We weren’t able to do that, but our guys are just, you know, as connected as a team as I’ve been around as far as a trip like this, ten days. You know, just relentless in their pursuit of trying to win a football game today. Proud of a lot of guys, proud of our team, proud of our coaches for just battling.”

Kevin Stefanski, understandably, was a little less gregarious. Reticent to validate Dillon Gabriel’s performance without reviewing the tape, the most we got out of him was his frustration in not capitalising on the fumbles and grinding out a needed win:

“Obviously extremely disappointed to not come away with the win there. We need to do a better job closing out. That’s an offensive thing, defense, special teams, coaches, players, you name it. We’ve got to come away and be at our best in those moments, and we were not. And that’s the disappointing, frustrating part for me. But we’ll keep grinding. We’ll get back and get back to work. That’s what we’ve got to do.”

After back to back games in Europe, the Vikings get to put their feet up in Week 6. The Browns have an ominous trip to Pittsburgh in an AFC North clash that they desperately need. And as for London? They gear up for a visit of the New York Jets and Denver Broncos. The NFL bandwagon rolls on, both home and abroad.

Mock Draft

SIMON CARROLL

HEAD OF CFB/NFL DRAFT CONTENT

PREVIOUSLY THE FOUNDER OF NFL DRAFT UK, SIMON HAS BEEN COVERING COLLEGE FOOTBALL AND THE NFL DRAFT SINCE 2009. BASED IN MANCHESTER, SIMON IS ALSO CO-CREATOR & WEEKLY GUEST OF THE COLLAPSING POCKET PODCAST & COVERS THE JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS FOR SB NATION.

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