ARLINGTON, Texas — J.J. McCarthy and Jalen Nailor combined for a Texas two-step of touchdown passes, and Minnesota's defense diffused an explosive Cowboys offense for a 34-26 victory in Week 15 on Sunday Night Football.

Special teams sparked Minnesota's offense and helped the Vikings defense as the franchise secured a victory in its 1,000^th career regular-season game.

Nailor hauled in a 20-yard touchdown for Minnesota's first score of the night and a 4-yard pass that proved to be the final trip to the end zone by either team with 9:12 remaining in the game.

It was the first two-score game of Nailor's career. He tied tight end T.J. Hockenson for the team lead with 66 receiving yards, including 23 on a fourth-and-3 late in the third quarter to set up a 1-yard TD plunge by C.J. Ham.

McCarthy overcame his first pass attempt being batted at the line of scrimmage by safety Donovan Wilson and intercepted by Quinnen Williams to finish 15-of-24 passing for 250 yards and a passer rating of 108.0.

The first-year starter's longest pass of the night went for 58 to Jordan Addison on a third-and-8 in the second quarter to set up a TD run by the QB that tied the game at 14.

He outdueled 10-season veteran Dak Prescott, who finished 23-of-38 with 294 yards and a passer rating of 84.5.

The Vikings won consecutive games for the first time of 2025 and improved to 6-8 but were eliminated from postseason contention before kickoff.

Here are four more observations.

1. Defense bends but denies

The Cowboys offense has weapons all over, and Dallas moved the ball effectively numerous times.

CeeDee Lamb led all players with 111 receiving yards and a Cowboys long of 30, but no other Dallas player totaled more than 40 yards through the air.

Javonte Williams rushed for 91 yards on 15 carries despite missing part of the game. He had a long of 21 and a 1-yard TD run for the first score of the game.

Dallas finished 2-for-12 on third downs, which was buoyed by going 3-for-4 on fourth downs.

The Cowboys also were limited to a 2-for-5 showing in the red zone, compared to a 3-for-4 effort by the Vikings.

2. Nice boots, pardner.

The Vikings scored two touchdowns in the first half, and both involved McCarthy rolling out to his left.

The first was a beautiful play-action design where McCarthy faked a handoff and rolled out to the left before firing to Nailor for a 20-yard touchdown that tied the game at 7 with 2:35 remaining in the first quarter.

The second was an even better fake handoff to Jordan Mason on fourth-and-goal from the Dallas 1. Minnesota brought in Blake Brandel as an extra blocker and sold hard on a run up the middle and capitalized on aggressiveness by Dallas.

McCarthy executed a beauty of a fake, rolled to his left and did a bit of a half-Griddy celebration before crossing the goal line. McCarthy said he'd probably get a "minus" in Minnesota's grading since he had done a similar celebration in practice.

3. Persistence pays off

The Vikings rushed for just 77 yards on 28 attempts (including one kneel-down in victory formation), but Minnesota stayed persistent and put the ball in the hands of Aaron Jones, Sr., on a massive fourth-and-1 with 3:21 remaining.

Jones took the ball out of a shotgun formation and rushed for 4 yards, helping Minnesota burn another two minutes off the clock, forcing Dallas to exhaust its timeouts and setting Minnesota up to make it a two-score game.

Jones, who had more than 30 people in attendance, finished with 34 yards on 12 carries. Mason added 29 on 10.

Ham found the end zone for the first time this season with his lone carry of the game.

4. Specialists play starring role

The stars at night are big and bright — and so are the spec-ia-lists (hopefully there's a few "Deep in the Heart of Texas" fans out there).

Any who, Minnesota's specialists had a monstrous night.

Kicker Will Reichard essentially iced the game with a 53-yarder in the fourth quarter to put Minnesota up 34-23 with 1:08 remaining. He also was true on a 29-yarder for a 17-14 lead with 1:48 remaining in the first half.

It was Reichard's 17^th career field goal from 50-plus and ninth this season.

Punter Ryan Wright flipped the field early with a 65-yarder and finished with an average and net of 56.0 yards, landing both of his attempts inside the Dallas 20.

By the way, long snapper Andrew DePaola was as consistent as ever for the three-time Pro Bowler who appeared in his 150^th regular-season game.

And rookie Myles Price logged 143 yards on six kickoff returns. He passed Buster Rhymes and then Cordarrelle Patterson (1,393) for the Vikings rookie record.

Dallas successfully executed a fake field goal with Bryan Anger taking a long snap and flipping the ball over his head to kicker Brandon Aubrey for a gain of 6 to set up the first Dallas TD.

Aubrey, however, missed field goals of 51 and 59 on the night. He made from 37, 26, 41 and 41.

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