ARLINGTON, Texas — It would’ve been easy for the Vikings to simply go through the motions on Sunday night at AT&T Stadium. They were eliminated from playoff contention before they ever stepped foot on the field for the game against the Dallas Cowboys.

Instead, the Vikings dug in and showed some pride on national television, bouncing back from some early adversity to earn a 34-26 win. It’s marked the first time the Vikings have won consecutive games this season.

That’s something head coach Kevin O’Connell wanted his group of players to feel proud about as they got on the plane back to the Twin Cities.

As frustrating as this season has been for the Vikings, the upset of the Cowboys provided something to feel good about in the short term, while also providing some ripple effects that might pay dividends in the long term.

Here are some takeaways from the game:

J.J. McCarthy was extremely resilient

The first throw of the game for quarterback J.J. McCarthy ended in complete disaster. The ball got deflected by safety Donovan Wilson at the line of scrimmage and intercepted by defensive tackle Quinnen Williams.

The fact that McCarthy was able to bounce back for the Vikings and have the best game of his career against the Cowboys can’t be overstated. Not everybody would’ve been able to move on as quickly as he did. He deserves credit for being able to do that.

The final stat line for McCarthy featured him completing 15 of 24 passes for 250 yards and a pair of touchdowns through the air while also adding a touchdown on the ground.

There was a decisiveness from McCarthy that resulted in some chunk plays, and while he still missed a few too many layups throughout the game, the improvement is an encouraging sign in his development.

Justin Jefferson dropped a touchdown

The struggles that superstar receiver Justin Jefferson has had to endure this season have been largely due to the inconsistencies of whoever has been throwing him the ball. There have been a lot of ups and down, whether it’s been McCarthy, veteran quarterback Carson Wentz, or rookie quarterback Max Brosmer under center.

It’s a big reason why Jefferson is in danger of finishing below 1,000 yards for the first time in his career. His performance for the Vikings against the Cowboys didn’t get him much closer to reaching that milestone as he finished with a pair of receptions for 22 yards.

Though the underwhelming numbers stat line stems from McCarthy misfiring on a number of throws, Jefferson also didn’t do himself any favors in the game. He had a chance to haul in a touchdown in the corner of the end zone and flat out dropped the ball.

That has been a recurring theme for Jefferson this season. As much as he can blame McCarthy, Wentz, or Brosmer for his lack of production, he also has to blame himself for not always maximizing his opportunities.

Jalen Nailor is going to get paid

The campaign that receiver Jalen Nailor has put together shouldn’t be taken lightly. He’s put himself in position to make a lot of money in free agency, which, in turn, means the Vikings more than likely won’t be able to afford to bring him back.

The way that Nailor impacted the game for the Vikings against the Cowboys — he hauled in a pair of touchdowns that proved to be the difference — showcased how much he’s grown as a player since reaching the NFL.

No longer is Nailor simply a speed demon that makes his living running deep down the field. He’s turned himself into a complete receiver that can make a difference at every level of the defense.

Ryan Wright provided a needed spark

There’s a chance the Vikings might have found themselves in a much different spot against the Cowboys had punter Ryan Wright not flipped the field in the early stages.

With the Vikings already trailing in the game, they were forced to punt in their own territory, which presumably was going to give the Cowboys pretty good field position with a chance to take a commanding lead.

Instead, Wright continued his case as the most improved player on the roster, unleashing a booming 65-yard punt that was downed inside the 5-yard line. That proved to be a massive play for the Vikings as the defense forced a punt and the offense put together a drive that tied the game.

It very easily could’ve gotten out of hand for the Vikings had Wright not helped stop the bleeding when he did.

Dak Prescott never looked comfortable

Maybe it sounds crazy to say Prescott looked out of sorts in a game where he completed 23 of 38 passes for 294 yards. He consistently found open receivers over the middle while moving the ball with ease at times.

That said, Prescott did not throw for a touchdown, largely because of the constant pressure that was in his face.

That discomfort he felt was a direct result of another masterclass from defensive coordinator Brian Flores. Not only did the exotic looks before the snap seem to rattle Prescott so did the various stunts after the snap.

It resulted in Prescott being pressured on 48% of his dropbacks. That was the highest pressure rate of his career.

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Today is Monday, Dec. 15, the 349th day of 2025. There are 16 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Dec. 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge between Gallipolis (gal-ih-puh-LEES’), Ohio, and Point Pleasant, West Virginia, collapsed into the Ohio River, killing 46 people.

Also on this date:

In 1791, the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, went into effect following ratification by Virginia.

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In 1890, Hunkpapa Lakota Chief Sitting Bull and 11 other tribe members were killed in Grand River, South Dakota, during a confrontation with Indian agency police.

In 1939, the Civil War motion picture epic “Gone with the Wind,” starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable, had its world premiere in Atlanta.

In 1944, a single-engine plane carrying bandleader Glenn Miller, a major in the U.S. Army Air Forces, disappeared over the English Channel while en route to Paris.

In 2011, the flag used by U.S. forces in Iraq was lowered in a Baghdad airport ceremony, marking the formal end of the American military mission in that country. The war left 110,000 Iraqis and 4,500 Americans dead.

In 2013, Nelson Mandela was laid to rest in a state funeral, ending a 10-day mourning period for South Africa’s first Black president. Mandela died on Dec. 5 of that year at the age of 95.

In 2016, a federal jury in Charleston, South Carolina, convicted Dylann Roof of the racist killings of nine Black church members who had welcomed him into their Bible study gathering. The following year he would become the first person in the U.S. sentenced to death for a federal hate crime, a sentence upheld in 2021.

Today’s Birthdays:

Singer Cindy Birdsong (The Supremes) is 86.
Rock musician Dave Clark (The Dave Clark Five) is 86.
Baseball Hall of Fame manager Jim Leyland is 81.
Actor Don Johnson is 76.
Film and theater director Julie Taymor is 73.
Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia is 71.
Rock musician Paul Simonon (The Clash) is 70.
Actor and filmmaker Lee Jung-jae is 53.
Actor Adam Brody is 46.
Actor Michelle Dockery is 44.
Actor Charlie Cox is 43.
Actor Camilla Luddington is 42.
Rock musician and actor Alana Haim is 34.
Actor Maude Apatow (AP’-ih-tow) is 28.

By JAKE COYLE

Rob Reiner, the son of a comedy giant who became one himself as one of the preeminent filmmakers of his generation with movies such as “The Princess Bride,” “When Harry Met Sally …” and “This Is Spinal Tap,” has died. He was 78.

Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer, were found dead Sunday at their home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. A law enforcement official briefed on the investigation confirmed their identities but could not publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Authorities were investigating an “apparent homicide,” said Capt. Mike Bland with the Los Angeles Police Department. The Los Angeles Fire Department said it responded to a medical aid request shortly after 3:30 p.m.

Reiner grew up thinking his father, Carl Reiner, didn’t understand him or find him funny. But the younger Reiner would in many ways follow in his father’s footsteps, working both in front and behind the camera, in comedies that stretched from broad sketch work to accomplished dramedies.

“My father thought, ‘Oh, my God, this poor kid is worried about being in the shadow of a famous father,’” Reiner said, recalling the temptation to change his name to “60 Minutes” in October. “And he says, ‘What do you want to change your name to?’ And I said, ‘Carl.’ I just wanted to be like him.”

After starting out as a writer for “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,” Reiner’s breakthrough came when he was, at age 23, cast in Norman Lear’s “All in the Family” as Archie Bunker’s liberal son-in-law, Michael “Meathead” Stivic. But by the 1980s, Reiner began as a feature film director, churning out some of the most beloved films of that, or any, era. His first film, the largely improvised 1984 cult classic “This Is Spinal Tap,” remains the quintessential mockumentary.

After the 1985 John Cusack summer comedy, “The Sure Thing,” Reiner made “Stand By Me” (1986), “The Princess Bride” (1987) and “When Harry Met Sally …” (1989), a four-year stretch that resulted in a trio of American classics, all of them among the most often quoted movies of the 20th century.

A legacy on and off screen

For the next four decades, Reiner, a warm and gregarious presence on screen and an outspoken liberal advocate off it, remained a constant fixture in Hollywood. The production company he co-founded, Castle Rock Entertainment, launched an enviable string of hits, including “Seinfeld” and “The Shawshank Redemption.” By the turn of the century, its success rate had fallen considerably, but Reiner revived it earlier this decade. This fall, Reiner and Castle Rock released the long-in-coming sequel “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.”

All the while, Reiner was one of the film industry’s most passionate Democrat activists, regularly hosting fundraisers and campaigning for liberal issues. He was co-founder of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which challenged in court California’s ban on same-sex marriage, Proposition 8. He also chaired the campaign for Prop 10, a California initiative to fund early childhood development services with a tax on tobacco products. Reiner was also a critic of President Donald Trump.

That ran in the family, too. Reiner’s father opposed the Communist hunt of McCarthyism in the 1950s and his mother, Estelle Reiner, a singer and actor, protested the Vietnam War.

“If you’re a nepo baby, doors will open,” Reiner told the Guardian in 2024. “But you have to deliver. If you don’t deliver, the door will close just as fast as it opened.”

‘All in the Family’ to ‘Stand By Me’

Robert Reiner was born in the Bronx on March 6, 1947. As a young man, he quickly set out to follow his father into entertainment. He studied at the University of California, Los Angeles film school and, in the 1960s, began appearing in small parts in various television shows.

But when Lear saw Reiner as a key cast member in “All in the Family,” it came as a surprise to the elder Reiner.

“Norman says to my dad, ‘You know, this kid is really funny.’ And I think my dad said, ‘What? That kid? That kid? He’s sullen. He sits quiet. He doesn’t, you know, he’s not funny.’ He didn’t think I was anyway,” Reiner told “60 Minutes.”

On “All in the Family,” Reiner served as a pivotal foil to Carroll O’Connor’s bigoted, conservative Archie Bunker. Reiner was five times nominated for an Emmy for his performance on the show, winning in 1974 and 1978. In Lear, Reiner also found a mentor. He called him “a second father.”

“It wasn’t just that he hired me for ‘All in the Family,’” Reiner told “American Masters” in 2005. “It was that I saw, in how he conducted his life, that there was room to be an activist as well. That you could use your celebrity, your good fortune, to help make some change.”

Lear also helped launch Reiner as a filmmaker. He put $7.5 million of his own money to help finance “Stand By Me,” Reiner’s adaptation of the Stephen King novella “The Body.” The movie, about four boys who go looking for the dead body of a missing boy, became a coming-of-age classic, made breakthroughs of its young cast (particularly River Phoenix) and even earned the praise of King.

With his stock rising, Reiner devoted himself to adapting William Goldman’s 1973’s “The Princess Bride,” a book Reiner had loved since his father gave him a copy as a gift. Everyone from François Truffaut to Robert Redford had considered adapting Goldman’s book, but it ultimately fell to Reiner (from Goldman’s own script) to capture the unique comic tone of “The Princess Bride.” But only once he had Goldman’s blessing.

“At the door he greeted me and he said, ‘This is my baby. I want this on my tombstone. This is my favorite thing I’ve ever written in my life. What are you going to do with it?’” Reiner recalled in a Television Academy interview. “And we sat down with him and started going through what I thought should be done with the film.”

Though only a modest success in theaters, the movie — starring Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Wallace Shawn, André the Giant and Robin Wright — would grow in stature over the years, leading to countless impressions of Inigo Montoya’s vow of revenge and the risky nature of land wars in Asia.

‘When Harry Met Sally …”

Reiner was married to Penny Marshall, the actor and filmmaker, for 10 years beginning in 1971. Like Reiner, Marshall experienced sitcom fame, with “Laverne & Shirley,” but found a more lasting legacy behind the camera.

After their divorce, Reiner, at a lunch with Nora Ephron, suggested a comedy about dating. In writing what became “When Harry Met Sally …” Ephron and Reiner charted a relationship between a man and a woman (played in the film by Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan) over the course of 12 years.

Along the way, the movie’s ending changed, as did some of the film’s indelible moments. The famous line, “I’ll have what she’s having,” said after witnessing Ryan’s fake orgasm at Katz’s Delicatessen, was a suggestion by Crystal — delivered by none other than Reiner’s mother, Estelle.

The movie’s happy ending also had some real-life basis. Reiner met Singer, a photographer, on the set of “When Harry Met Sally …” In 1989, they were wed. They had three children together: Nick, Jake and Romy.

Reiner’s subsequent films included another King adaptation, “Misery” (1990) and a pair of Aaron Sorkin-penned dramas: the military courtroom tale “A Few Good Men” (1992) and 1995’s “The American President.”

By the late ’90s, Reiner’s films (1996’s “Ghosts of Mississippi,” 2007’s “The Bucket List”) no longer had the same success rate. But he remained a frequent actor, often memorably enlivening films like “Sleepless in Seattle” (1993) and “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2013). In 2023, he directed the documentary “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life.”

In an interview earlier this year with Seth Rogen, Reiner suggested everything in his career boiled down to one thing.

“All I’ve ever done is say, ‘Is this something that is an extension of me?’ For ‘Stand by Me,’ I didn’t know if it was going to be successful or not. All I thought was, ‘I like this because I know what it feels like.’”

Dallas entered Sunday night sporting the NFL’s top offense by yards per game and passing yards per game and the fourth-best scoring offense. Dak Prescott has been a legitimate MVP candidate.

The Cowboys were in desperate need of a victory over Minnesota to keep their playoff hopes alive.

And they scored nine points in the second half.

Welcome to the Brian Flores experience.

The Vikings’ offensive struggles have masked the general excellence of Minnesota’s defense. But it was on full display on the bright lights of national television Sunday night.

Prescott was under constant duress, particularly in the second half. He was pressured on 48% of his drop backs, the highest number of his career. Minnesota’s defensive coordinator dialed up one blitz after another, and the pressure negated the downfield threats of star receivers George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb.

And dink and dunk didn’t get it done.

The performance of Prescott isn’t an indictment of the quarterback, who has been stellar all season. This is what Flores is doing to quarterbacks, even those playing at a high level.

The last passing touchdown Minnesota surrendered came on Nov. 9 against Baltimore. That’s five straight games without allowing a scoring strike.

Minnesota’s defense has allowed just six total touchdowns in that span, and three of those followed the offense’s turnovers.

When the offense has been a disaster, the defense has held down the fort to keep games from getting out of hand (see: Seattle). When the Vikings manage to actually move the ball, they win games. Because the unit on the other side is seemingly always doing its job.

Flores’ unit never quit this season, even when the offense gave it 1,000 reasons to do so.

The coordinator came to Minnesota in 2023 and took over a defense that was horrendous the year prior and immediately elevated it to competent. Then it was opportunistic. Now, it’s just plain good.

Frankly, it’s very similar to the trajectory he had Miami on during his three years as head coach of the Dolphins.

Flores identifies the strengths of his unit and the weaknesses of the opposition and concocts the best possible plan to achieve success. And he’s not afraid to experiment with schemes others don’t dare to dabble with in the process.

That’s a man some organization is going to tab to lead its football team this offseason. The results are undeniable. Even in an age where offensive minds are prioritized, creativity and discipline are traits that translate to all three phases of the game. Flores’ defenses in Minnesota have possessed those year after year.

Should a job open such as Cincinnati — which is already armed with a franchise quarterback and all-pro weapons — who better than Flores to come in and correct not only the defense, but the organizational mindset needed to bring the Bengals back to prominence.

With Minnesota officially eliminated from playoff contention on Sunday, teams with openings can hire Flores at their earliest desire the second the clock strikes midnight on Minnesota’s regular season

If Flores could fix this Vikings’ defense, he could fix anything.

Congratulations to whatever organization welcomes Flores in with his hammer and wrench to patch its holes and fix its flaws. The man does quick, effective work.

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