The Minnesota Vikings nearly escaped Green Bay with a win, if it weren't for three missed field goals by rookie kicker Daniel Carlson, including two in overtime.
On the first drive of the fifth period, Carlson missed a 49-yard attempt after Green Bay iced him with a timeout. After the Packers went three-and-out and Minnesota marched back down the field, Carlson had an opportunity to avenge his earlier misses and play hero. But instead, after the Pack called another timeout to delay the kick, Carlson pushed his 35-yard boot wide right.
Minnesota settled for the 29-29 tie, but Carslon was unsettled following the missed opportunity.
"It feels terrible. I let my team down," Carlson said, per ESPN. "Credit to them because they fought back time and time again. They gave me opportunities. It is disappointing for me personally. The team fought so hard. We expect to win that and I expect to make those kicks to win the game for the team."
The Vikings selected Carlson in the fifth round of the 2018 draft, one of just two kickers chosen, even with established veteran Kai Forbath on the roster. The SEC's all-time leading point scorer, Carlson won the kicker battle in the offseason after Minnesota released Forbath, who is in his eighth season in the pros.
Forbath remains a free agent. (Perhaps Minnesota will shoot him a text Sunday night.)
Carlson converted all four of his kicks -- one FG, three XPs -- in Minnesota's Week 1 win over the 49ers, but is ruing the three he missed on Sunday.
"I'll have to look at it later. I'm not really sure," Carlson said when asked what went wrong in overtime. "That last one was probably more just something with the confidence after missing twice earlier. That's frustrating. Obviously a shorter one I should never miss like that so we will just have to look at it tonight and see what we see on film and fix it. Obviously gotta move forward and do what I can to help the team."
