Goff’s five touchdowns leads Rams to impressive win over Vikings

Jared Goff produced perhaps the most prolific passing day in the history of the Los Angeles Rams and John Franklin-Myers strip-sacked Kirk Cousins to carry the Rams to a 38-31 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday night.

Goff passed for 465 yards with five touchdowns on 26 of 33 passing and a perfect passer rating of 158.3 as the Rams sliced their way through the Vikings defense. Goff tossed a pair of touchdowns to Cooper Kupp, and one each to Todd Gurley, Robert Woods and Brandin Cooks to move to 4-0 for the first time since 2001.

Goff is the ninth player in Rams franchise history to toss five touchdowns in a game. Only one other of those efforts – Norm Van Brocklin against Detroit in 1950 – came with zero interceptions being thrown. And while Van Brocklin passed for 293 yards that day, Goff eclipsed the 450-yard mark against the Vikings.

Cousins did his best to keep up with the Rams offense. He completed 36 of 50 passes for 422 yards and three touchdowns before the lost fumble on Minnesota’s final possession ended their chances.

A 16-yard touchdown pass to Aldrick Robinson gave Minnesota the early 7-0 lead, but the Rams would respond immediately with an 8-yard touchdown from Goff to Gurley. Dan Bailey‘s 37-yard field goal gave the Vikings a 10-7 lead before Kupp raced for a 70-yard touchdown to give the Rams a 14-10 advantage.

Cousins and Robinson would connect again for a 17-yard touchdown to put the Vikings back in front before another Goff to Kupp touchdown gave the Rams the lead for good. A 47-yard pass to Cooks extended the L.A. lead to 28-17, but Bailey would connect on his second field goal of the night to make it a 28-20 game at half.

After a 34-yard Sam Ficken field goal, Cousins would hit Adam Thielen for a 45-yard score to close within three at 31-28. The Rams would respond once again with a 31-yard touchdown from Goff to Woods to take a 38-28 lead. Ficken missed a 28-yard field goal and Bailey connected on a 40-yard try to make it a one score game with 3:46 left to play. But after stopping the Rams inches shy of a first down, Franklin-Myers came up with the icing on the cake to seal the win for the Rams.

The 556 yards of offense allowed by the Vikings was the fifth most allowed in franchise history and most allowed since the Atlanta Falcons gained 558 yards in a 41-28 win over Minnesota in 2014.