How did the Bills and Josh Allen beat the hell out of the Vikings?

The Buffalo Bills pulled off the upset of the season, maybe the decade, by beating the Minnesota Vikings ... in Minnesota by a final score of 27-6. No, you’re not misreading that. The Bills that have been outscored 78-23 in their first two games and were double digit underdogs this week are beating the Minnesota Vikings in Minnesota.

In the first quarter, Buffalo had two drives start in scoring position due to two strip sacks against Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins, which led to 10 points. The first strip sack was caused by Trent Murphy and the second was forced by Jerry Hughes. With 10 minutes to go in the second quarter, Buffalo had four sacks on the day.

Josh Allen scrambled out of the pocket for a diving score put the Bills up 7-0.

On Allen’s second touchdown of the game, new offensive coordinator Brian Daboll called a perfectly timed wheel route that was wide open behind the Vikings secondary.

These weren’t even Allen’s best plays from the first half. Allen had a wild play where he leaped over a Vikings defender for a first down.

Allen’s numbers for the day could’ve been even better if his receivers were able to pull in a pass here. He had to deal with a few drops on perfectly thrown balls, just to underscore how out of hand things could have gotten for the Vikings.

Allen finished the game with 196 passing yards and one touchdown. He did more with his legs, 39 rushing yards to go with those two scores on the ground. That was more rushing yards than the Vikings, who mustered a total of 14. Fourteen.

The Bills entered the game as 16.5 point underdogs against the Vikings. For them to be completely dominating the Vikings like this...it’s almost unheard of.

Buffalo held the Vikings to just 4.5 yards per play after the Vikings averaged 5.9 through their first two games. Kirk Cousins was held to 5.4 yards an attempt, Minnesota averaged 2.3 yards per rush, and the Vikings turned the ball over three times.

Minnesota’s defense was uncharacteristically bad as well. Josh Allen scored three touchdowns on them in the first half and he averaged just under 9 yards per attempt for the game. It was an unexpectedly great bounce back game against a defense that is one of the most talented units in the league. Buffalo didn’t really have an efficient day rushing the football, but the game was out of hand so quickly it didn’t matter.

The Vikings were favored by double digits, in some cases as much as 17 points. A lot of people saw easy money for them to trounce the Bills. One report said that 80 percent of the money on that game had the Vikings handling that spread. Someone reportedly bet $9,000 on the Vikings to win straight up, a bet that would have only paid $450 with a -2,000 moneyline. Whoops.

A 17-point spread should have been a clue. It’s usually hard for the underdog not to cover such a huge one, and you usually don’t see a line like that so early in the season.

Buffalo could not hold onto the shutout, which would have been on the third time in history the Vikings have been shutout at home. Minnesota scored late in the fourth, but couldn’t connect on the two-point attempt, just to add to their misery.