With 1:46 on the clock and the Vikings trailing the Patriots by eight points Saturday at U.S. Bank Stadium, rookie quarterback Max Brosmer, whose mindset-bearing wristband reads “Be where your feet are” and “One play at a time,” led the Vikings onto the field with 69 yards between them and the end zone.
“If a two-minute drive doesn’t let you play one play at a time, I’m not sure what does,” Brosmer said after the game. “You gotta just dink and dunk it all the way down the field.”
He did just that, mixing in longer throws, including a 25-yard completion to Jeshaun Jones that converted a fourth-and-17, en route to the Patriots’ 8-yard line.
Brosmer brought the Vikings to the brink of tying the game, but he couldn’t quite close it out in a 20-12 preseason loss to New England. A false start, incompletion and then an interception in the end zone ended the game.
But Brosmer, the 24-year-old former Gopher, has turned heads throughout training camp and now in both preseason games. He passed for 47 yards and a touchdown on 5-of-8 passing on just 19 snaps played in the fourth quarter against the Texans on Aug. 9.
Vikings quarterback Max Brosmer (12) is sacked in the third quarter by the New England Patriots on Saturday. (Anthony Souffle/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
He built on that Saturday, finishing two quarters of play 15-of-27 for 156 yards and that one interception. He was sacked four times for a total 33 yards lost, and faced obstacles in the form of a handful of procedural penalties against the Vikings.
Brosmer also added highlight-worthy throws and decisions to his résumé.
Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said the fourth-down conversion is an example of why Brosmer has seen the number of reps he has this preseason, even as the current fourth-string QB.