Vikings Ease Up and Lose : Interconference: Bengals score 24 consecutive points to win on field goal, 27-24.

Realizing there was no reason to go on, the Minnesota Vikings appeared to simply give up.

The Vikings were eliminated from the playoff chase Sunday while they were in the midst of blowing a 21-point lead and their final game. The Cincinnati Bengals scored 24 consecutive points in the second half, capped by Doug Pelfrey’s 51-yard field goal as time ran out, for a 27-24 victory.

The loss was almost anticlimactic for Minnesota (8-8), which was eliminated from playoff consideration as it set up for a second-and-goal play from the seven-yard line with 2:19 left. The scoreboard directly overhead flashed the final score that ended Minnesota’s season: Chicago 20, Philadelphia 14.

A few minutes later, Fuad Reveiz missed a 25-yard field-goal attempt, the final bitter disappointment on a 23-degree afternoon. The Bengals then drove for Pelfrey’s kick, allowing Cincinnati to match its biggest comeback in franchise history.

“We just didn’t play with the same intensity in the second half,” quarterback Warren Moon said. “I don’t know if guys were looking at the scoreboard and seeing Chicago ahead of Philadelphia or what.

“I can’t explain it. The only thing I can think is guys kind of let down, because they felt we didn’t have a chance anymore after they saw the score of the Chicago game.”

The Vikings needed to beat the Bengals (7-9) and have Chicago and Atlanta lose their games to make the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season. Instead, both teams won and Minnesota (8-8) missed out for the first time in Coach Dennis Green’s four seasons.

“We like to win around here,” Green said. “We’ve won a lot of football games in the four years we’ve been here. That’s what we come to do every single week. We’re upset, because we didn’t do that. We let a team come back on us. That doesn’t happen very often.”

The game was like the Vikings’ year: No consistency.

“This typifies our season,” said Reveiz, who had missed just twice previously from less than 40 yards this season. “We did so well in one part. In the other part, we just didn’t do the job.”

The Vikings went up, 24-3, in the first half as Moon threw two touchdown passes and Alfred Jackson returned an interception 37 yards for his first NFL touchdown.

By halftime, it appeared to be all over except for the scoreboard watching. But the Vikings’ weak pass defense--its Achilles’ heel all season--made it a game.

The Bengals drove for touchdowns on their first two possessions of the third quarter. Eric Bieniemy ran five yards for a score, and Jeff Blake threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Carl Pickens to cut it to 24-17.

“It turned on us somewhere or another,” said Viking linebacker Ed McDaniel, who had 10 tackles. “It seemed like we just weren’t the same, and they took advantage.”

Coach Dave Shula, who is 18-46 after four seasons and expected back for the final year of his contract, lit into his players at halftime.

“Basically, I just challenged their manhood and whether they liked to play this game and had any self-respect or pride, and they responded in kind,” Shula said.

A series of Viking missteps in the final 11:08 let Cincinnati complete its comeback.

Reveiz fell while attempting a 38-yard field goal, sending it wide right. Bengal cornerback Corey Sawyer--burned for two touchdowns in the second quarter--grabbed Jake Reed’s jersey on a long third-down pass, but no interference was called. And Mike Saxon followed with a 15-yard punt that gave Cincinnati the ball at the Minnesota 40.

Darnay Scott ran uncovered on a slant--the same play Jerry Rice burned the Vikings on repeatedly during his 289-yard game Monday night--for a 35-yard gain. Two plays later, Blake connected with Tony McGee, who was wide open in the end zone, for a five-yard touchdown pass that tied it and left the Vikings’ season tottering.

A few minutes after the Vikings learned they’d been eliminated and Reveiz missed again, this time wide left from 25 yards. But by then, they knew it was over.

“I saw the scoreboard,” Saxon said. “It was kind of depressing.”