CINCINNATI — For the second time in three years, the Vikings watched Evan McPherson drill an overtime field goal to seal a 27-24 Bengals win over Minnesota in overtime. The first time it happened, the Vikings opened Mike Zimmer’s final season as head coach with a mistake-filled loss. The second defeat could turn out to be a critical blow to their playoff chances.

They allowed the Bengals to score three fourth-quarter touchdowns and send Saturday’s game to overtime, where the Vikings came up with a stop before turning the ball over on downs when officials ruled Nick Mullens’ two QB sneaks short of a first down. Former Vikings quarterback Jake Browning hit Tyler Boyd for 44 yards in overtime to set up McPherson’s game winner.

Mullens, starting his first game of the season, became the Vikings’ first 300-yard passer other than Kirk Cousins, but Mullens’ two interceptions loomed large in the first half.

The Vikings outgained the Bengals 188-101 in the first half, and took the lead with their first opening-drive touchdown of the season. But as they’ve done so often this season, they made things more difficult on themselves with turnovers near their opponent’s goal line.

With 4:14 left in the second quarter, Mullens threw into double coverage for Justin Jefferson, and Mike Hilton intercepted the pass to kill a drive that had reached the Bengals’ 14. Then, with the Vikings driving for points just before halftime, Myles Murphy sacked Mullens at the Bengals’ 16, and B.J. Hill picked off Mullens on the next play, dragging the quarterback down before Mullens tried to throw a pass that hit Hill in the helmet and bounced off the quarterback’s midsection before Hill corralled it.

The missed opportunities meant the Vikings never got up by more than two touchdowns, giving the Bengals a chance to erase a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter. Cincinnati answered Mullens’ go-ahead score to Jordan Addison with about four minutes left, tying tied the game when Tee Higgins beat Akayleb Evans for a jump-ball touchdown with about 40 seconds remaining. That set up the second Vikings-Bengals overtime in three years at Paycor Stadium.

Why it happened: The Vikings’ 424 yards were their most since Cousins was lost for the season, and they got their first 100-yard rushing performance of the season from Ty Chandler in relief of the injured Alexander Mattison. But two turnovers cost the Vikings chances to score, and they weren’t able to get the fourth-quarter stops they needed to end the game.

What it means: The Vikings fell back to 7-7 in a game they led for most of the day, and might now need to win two of their final three against the Lions and Packers to reach the playoffs. They’ll watch the rest of the NFL’s Week 15 slate to see how much help they’ll get in the wild-card race, and would need to beat the Lions next week to avoid Detroit clinching the NFC North at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Play of the game: On second-and-10 in the fourth quarter, Browning heaved a jump ball to the right side of the end zone for Higgins, who’d been the Bengals’ primary target with Ja’Marr Chase out of the game because of a shoulder injury. The pass was underthrown, giving Evans a chance to make a play on the ball, but Higgins worked back for the ball, snatched it away from Evans and reached for the pylon as Evans dragged him to the sideline. It helped the Bengals set up overtime, where they’d eventually win.

Turning point: The Vikings needed a yard for a first down on back-to-back plays in overtime, and on both plays, they called for a quarterback sneak with Brandon Powell trying to push Mullens forward. Officials marked Mullens short of a first down on both plays — with O’Connell reacting furiously to the first one — and the Bengals got the ball back to win the game on McPherson’s field goal.

Next up: vs. Lions, Dec. 24, noon