By Chris Tomasson

St. Paul Pioneer Press

On Oct. 14, 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis began and the Dallas Cowboys had two plays of 100 or more yards against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Flash forward more than a half-century later. Diplomatic relations have been restored with Cuba, and the Vikings had two 100-yard plays in a game for just the second time in NFL history.

Xavier Rhodes returned a second-quarter interception 100 yards for a touchdown and Cordarrelle Patterson brought back the second-half kickoff for 104 yards as Minnesota defeated Arizona 30-24 at U.S. Bank Stadium, ending a four-game losing streak.

Of course, the Vikings (6-4) never make anything easy, and they had to hold on for the win. It helped getting another big play, Jeff Locke’s 72-yard punt in the waning moments.

“Getting those big plays, the football gods have got to be on your side a little bit and they were definitely on our side,’’ said Minnesota cornerback Captain Munnerlyn.

Whether it was divine intervention or not, plenty of big plays went Minnesota’s way during a five-game winning streak to begin the season. That hadn’t been the case in recent weeks, but Vikings coach Mike Zimmer stressed to his team entering Sunday’s game not to force matters.

“Our message this week was, ‘Make the solid plays first and let the big plays come to you,’” Zimmer said.

Put it all together, and Zimmer was quite relieved to see the longest losing streak in his three Vikings seasons come to an end.

“It’s been a long, long, long month,’’ Zimmer said. “It’s good to feel this again. … There’s been a lot of negativity when you lose four games. It’s actually a credit to our football team that we didn’t let it seep into us because it can go south really fast.’’

Little time to celebrate with Detroit waiting on Thanksgiving

NFL teams generally have a 24-hour rule after a game to celebrate or be down before moving on to the next one.

This week, it might not even be 24 minutes for the Vikings.

After his team defeated Arizona 30-24 Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium, Minnesota coach Mike Zimmer didn’t spend much time celebrating even though the win broke a four-game losing streak. That’s because the Vikings play Thursday at Detroit in a key NFC North game.

“I had a victory 10 minutes,’’ Zimmer said. “Now, it’s time to get on to Detroit.’’

Both teams are 6-4, but the Lions hold the tiebreaker because of their 22-16 overtime win Nov. 6 at U.S. Bank Stadium.

“(The losing streak is) off our back, but at the same time, we know we got a short week, and we got to keep this thing rolling,’’ said Vikings cornerback Captain Munnerlyn. “We know we’ve got a big game Thursday, so we got to go out there and handle business.’’