Vikings vs. Cowboys: Tony Romo Helps Justify Contract in Win over Minnesota

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo hit Dwayne Harris for a seven-yard touchdown with just 35 seconds remaining to cap off Sunday's 27-23 comeback victory over the Minnesota Vikings.

Dropping the Week 9 contest to one of the lowlier teams in the league would have been devastating for Dallas. The burden was placed completely on Romo, who signed a $108 million extension this offseason and proved worthy of the franchise's financial faith in him at AT&T Stadium.

Offensive coordinator Bill Callahan has been calling the shots in 2013, striving to better establish the Cowboys' running game.

That wasn't the case versus Minnesota. Running back DeMarco Murray finished with just four carries and piled up 31 yards, but he did have six receptions for 19 yards.

Romo threw 51 passes and completed 34 of them for 337 yards and two touchdowns, but the truest test of his progression came with his only real blemish of the game.

An interception late in the fourth quarter put the game in jeopardy, but the Cowboys' defense—which yielded 140 yards rushing to superstar Adrian Peterson—held the Vikings to zero yards in three plays, affording Romo a shot at redemption.

The Romo of old might have wilted in the face of such adversity. Instead, the talented signal-caller picked apart Minnesota on a nine-play, 90-yard drive that culminated in the winning scoring strike to Harris.

As observed in the video above, Romo is the highest-rated NFL passer in the fourth quarter since 2006.

An unbalanced offensive attack saw America's Team notch only nine total carries that included one from Romo himself.

Amid intimidating prospective blowback if the Cowboys were to come out on the losing end of the tight contest, Romo willed his team nearly the length of the field and claimed a monumental triumph.

Considering that Romo has won only one playoff game in his lengthy tenure as Dallas' quarterback and has fallen short in similar scenarios, this win had to be sweet for him.

Yes, the Vikings are in the bottom five in pass defense and fell to 1-7 on Sunday, and Romo's doubters may discount his comeback based on the quality of the opponent.

Anything can happen in the NFL, though, given the amount of parity and skill across the board. In a game the Cowboys might have been expected to blow in the past, Romo provided a possible glimpse into what's to come for the remainder of the season.

By keeping his team ahead by one game in the NFC East division, bouncing back from a big mistake and beating the Vikings with a nearly nonexistent running game, there is little more Romo could have done to confirm his status as a legitimate franchise quarterback.

The Cowboys invested a ton in Romo, and both he and the organization cashed in on that bold commitment on Sunday.