MINNEAPOLIS — Dez Bryant caught four passes for 84 yards and the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter Thursday night, helping the Dallas Cowboys win their 11th straight game with a 17-15 victory against the Minnesota Vikings.

Bryant’s 56-yard catch in the first half set up Ezekiel Elliott’s 1-yard plunge. Bryant caught an 8-yard scoring pass in the fourth quarter after a fumbled punt by Adam Thielen of Minnesota.

Elliott rushed for 86 yards on 20 carries for the Cowboys (11-1). They have the longest single-season winning streak in franchise history.

Sam Bradford threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Jerick McKinnon with 25 seconds to play, but the 2-point conversion failed for the Vikings (6-6), who found out earlier Thursday that Coach Mike Zimmer wouldn’t be able to attend the game after having emergency eye surgery Wednesday night.

Dak Prescott was 12 of 18 for 139 yards passing for Dallas.

Bradford completed 32 of 45 passes for 247 yards, Danielle Hunter had two sacks and Kai Forbath kicked three field goals for Minnesota, which has lost six of its last seven games after a 5-0 start.

Vikings special teams coordinator Mike Priefer was elevated to head coach for the game and it remains unclear how long Zimmer will be out. Minnesota’s third-ranked defense did its fiery leader proud, holding the Cowboys to season lows in points, yards (264) and first downs (13).

The Vikings forced two turnovers from a team that had not coughed one up in the previous four games, including a strip sack by Brian Robison that set up Forbath’s 33-yard field goal for a 9-7 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Cowboys tight end Jason Witten didn’t catch a pass, snapping a team-record streak of 130 straight games with a reception dating to 2008.

NOTES

JOE MCKNIGHT, a former Jets running back and kick returner, was fatally shot following an argument at an intersection in Terrytown, Louisiana.

McKnight, a 2010 fourth-round draft pick, played three seasons with the Jets before joining Kansas City in 2014.

McKnight holds the Jets record for longest kickoff return, a 107-yarder against Baltimore in 2011. His 100-yard kickoff return against Houston in 2012 is the last time a Jet returned a kickoff for a touchdown.

McKnight was 28.

According to NOLA.com: “A witness, who declined to give her name, said she was leaving a store in the area when she saw a man at the intersection yelling at another man, who was trying to apologize. The man who was yelling shot the other man more than once, she said.

CHIEFS: Defensive lineman Jaye Howard, a five-year veteran, was put on injured reserve with a hip injury.

Howard has been out for several weeks and the Chiefs decided he was unlikely to make it back this season. There was no corresponding roster move made.

BEARS: Quarterback Jay Cutler will have season-ending surgery on his right shoulder.

Cutler injured his shoulder Nov. 20 during a loss to the New York Giants.

JETS: Center Nick Mangold fully practiced for the first time since spraining his right ankle Oct. 23, putting him on track to play Monday night against Indianapolis.

Mangold has been forced to sit out four games while Wesley Johnson filled in for him.

THE NFL is re-evaluating its scheduling process in a bid to avoid the short turnaround of having teams play on Sunday night, then travel to play on Thursday.

“That’s tough and we’ll have to look at that,” said Troy Vincent, the league’s vice president of football operations. “Ideally that’s not something that we would like to have.”

Vincent was referring to last month, when Washington beat Green Bay in a prime-time game Nov. 20, then lost a late afternoon game at Dallas four days later.

He said the league prefers that both teams playing on Thursday would be scheduled to play early Sunday afternoon games the previous weekend.

Vincent said the issue is on the league’s agenda and has also been raised with the NFL’s senior vice president of broadcasting Howard Katz, who oversees the schedule.

That’s welcome news to Washington Coach Jay Gruden, who called it a “no-brainer,” when informed of Vincent’s comments.

“The recovery time for these players after a physical football game needs to be more than what we got. And then you throw a plane ride in on top of it, it makes it pretty difficult,” Gruden said. “It can be done because we did it. But I think the schedule maker should really look at that and not put somebody in that predicament again.”

BILLS: Receiver Sammy Watkins returned to practice after missing two months but is still dealing with a broken bone in his left foot, according to his offensive coordinator.

“Last I heard, the guy has a broken bone in his foot,” Anthony Lynn said. “I’m just thankful to have him for any time he can give us.”

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