EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Minnesota Vikings reversed two negative trends despite having their worst offensive day of the season.

The Vikings became the first team in NFL history to return a punt, kickoff and interception for touchdowns, then their offense came to life long enough to set up kicker Paul Edinger's 48-yard field goal with 10 seconds left in a 24-21 win over the New York Giants yesterday.

Minnesota (4-5) entered the game having lost nine of its past 13 games to the Giants (6-3), including four of its past five. The Vikings were also 0-4 on the road this season.

"I'm glad the guys figured out that we can win the game on defense and on special teams," said coach Mike Tice. "Maybe we can figure out ... and start winning on the road, because that's what it takes in this league to win on the road — you have to play really well on defense and really well on special teams."

Safety Darren Sharper had three interceptions for the Vikings, including one he returned for a 92-yard touchdown in the second quarter. On special teams, Koren Robinson returned the second-half kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown and teammate Mewelde Moore ran a punt back 71 yards for a score later in the quarter.

The Vikings also confused Giants quarterback Eli Manning all afternoon with shifting coverages, and the second-year quarterback finished 23 of 48 for 291 yards and four interceptions.

"We had a plan where we were going to bait him into calling certain things and then move," Tice said.

Minnesota appeared to have the game in hand when Sharper intercepted Manning for a third time with 3:48 left and the Vikings leading 21-13. But the Giants got the ball back and drove 67 yards, tying the game with 1:21 left on a 3-yard touchdown run and 2-point conversion run by Tiki Barber.

Brad Johnson (17 for 30 for 144 yards) then drove the Vikings 42 yards in eight plays, completing four passes in the drive to set up Edinger, who had missed earlier from 40 and 32 yards.

"Koren Robinson came up to me and said, 'Special teams, let's go,' which was kind of the right words for this game," Edinger said.

The Vikings had their worst offensive performance of the season with 137 total yards, and were held to 6 yards in the first half. But the Giants couldn't capitalize despite racking up 405 yards of offense. In addition to Manning's four interceptions, Willie Ponder fumbled the opening kickoff, and the Giants were penalized nine times for 75 yards.

"It was a very poor performance by our team," said Giants coach Tom Coughlin. "It's beyond belief that we would play that poorly."