On Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium, the Minnesota Vikings certainly had their chances to beat the Baltimore Ravens and even went into halftime with a lead. The second half, however, saw the Vikings make too many mistakes to overcome.
Minnesota turned the ball over three times on the afternoon, including a couple of bad interceptions from J.J. McCarthy, and saw a 10-9 halftime lead turn into a 27-19 loss in Week 10 NFL action.
The Vikings struck first, as they forced a three-and-out from the Ravens’ offense on their first possession and then marched 86 yards for an opening-drive touchdown, culminating with a 4-yard touchdown run from Aaron Jones to make it 7-0. The big play of the drive was a third-down throw from J.J. McCarthy to Jalen Nailor that picked up 62 yards.
Baltimore answered on their next possession with a 44-yard field goal from Tyler Loop to make the score 7-3 with four and a half minutes left in the first quarter. The Vikings added a field goal of their own early in the second quarter, as Will Reichard connected from 49 yards out to make it 10-3 about four minutes into the second quarter.
McCarthy made his first real mistake of the day midway through the second quarter, as an attempted deep ball for Justin Jefferson instead wound up in the hands of rookie Malaki Starks for an interception. The Ravens turned that into another Loop field goal, this one a 28-yarder to make it 10-6 with just over a minute remaining before halftime. After a quick three-and-out for Minnesota’s offense, Baltimore got into position for another short field goal by Loop, this one a 30-yarder to make it 10-9 as they went into halftime.
The Vikings got the ball to start the second half, and McCarthy turned the football over again, this time on another deep pass to Justin Jefferson on a 3rd-and-1, with Marlon Humphrey intercepting a pass near the goal line for another Minnesota turnover. Fortunately, the Ravens’ offense stalled in the Minnesota red zone and Loop connected on his fourth field goal of the day, a 22-yarder to give Baltimore its first lead of the day at 12-10 less than five minutes into the second half.
Things went from bad to worse for the Vikings on the ensuing kickoff, as Myles Price fumbled the return with Baltimore recovering at the Minnesota 23-yard line. Baltimore took advantage of the turnover with their first touchdown of the afternoon, as Justice Hill carried it into the end zone from a yard out to make it 19-10 with eight minutes left in the third quarter.
Minnesota turned the ball over on downs on their next possession, as a 4th-and-2 pass to Jordan Addison fell incomplete. The Ravens were unable to take advantage, as Loop’s 56-yard field goal attempt drifted wide to the left, just his second miss of the season.
The Vikings turned that into a field goal of their own, as Reichard connected from 43 yards out to make it a one-score game again at 19-13 with just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Baltimore extended their lead on their next possession, as Jackson found Mark Andrews for a 2-yard touchdown pass to make it 25-13. They then went for two, and Jackson found a wide-open Rashod Bateman to make it 27-13 early in the fourth quarter.
The Vikings finally got the ball into the end zone again, as McCarthy found Nailor on a 4th-and-goal play for a 10-yard score to make it 27-19. Minnesota then went for the two-point conversion and failed, leaving it an eight-point game with three and a half minutes remaining.
The Vikings gave themselves a chance, as they got the ball back just after the two-minute warning, but the two-minute offense was just a disaster and ultimately resulted in a turnover on downs, as the Ravens went into victory formation to ice the game.
One of the biggest stories of the game has to be the fact that the Vikings had eight false starts on offense, including three by Brian O’Nell. For a team to have that many false starts in a home game is pretty unacceptable, to be honest, and you can’t expect to win games when you have that many mistakes.
The Vikings fall to 4-5 on the season and will remain at U.S. Bank Stadium next week when they finish their home-and-home series for the season with the Chicago Bears.
Our Minnesota Vikings had an opportunity to beat a good Baltimore Ravens team on Sunday afternoon, but let the opportunity slip away in a 27-19 loss. Thank you to everyone who got their coverage of this week’s game right here at The Daily Norseman!
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