When the Minnesota Vikings scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns to defeat the Chicago Bears in Week 1, the feeling was that the Vikings’ offense had finally gotten it together.
After Week 2’s Sunday Night Football matchup against the Atlanta Falcons, the vibes, as the kids might say, are gone.
In front of a raucous crowd for their first game at U.S. Bank Stadium since last December, the Minnesota offense managed just two field goals and squandered a relatively solid defensive effort to fall by a score of 22-6.
The Falcons won the opening coin toss and, in a rare move, chose to take the ball rather than defer to the second half. They got a couple of big runs from Bijan Robinson to start their drive, but stalled out in the red zone and settled for a 38-yard field goal from former Viking Parker Romo to take an early 3-0 lead.
After the Vikings failed on a 4th-and-1 in their own territory on their first possession, the Falcons got three more points from Romo, as he connected from 29 yards out to make it 6-0. It appears that the Falcons were pushing towards more points, but linebacker Eric Wilson, in the game for the injured Blake Cashman, forced a fumble from Falcons’ receiver Drake London and the Vikings recovered for the game’s first turnover.
Minnesota finally got on the board midway through the second quarter on a 33-yard field goal by Will Reichard to make it a 6-3 game. A disappointing result, given that the Vikings had a first-and-goal from the 1 on the possession, but they came away with points.
After a Falcons punt, the Vikings had a turnover of their own, as McCarthy’s pass intended for Jalen Nailor wound up in the hands of Billy Bowman for an interception in Minnesota territory. The Vikings’ defense limited the damage after the turnover, forcing another field goal attempt from Romo. He hit from 33 yards out and the Falcons extended their lead to 9-3 with about 25 seconds left in the half.
After McCarthy was sacked once again, he loaded up and found Justin Jefferson for a big 50-yard gain with time winding down in the half. That gave Will Reichard an opportunity for a 51-yard field goal, which he put through the uprights to make it 9-6 going into the locker room.
The Vikings went three-and-out to start the second half, and the Falcons eventually got into position for yet another field goal, another 33-yarder from Romo to make it 12-6 with a little over six minutes remaining in the third quarter. That’s how they went into the final quarter of play, and the fourth quarter started with another Minnesota turnover, as McCarthy was sacked for the sixth time on the evening, fumbling the ball away with the Falcons recovering.
Once again, the Vikings’ defense stood up and forced yet another field goal attempt, as Romo connected from 55 to make it 15-6 with eleven minutes remaining in regulation. The Vikings’ offense continued to not generate anything positive, and the defense eventually broke, as Tyler Allegier got a walk-in touchdown with just over three minutes remaining to make the score 22-6.
The Vikings got one more opportunity with the ball, and it ended with McCarthy’s second interception of the night, as he threw one towards the end zone that was intercepted by Falcons’ rookie Xavier Watts for his first NFL interception. That brought the game to an end, with the Vikings falling to 1-1 after an ugly performance.
I don’t know what the Vikings need to do between now and next Sunday afternoon when the Vikings host the Cincinnati Bengals at U.S. Bank Stadium, but that’s Kevin O’Connell’s job to figure out.
The Minnesota Vikings fail to show up. . .at least offensively. . .on Sunday Night Football at U.S. Bank Stadium, getting thumped by the Atlanta Falcons by a final score of 22-6. Thank you to everyone who got their coverage of this week’s game right here at The Daily Norseman!
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