Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings: Fourth Quarter Open Thread

To start the first half, the Minnesota Vikings received the kickoff from the Green Bay Packers. Green Bay squibbed it to avoid Cordarrelle Patterson, and Chase Ford rambled with it to the Minnesota 39-yard line to give the Vikings decent starting field position. The drive got started with a holding penalty on Matt Kalil that negated a nice run by Jerick McKinnon, and the drive stalled after a sack of Teddy Bridgewater by Mike Daniels. Jeff Locke came on to punt, and actually hit a pretty good one, putting the Packers at their own 16-yard line to start their first drive of the second half.

The Packers picked up a couple of quick first downs on their next drive, but then picked up a couple of quick penalties to get pushed back into a 1st-and-27 situation. A couple of incompletions and a Brian Robison sack later, the Packers were punting the ball back to the Vikings, with Marcus Sherels attempting to call for a fair catch and getting interfered with by a member of the Packers, giving Minnesota the ball at midfield.

The Vikings started their next drive with a quick pass to Cordarrelle Patterson and a nice run by Joe Banyard to pick up a first down. However, Bridgewater misfired on a couple of passes intended for Charles Johnson, and the Vikings brought on Blair Walsh for a 50-yard field goal attempt. He drilled it, and with about six and a half minutes left in the third quarter, the Vikings found themselves trailing by a score of 14-13.

The Packers started their next drive at their own 20 following a touchback. Green Bay got a big play from Aaron Rodgers to Jordy Nelson, and a roughing the passer penalty on Linval Joseph added to it to put the Packers near midfield. They followed that up with a third down conversion from Rodgers to Randall Cobb to get down to the Minnesota 35. The Packers only got a few more yards, and they called on Mason Crosby for a field goal attempt. Crosby was good from 48 yards out, and the Packers' lead went back to four at 17-13.

Green Bay chose to kick to Cordarrelle Patterson on the ensuing kickoff, and he brought the ball back to the Minnesota 37-yard line, giving the Vikings good field position again. The Vikings quickly found themselves in Packer territory after a couple of carries by Jerick McKinnon. Bridgewater was then sacked by safety Micah Hyde, and the drive stalled out at midfield. As we move to the fourth quarter of play, the Vikings find themselves facing a 4th-and-7 from midfield, with Jeff Locke coming on to punt it away.

There's just one quarter of play remaining, and the Minnesota Vikings are within striking distance. Can they pull off the upset?