Green Bay Packers at Minnesota Vikings: Second Quarter Open Thread

To start the Week 12 matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers, the Vikings won the toss and elected to defer to the second half, giving Green Bay the first crack on offense. Blair Walsh started things the way he usually does, with a touchback, so the Packers started their first drive from their own 20-yard line. The Packers picked up a quick first down on the series, but the Vikings' defense then held firm and forced them to punt the ball away. The return by Marcus Sherels gave the Vikings the ball at their own 21-yard line for their first possession.

The Vikings' drive got off to a nice start from the first play, as Teddy Bridgewater hit tight end Kyle Rudolph for 23 yards, Rudolph's first catch since Week 3. However, things stalled after that, and the Vikings were forced to punt the ball back. Bridgewater missed Charles Johnson twice on the drive, and neither of them were terribly close. Jeff Locke's punt put Green Bay on their own 17-yard line to start their next drive.

The Packers got a first down from Eddie Lacy to start their second drive, and converted a short third down to pick up another one. The Packers got into Vikings' territory, but came up short on a 3rd-and-1 and were forced to punt. The punt from Tim Masthay was downed at the Minnesota 10-yard line, putting the Vikings in a bit of a hole to start their second drive.

Bridgewater did his best to get the Vikings out of that hole, hitting Chase Ford for a 13-yard gain and a first down. However, an intentional grounding penalty on Bridgewater and a give-up call on the ensuing 3rd-and-22 forced the Vikings to punt again. Locke outkicked his coverage on the punt, and the return by Micah Hyde went to the Green Bay 46-yard line, giving them good starting field position.

The Packers started their next drive with a fumble by James Starks that they wound up recovering, and converted another third down with an Aaron Rodgers to Randall Cobb connection for 29 yards to the Minnesota 25-yard line. That was followed by a pass interference penalty on Harrison Smith to give the Packers first-and-goal at the Minnesota 1, and Lacy punched it in from there to give the Packers a 7-0 lead.

As we move to the second quarter of play, the Packers have that 7-0 lead, and the Vikings are looking at 1st-and-10 from the Minnesota 42 after a Bridgewater scramble for a first down. Can the Vikings get things going in the second quarter?