Minnesota Vikings at St. Louis Rams: Fourth Quarter Open Thread

The third quarter of play started with a quarterback change for the Rams, as Shaun Hill went to the bench and Austin Davis. . .who had never thrown an NFL pass prior to today. . .coming in to relieve him. Hill has a thigh injury and is questionable to return.

Davis made a couple of nice plays to start with, including a 26-yard pass to Jared Cook to put the Rams into Minnesota territory after a few nice runs by Zac Stacy. However, the Vikings put a screeching halt to the Rams drive, courtesy of a sack by Harrison Smith on a safety blitz. It was the first sack of the game for either side, and the Rams brought Greg Zuerlein in for a 56-yard field goal attempt. He knocked it through to put the Rams on the board and cut the Minnesota lead to 13-3.

Cordarrelle Patterson was held to just a 19-yard kick return, but a taunting penalty on St, Louis' moved the ball ahead to the Minnesota 34. A holding penalty on Phil Loadholt put the Vikings in a 1st-and-20 hole, but a 16-yard run by Adrian Peterson helped the Vikings dig out of it. A big pass from Matt Cassel to Cordarrelle Patterson picked up 11 yards and put the Vikings into Rams' territory at the 46. Just when it looked like the Vikings were going to get something going, John Sullivan snapped the ball before Cassel was ready and it went for a 19-yard loss to put the Vikings back into their own territory. The Vikings punted it away, and another muffed return attempt by Tavon Austin forced the Rams to start at their own 15.

After a couple of nice runs to start the Rams' next drive, big Linval Joseph made his presence felt with a sack of Austin Davis. The Vikings' stopped the Rams about ten yards short on third down, and Johnny Hekker came in to punt it away again. Marcus Sherels called for a fair catch at the Minnesota 32, and the Vikings took over again.

And then, Cordarrelle Patterson happened.

Patterson lined up in the backfield behind Matt Cassel, took a pitch around the right side and. . .seriously, I can't even do it justice. You're going to have to see the highlight on SportsCenter tonight or something. It was freaking incredible. The 67-yard run put the Vikings ahead by a count of 20-3.

Man, Cordarrelle Patterson is awesome.

The Rams went three and out on their next drive, and as we move to the fourth quarter of play, the Vikings have the ball, looking at 2nd-and-12 from their own 28-yard line and a 20-3 lead.

Can the Vikings hold on for their first win of 2014 and their first road win since 2012? Let's hang out together and find out!