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

To start the second half against the St. Louis Rams, the Minnesota Vikings got the football first, finding themselves facing a 15-10 deficit. For the first time all season, Cordarrelle Patterson got a great return away, as he brought the ball all the way out to the Minnesota 42-yard line. Teddy Bridgewater then found Kyle Rudolph for a gain into St. Louis territory at the 38. Bridgewater then went deep for Stefon Diggs, and there was originally a flag for pass interference on the Rams. However, the officials discussed the play, and then decided it was offensive pass interference on Diggs, meaning the interception stood and the Rams got the ball back at their own 20-yard line.

The Minnesota defense forced a three-and-out on the ensuing Rams' possession, keyed by a big sack that was split between Andrew Sendejo and Linval Joseph, the latter of whom is having a monster game this afternoon. After a pair of punts. . .there was a penalty on the first one. . .Minnesota took over from their own 40-yard line.

Minnesota quickly moved back into St. Louis territory thanks to a 31-yard pitch-and-catch from Bridgewater to Stefon Diggs that moved the Vikings to the 26-yard line. Adrian Peterson then had a 12-yard burst down to the St. Louis 14-yard line, and the Vikings were in the red zone again. Bridgewater found Jerick McKinnon to get the ball down to the 6-yard line, and Bridgewater did the rest himself, as he ran it in from six yards out for a Minnesota touchdown. Bridgewater enjoyed running for the touchdown so much, he decided to do the same thing on the two-point conversion, running it in to give the Vikings an 18-15 lead.

The Rams started their next drive at their own 20-yard line after a Blair Walsh touchback. The Minnesota defense quickly forced a three-and-out, including a nice pass break-up by rookie Trae Waynes on the third down attempt. Johnny Hekker punted the ball away, and Marcus Sherels called for a fair catch at the Minnesota 28-yard line.

Minnesota picked up a quick first down on their next drive, but failed to advance across midfield, and Jeff Locke had to come in and punt it away. He did a nice job, as the Vikings' defense was able to swarm Tavon Auston at the 20-yard line. The Rams wound up punting the ball back to Minnesota, and as we move to the fourth quarter, the Vikings are looking at a 2nd-and-16 from their own 5-yard line.

As we move to the final fifteen minutes of play from TCF Bank Stadium, the Minnesota Vikings lead the St. Louis Rams by a score of 18-15. Can they hold on and push their record to 6-2 on the year?