Minnesota Vikings at Arizona Cardinals: Fourth Quarter Open Thread

After the Arizona Cardinals won the opening coin toss and chose to receive the opening kickoff, the Minnesota Vikings got the ball to start the second half of a 10-10 football game. Chandler Catanzaro kicked it down to Cordarrelle Patterson, and Patterson gave the Vikings a start at their own 29-yard line. The Vikings picked up a nice first down after a pair of completions from Teddy Bridgewater, one to Adam Thielen and one to Kyle Rudolph to the Minnesota 41. After an Arizona penalty, Bridgewater found Rudolph again into Arizona territory at the 40-yard line. Two plays later, the Vikings. . .inexplicably. . .attempted to run a reverse, and the result was a fumble that Arizona recovered by Alex Okafor at the Arizona 43-yard line.

The Cardinals quickly found themselves in Minnesota territory on a nice conversion from Carson Palmer to David Johnson. Then, on a 3rd-and-8 play, Palmer dropped back to pass and found a wide open Michael Floyd. Seriously, the closest player to Floyd was Larry Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald blew up Anthony Harris after the catch, and that allowed Floyd to take the ball all the way to the end zone for a score. The 42-yard play gave the Cardinals a 17-10 lead after the Catanzaro extra point.

The Vikings started their next drive from their own 20-yard line after a touchback. The Vikings couldn't get anything going on the drive, and wound up going three-and-out. Jeff Locke was brought in to punt, and got away a pretty good one, with Patrick Peterson only able to return the kick to the Arizona 29-yard line for the Cardinals' next drive. The Vikings nearly got a pick-six from Xavier Rhodes, but it was dropped, and the Arizona drive continued.

The Cardinals then found themselves facing 4th-and-1 from the Minnesota 38-yard line, and they elected to go for it. David Johnson converted for the first down, and a few plays later, Johnson took the ball down to the 2-yard line. Everson Griffen then blasted Palmer for a 10-yard loss on a sack, and as we move to the fourth quarter, the Cardinals appear to be lining up for a chip shot field goal attempt.

We've got fifteen minutes of play remaining in Arizona, and the Minnesota Vikings trail the Arizona Cardinals by a score of 17-10. . .likely soon to be 20-10. Can the Vikings pull off what would be a pretty amazing comeback?