San Diego Chargers at Minnesota Vikings: Third Quarter Open Thread

At the start of the second quarter, the San Diego Chargers had the ball near midfield, but the Minnesota Vikings forced them to punt the ball away. After an uncharacteristically bad punt from Mike Scifres, the Vikings started out at their own 33-yard line.

A couple of carries by Jerick McKinnon netted a first down for the Vikings, and they were approaching midfield. On the first third down of the drive, Teddy Bridgewater found Mike Wallace for a big 19-yard gain to the San Diego 35. A second third down conversion on a pass to Matt Asiata had the Vikings knocking on the Chargers' red zone. Bridgewater then found Jarius Wright for a 17-yard completion, and the Vikings had 1st-and-goal at the San Diego 5. Two plays later, Adrian Peterson found the end zone for the first time since 24 November 2013, as he went in from two yards out for a touchdown. Blair Walsh banged home the extra point, and the Vikings found themselves with a 10-0 lead.

After a touchback from Walsh, the Chargers started their next drive from their own 20-yard line, and picked up a couple of first downs, as Chargers' tight end John Phillips made an outstanding one-handed catch. However, the Chargers could not advance beyond that, and they were forced to punt again. A much better punt by Scifres was fair caught by Marcus Sherels at the 12-yard line, and the Vikings took over again.

Minnesota did nothing with their next possession, as they went three-and-out and punted the ball back to the Chargers. Jeff Locke came out and blasted a 60-yard punt down to the San Diego 20, and in addition to Keenan Allen getting nothing on the return, a holding penalty on the Chargers forced San Diego to start at their own 10-yard line.

The Chargers picked up one first down on their next drive, and it looked like the Vikings were going to force a punt and get the ball back. But, on 3rd-and-18, Malcolm Floyd got behind the Minnesota defense and Rivers found him for a big 39-yard gain to the Minnesota 49-yard line. A few plays later, Rivers made the Vikings pay again, as he found Allen for a 34-yard touchdown pass. Josh Lambo hit the extra point for the Chargers, and the score was cut to 10-7 with 1:17 left in the half.

The Vikings got a scare on the touchdown pass, as Andrew Sendejo collided violently with Xavier Rhodes, and Rhodes went to the turf in a heap. Rhodes was prone on the turf for a while, but eventually got up and walked to the locker room under his own power. No word on if or when he'll be back into the ball game.

The Vikings got the ball back, but were content with just running out the clock and going to the locker room with a 10-7 lead. That's where we stand now, with the Chargers getting the ball coming out of the locker room at halftime.

For the half, Bridgewater completed 10-of-16 passes for just 84 yards and an interception. Peterson had a decent first half on the ground, carrying the ball 13 times for 50 yards and Minnesota's lone touchdown. Mike Wallace is leading the Vikings' receivers with two catches for 32 yards through thirty minutes of action.

For San Diego, Rivers has completed 12-of-19 passes for 163 yards and a touchdown. The Vikings have largely kept the San Diego ground game in check, with the Chargers rushing 11 times for just 32 yards thus far. Thanks in large part to the touchdown catch, Allen is leading the Chargers in receiving with six grabs for 74 yards and a score.

At halftime at TCF Bank Stadium, the Minnesota Vikings lead the San Diego Chargers by a score of 10-7. Can they hold on through the second half? The third quarter is just about to get underway.