Indianapolis Colts at Minnesota Vikings: Fourth Quarter Open Thread

Coming out of the locker room at halftime down 27-0 to the Indianapolis Colts, the Minnesota Vikings got the football first. Pat McAfee sent the kickoff to Cordarrelle Patterson, who brought the ball out to the 15 in an effort to try to make something happen. The Vikings managed to string together a couple of first downs, and Adam Thielen took a huge helmet-to-helmet hit from Colts’ safety Darius Butler that drew a 15-yard penalty. Charles Johnson got some extensive work on the drive, as the Vikings pushed the ball down to the Indianapolis 24. Naturally, after all those good things happened, Sam Bradford was the victim of a strip-sack by Robert Mathis. Henry Anderson recovered the ball for the Colts, and the Vikings had their second turnover in Indianapolis territory on the afternoon.

The Vikings actually managed to generate a three-and-out after the fumble, and the Colts brought Pat McAfee on to punt the ball away. Marcus Sherels got another opportunity to return the punt, and like his first attempt, he wound up calling for a fair catch. Minnesota took over at their own 15-yard line.

Bradford found Cordarrelle Patterson on the first play of the drive for an 11-yard gain, and then appeared to throw another interception, but the Colts were flagged for roughing the passer to allow them to retain possession and move to their own 41. Two plays later, the Vikings were into Indianapolis territory. After another first down, Matt Asiata rumbled down to the Indianapolis 11-yard line on a 20-yard catch. A pass from Bradford to Charles Johnson got the Vikings down to the 6, but Bradford was sacked by Erik Walden for a big loss on second down. The Vikings did manage to get themselves on the board with a 32-yard field goal from Kai Forbath to cut the deficit to 27-3 with 3:51 left in the quarter.

Indy started out at their own 12-yard line on their next drive after a short return by Jordan Todman, but they had little issue moving the ball against the Minnesota defense, and quickly found themselves up to the 38-yard line after a couple of first down conversions. Robert Turbin then took the ball to midfield, which is where the Colts now have a 1st-and-10 as we move to the fourth quarter of play.

We have fifteen minutes of football remaining at U.S. Bank Stadium, and the Vikings are getting curbstomped by the Indianapolis Colts to the tune of 27-3. Let’s just hope that it ends quickly and without too much more damage.