Jaguars at Vikings Final Score: Vikings fall in sloppy, penalty-filled game, 14-10

Of all the preseason games in the history of the National Football League, the Minnesota Vikings and the Jacksonville Jaguars certainly played in one on Saturday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Really, that’s the best way to describe it.

The contest was filled with penalties and turnovers and was just generally four quarters of slop overall, but when it was all said and done, the Vikings wound up falling to the Jaguars by a final score of 14-10.

The starting offense, after looking incredibly impressive against the Denver Broncos in the preseason opener, looked equally unimpressive against the Jacksonville defense. Kirk Cousins played into the second quarter, but managed to complete just 3-of-8 passes for 12 yards. The offense, starting four backups along the offensive line, just couldn’t get out of their own way all day. Running back Latavius Murray also put the ball on the ground twice, losing one after Harrison Smith intercepted Blake Bortles to set the Vikings up deep in Jacksonville territory.

The only touchdown from either team’s first-string came on the first play of the second quarter, when Leonard Fournette went over the goal line on a 4th-and-1 play to start the second quarter. That gave Jacksonville a 7-3 lead, a score that went into halftime.

Minnesota finally got a touchdown in the third quarter, as rookie running back Mike Boone went into the end zone from one yard out. Boone set up the score with a nice 26-yard run to give the Vikings that goal-to-go situation.

The Vikings’ special teams let them down at the end of the game, as a punt from Ryan Quigley. . .a re-punt following a special teams penalty. . .was returned by Rashad Greene all the way to the Minnesota 4-yard line. Two plays later, Brandon Wilds went in from a yard out to make in 14-10 in favor of the Jaguars. Kyle Sloter led the Vikings down to the Jacksonville 16-yard line at the end of the game, but he was sacked on the game’s final play to seal the victory for Jacksonville.

The game featured 20 penalties, with 13 of them being called on Jacksonville for 140 yards. the Vikings were penalized seven times for 60 yards.

The big story for the Vikings is that it appears that they’ve lost three players for the season with serious leg injuries. Rookie defensive end Ade Aruna appeared to suffer a serious right knee injury in the first half that resulted in him being carted off the field. After that, reserve offensive lineman Cedrick Lang was also carted off with an air cast on his right leg in the fourth quarter. Reserve fullback Johnny Stanton also needed to be carted off the field late in the fourth quarter as well. When we have updates on those injuries, we will bring them to you.

The Vikings fall to 1-1 on the preseason, and will host the Seattle Seahawks in the All-Important Third Preseason Game™ on Friday night at U.S. Bank Stadium. The Jaguars raise their preseason mark to 1-1, and will host the Atlanta Falcons next Saturday in Jacksonville.

We’ll have plenty of discussion of this game over the next day or two, ladies and gentlemen, but sufficient to say that the Minnesota Vikings did not look nearly as impressive in their second preseason game as they did in their first one. They fall to the Jacksonville Jaguars by a final score of 14-10, and now have some injury issues to deal with.

Thank you to everyone that got their coverage of this week’s game here at The Daily Norseman!