Minnesota Vikings at Carolina Panthers: Third quarter recap and fourth quarter discussion

Everybody hold four fingers way up over your head, because we’re heading to the final quarter of play at Bank of America Stadium with the Minnesota Vikings leading the Carolina Panthers by a score of 25-17.

The Vikings got the football coming out of the locker room at halftime and, as they generally do, they went three-and-out on their first offensive possession on a fairly ugly drive. The Vikings stopped the Panthers three different times on their first possession of the half, but two of those were negated by defensive holding penalties. Eventually, however, the Panthers punted it away.

The Vikings were forced to punt on the next drive as well, but Jordan Berry’s punt was blocked by Frankie Luvu and picked up by safety Kenny Robinson for a touchdown to give the Panthers the lead back at 17-12.

Minnesota then put together another touchdown drive starting from their own 20. The big spark came from. . .C.J. Ham? Yes, on a 3rd-and-1 dive play, Ham got through the line, juked the pants off of a Panther defender and rambled for 30 yards and a huge first down. Just a few plays later, Dalvin Cook took one over the right side and dove to the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown run to give the Vikings the lead back!

On Carolina’s next offensive play, they turned the football over again as Sam Darnold completed a pass to D.J. Moore and he fumbled it after being hit by Cameron Dantzler and Xavier Woods. Eric Kendricks jumped on the loose ball and the Vikings had it back! They took advantage, as Kirk Cousins found Adam Thielen in the end zone and he made an incredible catch for a touchdown. Greg Joseph hit the extra point and the Vikings extended their lead to eight at 25-17.

As we move to the fourth quarter of play, the Panthers are looking at a 4th-and-7 from their own 47-yard line. They’ll likely be punting it away to start the fourth quarter.

The Vikings are fifteen minutes away from going into the bye week at 3-3, as they lead the Carolina Panthers by a score of 25-17. Come join us for the final quarter of play and see if they can hang on!