Minnesota Vikings at Los Angeles Chargers: First quarter recap and second quarter discussion

Fifteen minutes of football are in the books at SoFi Stadium, and the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Chargers are scoreless after the first quarter.

The Chargers won the coin toss and deferred to the second half, giving the Minnesota offense the football first. After the kick went for a touchback, the Vikings got the ball to midfield, but had to punt it away. That marked just the second time this season that the purple didn’t score on their first possession. The Chargers then went three-and-out, thanks in large part to Eric Kendricks sacking Justin Herbert for a huge loss of 15 yards on second down. Dede Westbrook then broke a huge punt return and took the ball back inside the Chargers’ 30-yard line to set the Vikings up with great field position.

On the ensuing drive, Kirk Cousins was sacked and lost the football with the Chargers recovering to spoil a golden opportunity for the Minnesota offense. The Chargers then pushed into Minnesota territory, but an unsuccessful attempt to draw the Vikings offside on 4th-and-4 from the Minnesota 40 led to another punt.

The Vikings got a nice catch and run from Alexander Mattison to start their next drive, and soon after pushed back into Los Angeles territory with a nice mix of runs and passes. As we enter the second quarter, the Vikings are looking at a 3rd-and-10 from the Los Angeles 31-yard line.

We are scoreless after the first quarter at SoFi Stadium, folks. Come on in and join us for the second quarter of play!