Minnesota Vikings at Cincinnati Bengals: Third quarter recap and fourth quarter discussion

Everyone hold up four fingers, because we’re headed to the final quarter of play in Cincinnati with the Minnesota Vikings trailing the Cincinnati Bengals by a score of 21-14.

The Bengals got the ball to start the second half, and put together another long drive that ended in a touchdown. The score on this one went to running back Joe Mixon, who went over from two yards out to give the Bengals a third consecutive touchdown drive and a 21-7 lead.

The Vikings got the ball back and looked like they were going to put together a decent drive. . .but, as has been the case all day, penalties derailed the drive, this one an unnecessary roughness penalty on Oli Udoh. The Vikings’ defense then got a stop when the Bengals’ offense elected to go for it on 4th-and-1 from their own 30 and Joe Mixon got stuffed.

Blessed with the great field position, the Vikings found themselves facing their own fourth-down decision, this one a 4th-and-4 from the 24-yard line. Kirk Cousins dropped back to pass, hit Adam Thielen on a slant, and Thielen did the rest to take it in from 24 yards out for the score! Greg Joseph hit the extra point, and just like that it was 21-14 with just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter.

As we move to the final quarter of play, the Bengals are looking at a 2nd-and-9 from the Minnesota 40-yard line.

We’ve got one quarter of play left in Cincinnati, folks. Can the Vikings mount a comeback and come out of Week 1 with a victory? Come join us and find out!

Don’t forget, when this one’s over we’ve got two post-game shows for you to check out. Vikings Rewind with Drew and Ted (and Chris) will be airing live on their YouTube Channel and in a post we’ll be putting up here about 10 minutes after the game ends, and the folks from Climbing the Pocket will have a show up shortly after the conclusion of this one on their YouTube Channel as well as The Daily Norseman’s page on FaceBook.