Minnesota Vikings at Detroit Lions: Second quarter recap and third quarter discussion

We’ve reached halftime at Ford Field in Detroit with your Minnesota Vikings trailing the Detroit Lions by a score of 14-7.

The Lions started the quarter with a 4th-and-4 from the Minnesota 39, and Dan Campbell elected to go for it. Jared Goff’s pass for D.J. Chark fell incomplete, and it was a turnover on downs for the Minnesota defense!

Unfortunately, after getting into Lions’ territory, the Minnesota offense stalled after a bad drop by T.J. Hockenson and punted the ball back to the Lions, putting them at their own 13-yard line. The Lions managed to move into Minnesota territory but eventually had to punt it themselves, putting the Vikings at their own 10-yard line to start their next possession.

The Vikings got hosed by the officials on a pass from Kirk Cousins to Justin Jefferson that should have been a first down. As a result, they punted it away and the Lions got a good return with Kalif Raymond taking the ball to the Minnesota 48-yard line.

The Lions then got another big play, as Goff found D.J. Chark for a 48-yard touchdown on the first play after the punt. That put Detroit back on top by a score of 14-7 with six and a half minutes left in the half.

Minnesota answered with a long drive of their own to take off most of the remaining time before the half, getting down to a first-and-goal from the Detroit 3-yard line. However, the Vikings gave the ball to Dalvin Cook, who promptly fumbled it away with the Lions recovering.

Fortunately, it didn’t harm the Vikings, as Michael Badgely missed a 47-yard field goal, and we went into the locker room with the Vikings trailing 14-7.

Minnesota gets the ball coming out of the locker room at halftime. Can they not be the “third-quarter Vikings” and do some damage? Come join us and find out!