Kansas City Chiefs 27, Minnesota Vikings 20: Minnesota falls to 1-4

In Week 5 action at U.S. Bank Stadium, the Minnesota Vikings once again put themselves in a hole early and tried to dig their way out. That’s generally not a formula for success against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Despite a game effort from the Vikings, who had to deal with an injury to Justin Jefferson late in the contest, they came up just short, falling to the Chiefs 27-20.

The Vikings set the tone early, turning the ball over on their first play from scrimmage as tight end Josh Oliver fumbled the ball away after a long gain with the Chiefs recovering. It didn’t take the Chiefs long to cash in, as they put the ball into the end zone on a 1-yard run from Isaiah Pacheco to take a 7-0 lead just five minutes into the contest.

Minnesota answered on their next possession, as Greg Joseph connected on a 40-yard field goal to make the score 7-3 in favor of the Chiefs. Early on in the second quarter, the Chiefs for a field goal of their own as Harrison Butker connected from 38 yards out to make it a 7-point game again at 10-3.

The Vikings tacked on another field goal midway through the second quarter, as a 29-yarder from Joseph made it 10-6 with about eight minutes left before halftime. After a three-and-out from the Chiefs’ offense, the Vikings sparked themselves by dialing up some trickery with a fake punt to keep their drive moving.

That led to the Vikings’ first touchdown of the afternoon, as Kirk Cousins found Jordan Addison from four yards out for a score. Greg Joseph’s extra point gave the Vikings their first lead of the day at 13-10 just before halftime.

The Chiefs drew even at the second quarter gun, as Butker knocked home a 40-yard field goal to tie things up at 13-13 as the teams went into the locker room.

Kansas City got the ball to start the second half, and they took the lead back on an 8-yard touchdown pass from Mahomes to rookie Rashee Rice to make it 20-13 less than five minutes into the third quarter. After a three-and-out from the Minnesota offense, Kansas City scored again as Mahomes found Travis Kelce for a 4-yard score to make it 27-13 and the Vikings were quickly behind the eight ball.

They cut into the deficit on their next possession, as the Vikings marched the ball down the field and got a big fourth-down conversion from Cousins to Addison to set up a first-and-goal, and Alexander Mattison then took a screen pass from Cousins and took it into the end zone for a 9-yard score. That made it 27-20 with plenty of game remaining.

Minnesota’s defense got the stop they needed, and the Vikings then got themselves down the field with no timeouts remaining. They eventually found themselves with a 4th-and-12 from the Kansas City 24-yard line, and Cousins threw a pass towards Addison that was initially called pass interference but the flag was picked up and it was a turnover on downs.

The Vikings got the ball back one more time as Justin Jefferson remained on the sideline with an apparent hamstring injury, getting the ball back at their own 19 with 1:07 remaining. They got the ball down to the Kansas City 38 with five seconds remaining, and Cousins got sacked to end the football game.

The Vikings fall to 1-4 on the season, and at this point it would appear that the competitive portion of their season is just about over.

Vikings lose a close one to the Chiefs in Week 5 by a score of 27-20. Thank you to everyone that got their coverage of this week’s game right here at The Daily Norseman!