Minnesota Vikings survive test from Kansas City Chiefs
The thing that the Minnesota Vikings need to remember is that any win is a good win… allegedly. It wasn’t the prettiest game on Sunday afternoon against the Kansas City Chiefs, but it did result in a 16-10 victory for the purple.
The Vikings offense seemed like it would score a ton of points after getting off to a fairly good start in the first quarter, but a turnovers and penalties would keep the Vikings out of the end zone all day expect for one time. The Vikings legitimately could have scored 21 points in the first, but only ended up with three.
Teddy Bridgewater went 17/31 for 249 yards for one touchdown and a pair of interceptions. Bridgewater’s favorite target was rookie Stefon Diggs and it was for good reason. Diggs lead the team with seven catches for 129 yards. The fumbling issues that looked like they could be an issue against the Denver Broncos went away with Diggs not coughing up the ball once.
Kyle Rudolph had two catches, one of them being the touchdown strike from Bridgewater.
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The running game could not get going for Minnesota, specifically Adrian Peterson. Peterson received 26 carries, but only registered 60 yards. Matt Asiata arguably looked better in the contest gathering 27 yards on five carries.
What made it an interesting game was the sudden immergence of the Kansas City Chiefs passing game. Alex Smith went 22/37 for 282 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown went to Albert Wilson who had three grabs. Top receiver Jeremy Maclin also had three catches. Tight end Travis Kelce had a real good day with five catches for 88 yards.
The Chiefs did this despite the best efforts from rookie linebacker Eric Kendricks who had a big game after Gerald Hodges was dealt during the bye week. Kendricks had ten tackles total in the game with one sack. Andrew Sendejo was right behind with seven tackles.
Another bright note in a not-so-pretty win for the Vikings was Blair Walsh. Walsh nailed all three of his field goal attempts in the game and made them look pretty good.
The Vikings improved to 3-2 with the victory. Minnesota next plays on Sunday a noon against the Detroit Lions in Michigan.
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