Sunday afternoon at Allegiant Stadium, the preseason Minnesota Vikings faced the Las Vegas Raiders and there were plenty of ups and downs on both sides of the game.
In the end, the Raiders took advantage of some early penalties from the Vikings, among other things, to walk away in a 26-20 win in the preseason opener in Minnesota.
The Raiders came on the board first, pushing their first possession to the Minnesota 3-yard line before settling for a 23-yard field goal from former Vikings Daniel Carlson to give them a 3-0 lead . After a three-and-out by the Vikings offense, the Raiders extended their lead with a 4-yard touchdown run from quarterback Jarrett Stidham to take a 10-0 lead after the first game of the second quarter.
On the Vikings’ third possession, they pushed to the Las Vegas 2, but the drive faltered and Kevin O’Connell opted to take the points when Greg Joseph parted the posts from 20 yards out to achieve the score of 10-3 with eight minutes left at half-time.
After Kellen Mond took over Sean Mannion as quarterback, the Vikings added more points on another field goal from Joseph, this time a 23-yarder, to cut the lead to 10-6 just after the two-minute caution. So they went to the dressing room at halftime.
The Raiders then extended the lead on their first drive of the second half, thanks to a 35-yard touchdown pass from Nick Mullens to DJ Turner to make it 16-6 (Carlson was kind enough to miss the extra point ).
After Ty Chandler sparked the team with a big 56-yard kick return, the Vikings went down and scored their first touchdown of the preseason when Mond found free agent Albert Wilson at an angle from two yards to score. Joseph’s extra point was good and made it 16:13 in the middle of the third quarter.
The Raiders then responded, extending their lead on a 1-yard touchdown run by Brittain Brown to go 23-13 early in the fourth quarter.
For some reason, Mannion got back in the game as quarterback on the next drive, but the Vikings couldn’t get anything going. The Raiders then extended their lead with another Carlson field goal, this time a 47-yard blaster, to make it 26-13 with just over six and a half minutes remaining on the rule.
The Vikings then brought Mond back in at quarterback and the offense again marched down the field for a touchdown. Moon found Albert Wilson again, this time for a 20-yard score to reduce Vegas’ lead to six at 26-20.
However, the Vikings couldn’t get any closer as the Raiders got the ball back and time ran out to retain their second preseason win of the 2022 season.
We’ll learn more about some of the implications of this game over the next day or two, and then it will be time to turn our focus to the Vikings’ only home game of the 2022 preseason, when they take on the San Francisco 49ers in the US Bank Stadium on Saturday.
The Vikings lost to the Raiders by a final score of 26-20 in preseason action in Las Vegas. We hope everyone enjoyed the coverage of tonight’s game here at The Daily Norseman!