Cleveland Browns at Minnesota Vikings: Second quarter recap and third quarter discussion

We’ve reached halftime in Minneapolis, and your Minnesota Vikings trail the Cleveland Browns by a score of 11-7 at U.S. Bank Stadium.

The Browns started the quarter facing a 3rd-and-4 from the Minnesota 6-yard line as their first possession of the game carried over. Baker Mayfield’s pass on third down fell incomplete, and the Browns decided that they’d go for it on fourth down. Mayfield dropped back to pass, and he was taken down by Everson Griffen for a sack to force a turnover on downs!

The two teams then exchanged three-and-outs, and the Vikings pushed into Cleveland territory for the second time. They faced a fourth-down situation of their own, and Cousins’ pass for Thielen fell incomplete.

Cleveland then responded with another long drive and pushed into Minnesota territory, finding themselves at first-and-goal from the 5 at the two-minute warning. The Browns wound up facing 4th-and-goal from the 2, and it looked like the Vikings had made another stop when Mayfield’s pass fell incomplete, but a holding penalty was called on Eric Kendricks to give the Browns a fresh set of downs. They took advantage of what was a garbage penalty call on a 1-yard run by Kareem Hunt. A penalty on the extra point attempt gave the Browns the confidence to go for two, and they converted to take an 8-7 lead.

After the Vikings’ offense went three-and-out, the Browns appeared to be ready to run out the clock and go into halftime, but Hunt gained 33 yards on a 3rd-and-20 play to give the Browns life. Former Vikings’ kicker Chase McLaughlin came on to attempt a field goal from 48 yards and he hit it to extend the lead to 11-7. That’s how they went into the locker room at halftime.

The Vikings’ offense has struggled a bit since the first drive of the game. Unfortunately, the Browns will get the ball first coming out of the locker room.