Before heavy rain and another round of lightning blasts sent the Vikings and the Oakland Raiders back to their locker rooms and thousands of fans scrambling out of TCF Bank Stadium in search of shelter, 24 minutes of sloppy football was played.
Vikings starters had showed well in their first two preseason games, and the team as a whole played mostly crisp and clean football outside of some penalties and a few fumbles from the backups. But for the first time this summer, the Vikings first-stringers looked to be in preseason form in Saturday night's 20-12 victory over the Raiders.
Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater and the starters on offense were efficient in their one drive against Pittsburgh in the preseason opener. And they were at times explosive against Tampa Bay last Saturday, opening the game with a field goal then tacking on a touchdown before sitting down for the night.
In the harsh conditions Saturday night, though, Bridgewater and his pass-catchers had some slip-ups early as the winds swirled at upward of 20 miles per hour. And the Vikings running game faltered, with running back Jerick McKinnon mustering only 18 yards on seven carries running behind the first-team offensive line.
"There were some issue with Mother Nature, but that's something that we had to get through,'' Bridgewater said. "All we can control is how hard we work, how hard we go out and compete, and we did a good job of that.''
On his first pass of the night, Bridgewater threw a floater up for grabs in the middle of the field toward Jarius Wright. His third-down heave fell incomplete and a defensive holding penalty kept the drive alive.
On the next play, Bridgewater threw a slant behind Charles Johnson, but the receiver made a nice adjustment to the pass to make a chain-moving catch.
After Kyle Rudolph could not bring in a high pass from Bridgewater, Mike Wallace dropped a quick-hitter and Bridgewater's third-down pass to Wright in the flat sailed over the receiver's head.
