Minnesota Vikings

Upon Further Review: Vikings at Bengals

Published Aug. 13, 2016 7:53 p.m. ET

foxsports

The Minnesota Vikings' defense yielded two long drives to the Cincinnati Bengals to start Friday's preseason opener at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati.

Its offense wasn't much better to start the game, going three-and-out on its first possession and taking a sack on its second play.

The Vikings rallied to defeat the Bengals 17-16, thanks to a Teddy Bridgewater touchdown pass and a C.J. Ham touchdown run. Coach Mike Zimmer didn't appear to think the game was a resounding success, however.

"There was some good things, but we've got a long way to go," he said. "We're not ready to go where we need to yet."

Let's take a deeper look at Minnesota's 2016 preseason-opening win:

SUNDAY SCHOOL (TWO DAYS EARLY)

-- The Vikings' defense struggled on the Bengals' first two possessions, yielding 132 yards on 31 plays and allowing Cincinnati to convert on five of seven third-down attempts. The Bengals' starting quarterback, Andy Dalton, was 4-5 for 32 yards on the first drive, and backup AJ McCarron was 7-9 for 58 yards on the second. Cincinnati finished the first half with 193 yards of offense. "We were pretty awful," Zimmer said of the first-half defense. "There was a lot of things I didn't recognize out there."

-- The offense sputtered on its first possession while facing the Bengals' first-team defense. Bridgewater completed a three-yard pass to MyCole Pruitt on the first play but took a sack from Cincinnati's Geno Atkins on the second. He misfired on his third-down pass to Kyle Rudolph, forcing the Vikings to punt.

--Bridgewater and the offense rebounded on their second drive, however, after taking over at their own 4-yard line. The quarterback converted on three three-down plays, including a 22-yard pass to Adam Thielen on third-and-seven. The conversions allowed Bridgewater to throw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Charles Johnson, capping the 10-play drive and giving Minnesota a 7-0 lead.

-- Backup quarterback Shaun Hill entered the game with 47 seconds remaining in the half and guided the Vikings on a five-play, 42-yard drive that included an 18-yard pass to first-round Draft pick Laquon Treadwell. That allowed kicker Blair Walsh to hit a 51-yard field goal as the first half expired, giving the Vikings a 10-7 lead.

-- Minnesota took a 17-7 lead on its second possession of the second half, as former Wisconsin Badgers quarterback Joel Stave led the team on a 10-play, 74-yard drive. Rookie running back C.J. Ham capped it with a 10-yard touchdown rush, part of a 12-carry, 35-yard day for the Duluth, Minn., native.

-- The Minnesota defense allowed just one drive of more than 25 yards in the second half and intercepted a pair of passes. Ex-Badgers wide receiver Alex Erickson returned a punt 80 yards for a touchdown for the Bengals to cut the score to 17-16, but Cincinnati failed to convert a two-point conversion.

DULY NOTED

-- Rookie defensive backs Mackensie Alexander and Jayron Kearse each intercepted a pass in the second half, with Kearse's interception sealing the win late in the fourth quarter. Alexander was Minnesota's second-round pick, while the Vikings picked Kearse in the seventh round. Both played college football at Clemson.

-- Rookie wide receiver Moritz Bohringer did not catch a pass in his NFL preseason debut. The Vikings targeted the German-born wideout once, but Bohringer did not catch the fourth-quarter pass from Stave.

-- Linebacker Emmanuel Lamur led the Vikings with eight tackles and six solo tackles. The 27-year-old played in 16 games for Cincinnati last season, making 27 tackles.

WHAT IT MEANT

The Vikings won despite a subpar showing from the first-team offensive and defensive units and despite playing without running back Adrian Peterson. Still, the team has plenty of work to do on offense and on defense.

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Bridgewater. He led the Vikings on their most important drive of the game, going 3-3 on third-down passes, and threw a clean pass to Johnson for the touchdown. The third-year quarterback finished the game 6-7 with 92 yards and a 158.3 quarterback rating.

DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME

Treadwell, Minnesota's first-round Draft pick, caught four passes for 41 yards on five targets in his first professional game, leading the Vikings in all three categories.

THAT MOMENT

The Bridgewater touchdown drive. It started poorly, with Jerick McKinnon rushing for a two-yard loss, but the Vikings grinded out eight straight positive-yardage plays to get to the Cincinnati 49, setting up Bridgewater's touchdown pass. Bridgewater stepped up in the pocket on the play after a play-action fake and threw a deep ball to Johnson, who caught the ball in stride for the score. It gave the Vikings a 7-0 lead after they struggled for much of the first half.

THIS NUMBER

56. The number of rushing yards for the Vikings on 25 carries, a 2.2 yards per carry average.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Vikings play the Seahawks at 9 p.m. Thursday in Seattle.