Minnesota Vikings at Bengals: Preseason week 1 game review
By Adam Carlson
Overall Impressions
To be honest, this game was quite scary. A horrible first quarter of offensive was compounded by a defense that couldn’t stop the first team of the Bengals. Even though Cincinnati missed a field goal that would have given them the lead, the Minnesota Vikings were completely dominated during that period.
Thankfully, the entire game didn’t go that way. The second quarter found Bridgewater hitting his targets, McKinnon doing what McKinnon does, and Charles Johnson making us all wonder if we counted him out of the wide receiver race far too early in the season.
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When you add in encouraging play from Trae Waynes, Mackensie Alexander, C.J. Ham, and others, it is easy to see a young team that is still putting pieces together. Despite that, when the team got clicking, there wasn’t much looking back. Even Shaun Hill looked good in this game, but the same couldn’t really be said for Joel Stave, who put on a very inconsistent performance.
On paper, this is a win. And it should be a win in the locker room as well. Of course, there are still areas that the team needs to work hard and fast to repair, such as the offensive line and the run defense. But with time and practice, these are issues that can be ironed out by the start of the season.
Also, it’s easy to forget that guys like Adrian Peterson, Terence Newman, Linval Joseph, Eric Kendricks, Brandon Fusco, and Jarius Wright inactive for this game, it is hardly the first team of starters that teams will be facing during the regular season.
Next: Vikings game-by-game 2016 season preview
Next week, the Minnesota Vikings will go to Seattle, where they will meet the Seahawks for the first time since last year’s Wild Card playoff game. Don’t miss that game on Thursday, August 18, 2016 starting at 9 PM CT.