Vikings finally find end zone, but fall to Chiefs in preseason finale

The Minnesota Vikings suffered a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Friday night in their final matchup of the 2021 preseason.

During their first two preseason games this year, Troy Dye was the only player from the Minnesota Vikings roster to score a touchdown. The problem, however, is that Dye plays defense for the Vikings.

Heading into their final 2021 exhibition contest on Friday against the Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota’s offense was still looking for their first touchdown of the preseason. But thanks to rookie running back A.J. Rose Jr., that drought came to an end for the Vikings against the Chiefs in the third quarter.

Minnesota’s offense was actually able to find the end zone twice on Friday in Kansas City. However, it wasn’t enough to help the Vikings get a win as they fell to the Chiefs by a final score of 28-25.

Does it matter that the Minnesota Vikings didn’t win a game in the 2021 preseason?

With the loss to Kansas City, Minnesota failed to come up with a victory during the preseason for the first time since 1979. It’s also the first time during Mike Zimmer’s tenure as the Vikings’ head coach that the team hasn’t finished the preseason with at least one win.

Despite Minnesota’s disappointing record this preseason, we have to remember that the majority of the team’s top players didn’t play in any of the team’s three exhibition matchups this summer.

The Vikings have gone out on the field in each of the last three weeks without Dalvin Cook, Justin Jefferson, Danielle Hunter, Patrick Peterson, Anthony Barr, or Harrison Smith. Minnesota would probably play pretty poorly during the regular season as well if these six players were out of action.

Would Zimmer have liked to see the Vikings get at least one win this preseason? Most likely, but it’s hard to be surprised with the results when one realizes the players that have sat out for Minnesota and the guys that their competition has been throwing out on the field.