Bank Stadium, having deferred after winning the opening coin

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Trailing the Minnesota Vikings by a score of 17-6 , the Detroit Lions got the privilege of getting the football to start the second half of play at U.S. . Dan Bailey’s kickoff went through the end zone for another touchback, giving Matthew Stafford and company the ball at their own 25. The Lions turned to Kerryon Johnson on their first two plays, with the Vikings holding them to bring up a 3rd-and-4 from the 31. Stafford went back to pass, and was dropped by Sebastian Thunderbucket Tom Johnson, for yet another Minnesota sack, forcing a three-and-out! Sam Martin came in to punt it away, and Marcus Sherels called for a fair catch at the Minnesota 29.Latavius Murray picked up nine yards on the Vikings’ first play, and Kirk Cousins then executed a sneak into the middle of the Lions’ defense to pick up three more and a first down. A short run by Murray and a short pass from Cousins to Kyle Rudolph brought up a 3rd-and-2. Adam Thielen was then called for a false start to make it a 3rd-and-7. Cousins, undeterred, then found Aldrick Robinson for a nice catch to move the sticks into Detroit territory. Two plays later, the Vikings found themselves looking at 3rd-and-6 from the Detroit 43, and Cousins threw a beautiful long pass over Darius Slay that went right through Robinson’s hands. Matt Wile punted it away, and the Vikings’ special teams did its job with Marcus Sherels and Jayron Kearse combining to down the punt at the 3-yard line.The Lions got some breathing room on a run by Kerryon Johnson to start their drive, and picked up a first down on a second consecutive carry. Stafford was then dragged down by Danielle Hunter for Hunter’s second sack of the afternoon. Stafford then completed a pass to Marvin Jones , who had the ball stripped away by Xavier Rhodes, only to have it bounce out of bounds. Stafford went for Jones again on third down, but the pass fell incomplete. Sam Martin came in to punt again, and Marcus Sherels called for the fair catch at the Minnesota 41.Cousins found Thielen for a quick six yard gain to start the next drive, and Latavius Murray was stopped on second down to bring up 3rd-and-3. Cousins’ pass for Thielen fell incomplete, and Matt Wile came on to punt again. Brandon Powell called for a fair catch at the Detroit 14.Kerryon Johnson got things started for the Lions again with a short gain, and then Stafford found Jones for a first down to the 31-yard line. Johnson then took an end-around for about five yards, but Mackensie Alexander recorded the Vikings’ seventh sack of the afternoon on the next play, taking down Stafford to set up a 3rd-and-13 from the 28. Then, on the next play, Everson Griffen recorded sack #8 of Stafford to end the drive. Sam Martin came in to punt it away, and Marcus Sherels called for the fair catch at the Minnesota 21-yard line.As we go to the fourth quarter, that’s where we’re at, with the Vikings looking at 1st-and-10 from their own 21.Fifteen minutes left at U.S. Bank Stadium, and the Vikings are on track to get their first home win over the Lions since 2015 , leading by a score of 17-6. Can they hang on for the victory? For the last two weeks, the Minnesota Vikings held their own postseason destiny in their hands.In the regular season finale, they let it completely slip away.Courtesy of an offense that, once again, did next to nothing in the first half and a defense that couldn’t get a stop when they needed one, the Vikings fell to the Chicago Bears on Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium by a final score of 24-10. Coupled with the Philadelphia Eagles defeating the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field, that means that the Vikings will not be participating in the NFL playoffs starting next week.The Vikings, once again, did nothing on offense early in this one, as they gained just 11 yards in the entire first quarter. Meanwhile, the Bears had put up two touchdowns by Jordan Howard to take a 13-0 lead early on, thanks to Cory Parkey missing an extra point. The Bears did get some points before the half, courtesy of a 45-yard field goal by Dan Bailey to make it 13-3 going into the locker room.Minnesota’s offense finally showed some signs of life in the third quarter, as they cut the deficit to 13-10 on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins to Stefon Diggs. After that, however , the Bears put together a massive drive that took over nine minutes off the clock and ended with a 3-yard run by Tarik Cohen. With the Bears successfully completing a two-point conversion, the score was 21-10. The visitors added a 42-yard field goal by Parkey to make it 24-10 with just over four minutes left in the game.That’s how it ended, as the Minnesota Vikings capped what has to go down as one of the more disappointing seasons in recent history by squandering an opportunity to get into the playoffs in back-to-back years for the first time since 2008 and 2009.Kirk Cousins had a straight-up ugly football game, and I’m sure that’s the narrative that we’ll have to hear about all offseason. He completed 20-of-33 passes for just 132 yards, which is the lowest yardage total he’s ever had as a starting quarterback. Stefon Diggs led the way with seven catches for 43 yards and a touchdown, and Adam Thielen had three catches for 38 yards.The Vikings’ defense, which came into today’s game as the NFL’s best third-down defense, allowed the Bears to convert 8-of-13 third down attempts, including several that came via penalties to extend drives.Minnesota finishes their season with a record of 8-7-1, and their season is over. Chicago lifts their record to 12-4, and will host Philadelphia at Soldier Field next weekend.The Minnesota Vikings take their opportunity to make it to the 2018 NFL playoffs and urinate it directly down their collective leg, falling to the Chicago Bears by a final score of 24-10 at U.S. Bank Stadium. Thank you to everybody that got their coverage of this week’s game, and of this entire season. . .disappointing though it was. . .right here at The Daily Norseman.