Right when it looked like the Minnesota Vikings had their offense going, disaster struck, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers again took advantage.
The drive started with Adrian Peterson collecting 11-yard gains on two consecutive handoffs, bringing his total for the evening to five carries and 39 yards. After Christian Ponder scrambled for a yard on the next play, he completed his first pass of the night to Jerome Simpson.
Simpson then proceeded to put the ball on the ground, and the Buccaneers recovered.
Josh Freeman and the Buccaneers went on the march again, but their drive stalled at the 22-yard line. Tampa brought Connor Barth in once again, and he converted from 40-yards out to extend the Buccaneers' lead to 13-0.
This just continues to get uglier for Minnesota. It also doesn't help that, according to ESPN, Tampa Bay is 22-1 in the last 23 games that they've lead by 10 or more points in the first quarter, as they did tonight. It's going to be an uphill fight for the Vikings to get back into this one.
With 12:20 remaining until halftime in Minneapolis, the Minnesota Vikings trail the Tampa Bay Buccaneers by a score of 13-0.