It was billed as the worst Monday Night Football game in the 44-year history of Monday Night Football, and the Vikings and Giants lived up to the hype.
This offensive struggle between two teams that came into the contest with a combined .090 winning percentage featured a meager 464 combined total yards, with New York being the least terrible football team Monday, picking up their first win, a 23-7 final.
In Josh Freeman’s first start under center for the Vikings, he managed just 190 yards on 20-of53 passing and threw an ill-advised interception over the middle under intense duress, while Adrian Peterson was unable to help matters, rushing 13 times for 28 yards, his lowest total since 2011.
Freeman, operating with a limited playbook after signing with Minnesota just two short weeks ago, struggled mightily not only with the limited amount of knowledge of the Vikings’ offense, but with accuracy, missing a number of open receivers.
Marcus Sherels returned a punt 86 yards for a touchdown, the only points Minnesota would score, but negated that positive by fumbling on another punt return without being contacted in the third quarter, setting up a 1-yard touchdown run by Giants’ fourth-string running back Peyton Hillis.
The special teams woes got worse, with defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd fumbling a short kickoff, and New York recovering. It led to a Josh Brown 36-yard field goal, one of his three on the night.
Kicker Blair Walsh, who came into the game battling a hamstring injury, missed his only field goal attempt, coming up short on a 53-yard field goal. It was the first 50-plus yard miss of Walsh’s career, he was previously 12-of-12 from 50 and beyond.
On the other side of the ball, New York quarterback Eli Manning had thrown 15 interceptions coming into the evening, the most by a QB through six games since 1986, but Minnesota couldn’t force him into any turnovers, as he threw for 200 yards on 23 of 39 passing while also hitting Rueben Randle on a 24-yard touchdown.
The Purple drop to 1-5 on the season, and subject America to another nationally televised game next week, hosting Green Bay six days from now on Sunday Night Football at 7:30 p.m.
