Make it 10 straight preseason losses for the Minnesota Vikings after they lost the 2023 exhibition finale 18-17 at home against the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday. Minnesota’s last preseason win came Aug. 24, 2019 when they beat Arizona.
Minnesota jumped to a 7-0 lead on the opening drive of the game that went 10 plays and 75 yards, capped on rookie running back DeWayne McBride’s one-yard touchdown run. It was his second touchdown of the preseason as he fights for a spot on the 53-man roster behind running backs Alexander Mattison and Ty Chandler.
McBride led the Vikings in rushing with 37 yards on eight carries.
Jalen Reagor, who started at wide receiver alongside Trishton Jackson, had two catches for 24 yards on the opening drive of the day. That’s all he produced in limited action. Jackson finished with one catch for 19 yards, though he also made a spectacular grab on the sideline but was pushed out of bounds for an incomplete pass.
The Vikings made it 14-0 on a five-yard touchdown pass from Jaren Hall to running back Abram Smith just 5 minutes, 56 seconds into the game. The one-play drive was the result of taking over at Arizona’s 5-yard line after rookie safety Jay ward blitzed for a strip sack of Arizona quarterback Clayton Tune.
Vikings rookie Jay Ward comes through with a huge strip sack
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It was quiet rest of the day for Minnesota’s offense. Meanwhile, the Cardinals chipped away, cutting the deficit to 17-10 with a 75-yard drive on 10 plays to start the third quarter. The touchdown to end the drive came on a 26-yard pass from David Blough to Davion Davis.
Blough then scrambled for a five-yard touchdown run to make it 17-15 with 10:50 left in the fourth quarter. The Cardinals took the lead 18-17 on a field goal with 6:20 remaining.
The Vikings had a shot to reclaim the lead but Greg Joseph missed a 54-yard field goal wide right with 2:28 to play, and they got the ball back with just under two minutes to play but Hall was ruled past the line of scrimmage when he competed a 49-yard pass to tight end Ben Sims on fourth down. The penalty wiped out the big play and since it comes with a loss of down penalty, it resulted in a turnover on downs to effectively end the game.
The loss wraps up the preseason and all attention now turns to Tuesday’s cuts. Minnesota has to trim the roster from 90 to 53 players by 3 p.m. CT Tuesday.
Note: The 2020 preseason was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
