It was ugly from the start of the Vikings only scheduled primetime game as they fell to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 36-17. Turnovers and bad special teams play along with a second consecutive game in which the defense didn't tackle well and the offense struggled all contributed to the loss.
The offense sputtered once again and has been the case all season, couldn't get going early. The Bucs took advantage of a 20 yard Chris Kluwe punt in the first quarter to get on the board with a 28 yard Connor Barth field goal.
Tampa Bay would take advantage of a short field again as they took their next posession at the 48 yard line. Eight plays later, Josh Freeman connected with Erik Lorig for a one yard touchdown pass.
The Vikings turned the ball over on their next posession when wide receiver Jerome Simpson had the ball knocked out of his hands. That turnover led to another Barth field goal to push the Tampa Bay lead to 13-0.
Minnesota finally got on the scoreboard on their next posession when Christian Ponder connected with Percy Harvin for 18 yards for the score.
Doug Martin had a huge night for the Bucs rushing for 135 yards and a touchdown and picking up another 79 yards and a touchdown through the air.
Adrian Peterson ran for 123 yards and had a 64 yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Outside of that touchdown run, the Vikings offense picked up four yards of total offense for the bulk of the second half except the final two posessions when the game was over.
The Vikings record drops to 5-3 and stays in second place two games behind Chicago and one game ahead of Green Bay in the NFC North.
