And, the offense see-sawed between great highs, such as Justin Jefferson's brilliant, twirling one-handed touchdown catch on a goal-line fade and Jordan Addison's 51-yard reception, and lows that included an interception by Murray with less than 2 minutes to go in the first half, and possessions that either left points on the board or never got into a rhythm.
Ultimately, the Vikings were consumed by their woes and unable to meet the moment.
"There's a lot of things to work toward in a positive manner because of the talent, the skill sets of all of our guys, but we've got to … \[keep\] working with the same urgency we've had," Head Coach Kevin O'Connell said. "The preparation has been really good, just continuing to wait for that consistent four quarters of good football and \[to\] see what that looks like."
Murray finished 17-for-29 passing with 210 yards, two touchdowns and the pick. He also rushed four times for 35 yards to lead the Vikings on the ground; Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones, Sr., toted the rock eight and five times, respectively, for 20 and 22 yards, and DeeJay Dallas carried once for 4. (Mason had a 29-yarder that was wiped out by a holding penalty).
Including the score that only he could grab, Jefferson caught five of nine targets for 33 yards. His lone target in the second half resulted in an 8-yard gain on second-and-7, and on the next play Murray spiraled a deep pass to Addison, who sprinted past a flat-footed safety and away from a cornerback and tracked the football into his hands, down to Detroit's 10.