Failed fake punt, blown call highlight Vikings' brutal first half

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins. Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

Watch: Failed fake punt, blown call highlight brutal first half for Vikings

By Adam Gretz | Last updated 12/17/22

The Minnesota Vikings did not have a good start to their Saturday afternoon game against the Indianapolis Colts. Much of it was self-inflicted, and some of it was bad luck. In the end, it was a runaway locomotive of incompetence.

After falling behind 20-0, thanks in part to a blocked punt that was returned for a touchdown by the Colts and a turnover on downs that led to another Indianapolis score, the Vikings attempted to bust out the bag of tricks when they called for a fake punt on a 4th-and-1 deep in their own territory.

As you can see here, it did not go well. At all.

The #Vikings, already down 20-0 to the #Colts, go for a fake punt on 4th and 1 and fail.

Why not just try a normal pass to Justin Jefferson or a QB sneak?pic.twitter.com/JDR1HA4e7c
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) December 17, 2022

The Vikings already tried a running play on a 4th-and-1 earlier and failed, so maybe they thought this was the ticket to success.

It was not.

Things got worse later in the half. The Vikings thought they might be able to steal some momentum when they appeared to force a Michael Pittman fumble that they were able to return it for a touchdown.

Officials blew this play dead, costing the Vikings a touchdown. Pittman was still fighting for yards. Absurd call. pic.twitter.com/rngI1WFE0q
— Will Ragatz (@WillRagatz) December 17, 2022

The only problem here ended up being the officials ruled that Pittman's forward progress has stopped, and the Vikings not only did not get the touchdown, they did not even get the football.

The end result of this sequence was the Colts punting, pinning the Vikings inside their own 5-yard line, which was then followed by Kirk Cousins being intercepted by Julian Blackmon who returned it 17 yards for a touchdown to give the Colts a 30-0 second-quarter lead.

It's quite a turnaround for the Colts after they were embarrassed by the Dallas Cowboys in their most recent game two weeks ago.

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