Daily Norseman
Coming off of their thrilling Monday Night Football victory to start the season, the Minnesota Vikings will prepare for another prime time contest in Week 2 when they host the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday Night Football at U.S. Bank Stadium.
As we all saw on Monday night, the Vikings overcame a 17-6 fourth quarter deficit, roaring back with 21 unanswered points to win their sixth consecutive game at Soldier Field, 27-24 over the Chicago Bears. The Falcons were not quite as lucky, as they dropped their Week 1 contest to one of their division rivals, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Atlanta had an opportunity to send the game to overtime, but Younghoe Koo pushed his 44-yard attempt wide to the right to give the Bucs a 23-20 victory.
This game will be another matchup of quarterbacks from the draft class of 2024. J.J. McCarthy was the #10 overall pick that season, while the Falcons are quarterbacked by Michael Penix Jr, who was selected at #8 overall. McCarthy struggled in the first three quarters of his NFL debut, but came roaring back in the fourth quarter with three touchdowns, two through the air and one on the ground, to lead Minnesota’s comeback. Penix had a solid season opener for the Falcons, completing 27-of-42 passes for 298 yards and a touchdown in Atlanta’s loss.
This is the third consecutive season that the Vikings and the Falcons have faced off, and the Vikings are looking for their third straight win. In 2023, the Vikings traveled to Atlanta and won when Josh Dobbs came off the bench in relief of Jaren Hall and engineered a 31-28 victory. Last season, the Vikings welcomed Kirk Cousins back to U.S. Bank Stadium, as Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison combined to catch all five of Sam Darnold’s touchdown passes in a 42-21 blowout win.
This prime time contest will be broadcast on NBC, including KARE-11 in the Twin Cities area, with kickoff slated for 7:20 PM Central time on Sunday night.
We will be putting all of our information about this matchup right here in our weekly stream, so be sure to keep coming back and refreshing for the latest news!
