Defensive battle: Cardinals take slim lead into halftime, Vikings offense…

Neither the Minnesota Vikings nor the Arizona Cardinals are likely thrilled after 30 minutes of football in Minneapolis.

Thanks to some untimely mistakes for both sides, the offenses have sputtered thus far, but the Cardinals lead the Vikings 9-6 at halftime.

Both offenses put together drives lasting over nine plays and 40 yards to open the game, resulting in field goals for each side. However, then the mistakes started.

For the Vikings, Aaron Jones fumbled twice — one recovered by his teammate and the other scooped up by Arizona. The third Minnesota drive went three-and-out while losing three yards, which meant the Vikings only ran 12 plays over the first 24 minutes on Sunday.

On the other side, the Vikings defense forced the Cardinals to punt on their second drive, then got lucky when Arizona kicker Chad Ryland missed a field goal following Jones’ second fumble. However, the Cardinals went 71 yards in 11 plays to get their second field goal of the game.

Then, just before halftime, the Vikings put together another nine-play drive, capped off by a 55-yard field goal from John Parker Romo to tie the game again. Arizona responded with its own 12-play, 64-yard drive over the next 72 seconds to again pull ahead 9-6.

For the Cardinals, five penalties and the missed field goal have proven costly. For the Vikings, it’s been Jones’ fumbles and the Cardinals’ pass-rush.

Jones sat for a while after his second fumble but the problem is the Vikings rely heavily on him for offense. He averaged over five yards per carry in the first half, albeit on just three carries. Cam Akers and Ty Chandler combined for just five yards on three carries, in comparison.

Minnesota’s defense needs to tighten up a bit, too, as Kyler Murray and Arizona’s passing game have been able to move the ball pretty easily, and Murray has also scrambled for 37 yards. They’ve done well against James Conner, though, holding him to just 23 yards on eight carries.

Overall, Arizona has outgained Minnesota 228-75 thus far and easily won time of possession, 18:34 to 11:26. The Vikings need to clean things up in the second half to keep their winning streak alive.