The Minnesota Vikings came up short in Week 5 against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Vikings fall to 1-4 while the Chiefs improve to 4-1.

The Vikings will need to regroup for a Week 6 matchup with the Chicago Bears in Chicago. It’s still early, but one has to assume whoever loses that game is essentially done. 

Let’s get into the instant takeaways from the Vikings’ 27-20 defeat. 

Justin Jefferson suffers injury

For the first time this season, Justin Jefferson failed to put up gaudy numbers. This is due to the receiver suffering a hamstring injury and leaving the game. 

Before the injury, Jefferson had just 3 catches for 28 yards. The Viking offense struggled to find any consistency without it's best player. If Jefferson has to miss time, things could get ugly in the Twin Cities.  

The running game was ineffective again

Another week, another ineffective performance from the Vikings on the ground. 

Alexander took 8 carries for 26 yards. Cam Akers took 5 carries for 15 yards. That is simply not good enough, especially when Jefferson has a down game. 

The Chiefs are not one of the scariest run defenses, either, making this even more disappointing. Kansas City is allowing opponents to average over 100 yards per game on the ground. 

The defense played well enough to win

When you play the Chiefs, you’re going to give up yards. All things considered, the Viking defense didn’t play all that bad. 

Mahomes completed 31/41 passes for 281 yards and 2 TDs. Travis Kelce was the leading receiver, and he had just 67 yards. 

The Kansas City run game struggled to get anything going all day. Isiah Pacheco was held to 55 yards on 16 carries. 

Marcus Davenport and Danielle Hunter both collected a sack, once again nobody other than those two affected Mahomes much. 

Vikings just ended a long streak against the Chiefs in Week 5

The Vikings finally scored some first quarter points.