Puka Nacua takes a short pass from Matthew Stafford with seemingly no chance of making the first down marker, but the second year wideout is a brute after the catch and barges his way to a fresh set of downs.

The Vikings go for it on fourth-and-two around midfield, but Sam Darnold hangs onto the ball for too long as his preferred target Justin Jefferson tripped up, and with no alternative the Rams get home and bring him down.

Matthew Stafford will get the ball inside Vikings territory with just over a minute left to play.

Troy Aikman
Three-time Super Bowl winner on ESPN/ABC

Ahkello Witherspoon saw that Sam Darnold was in trouble and just kept on coming. You just cannot sit back there and hold the football.

We've seen Sam Darnold have a lot of success with some big plays this year, holding the ball longer than you should. But already tonight he's taken too many sacks and in games like this, you just can't have these types of negative players, especially when you're giving the ball to the defence and they're scoring touchdowns.

Sam Darnold does make a throw this time to Justin Jefferson for 16 yards and a first down, before Aaron Jones gets a tough three yards before we hit the two-minute warning.

Minnesota are still in this as they'll get the ball to start the second half, but they seriously have to cut out all the mistakes and protect the ball - and Darnold - much better.

This is getting ugly now for Minnesota as Sam Darnold is sacked again for the fifth time! Five sacks in the first half and a lot of them are on Darnold for not moving well enough and holding onto the ball for too long looking for the big play.

Kevin O'Connell might be better calling for some quick throws to get the ball out sharper and relax Darnold a little.

The call goes with the Vikings this time, as it was pretty clear that Josh Oliver got his knee down well before the ball was ripped from his grasp. The Vikings drive continues.

Troy Aikman
Three-time Super Bowl winner on ESPN/ABC

The Vikings got a penalty on the punt for a new set of downs. They start that drive, after the penalty, right on the 50-yard line and to not to be able to capitalise or do anything with it, it's pretty frustrating. You can see it on the face of Kevin O'Connell.

Vikings tight end Josh Oliver takes the catch and tries to rumble along to some extra yards after the catch, but as he tumbles the Rams defenders all jump up and claim they've forced a fumble and recovered the turnover.

Replays suggest his knee may have been down though so we'll wait to see what the TV officials think about this one.

Former Rams running back Cam Akers breaks off a nice 26-yard run down the left sideline against his former side. He'll be desperate to make an impact against his former side.

Vikings linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill is on the floor smacking the turf at State Farm Stadium after somehow failing to block that punt despite being right there.

He dived at the feet of the puner and the ball seems to defy physics by somehow evading his grasp. We'll need more replays to work that one out.

Troy Aikman
Three-time Super Bowl winner on ESPN/ABC

"Puka Nacua and [Rams team-mate] Alaric Jackson ran into each other, which is why Jonathan Bullard had a free run at Matthew Stafford.

"It was supposed to be a play-action and get the ball to Nacua, but that's pretty lenient ruling saying that Nacua was in the area."

ESPN's rules analyst added that the replay couldn't be used to rule intentional grounding as there wasn't a pre-review announcement that it could be a pass or intentional grounding.

We've seen all weekend how mistakes and penalties can be drive killers in the play-offs, and too many will cost you games. Both sides are just struggling with those at the moment as a holding penalty on the Rams puts them well behind the chains.

They have no chance with a third-and-15 with just a short pass to Kyren Williams giving him far too much to do.

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Sam Darnold's eyes were looking right all the time before he finally ripped a pass out there towards Jordan Addison - so Rams corner Kobie Durant knew it was coming, and got the jump on Addison to grab the interception.

Just Durant's second pick of the season but a huge one.

Oh no! Special teams penalties never go down well with coaches, when they cost 15 yards and give the opposition a fresh set of downs when they're punting will give them fits.

Jacob Hummel is flagged for falling into Vikings punter Ryan Wright, and that gives Sam Darnold a chance to get back out there - Sean McVay is fuming.

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Sam Darnold must have had the fright of his life when he turned from play-action to attempt a pass only to see Kobie Durant screaming in on him unblocked from the edge, and he's taken down for a 12-yard sack.

That's the third sack on Darnold already tonight.

Brandon Powell makes a mess of the return as he muffs the catch, but luckily for him the ball goes out of bounds. Those special teams moments can be huge when it gets to this stage of the season.

Kevin O'Connell said Minnesota would respond and they certainly did on defence there, really turning the heat up on Matthew Stafford and getting much tighter in coverage to force the Rams to punt the ball away.

That's a bit more like it from the Vikings defence.

Speaking right before the second quarter, Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell said: "I think we're doing it right now (settling down), we were just unfortunate to take that sack.

"How I see it is we just need to find a way to convert this third down and maybe finish with a touchdown. If not, we'll take the points (from a field goal).

"I know our defence will get settled in. The Rams got off to a hot start, but we'll respond."