Safety Marcus Williams made a rookie mistake by hitting wideout Stefon Diggs after he had gone out of bounds for the first penalty, then linebacker Alex Anzalone got whistled for unnecessary roughness two plays later.

An anemic offense was largely to blame for the second-half fade, so Minnesota added fresh faces to its running game, signing Latavius Murray and drafting Dalvin Cook in the second round.

The Vikings also revamped the offensive line, swapping out Matt Kalil for Riley Reiff at left tackle and signing Mike Remmers to play on the right side.

Sam Bradford returns after having a full offseason with the offense, a luxury he didn’t have last year after getting traded from the Philadelphia Eagles two weeks before the season began.

He won’t be asked to do much more than keep the offense on schedule, with the Vikings returning an elite defense filled with playmakers like Xavier Rhodes , Harrison Smith , Everson Griffen , and Danielle Hunter .