The Minnesota Vikings stumbled through the first half, an uneven and undisciplined performance that was a little unlucky, too.

As well as they played against the Dallas Cowboys after that, those early mistakes made their margin for error too small to overcome.

The same might ultimately be said about their 2020 season. With their 31-28 defeat, the Vikings (4-6) squandered a prime opportunity to pull within one game of the final wild-card spot in the NFC.

Andy Dalton returned from a two-game absence to throw three touchdown passes, hitting Dalton Schultz for a 2-yard score with 1:37 left to lift the Cowboys to victory on Sunday and stop the Vikings’ three-game winning streak.

Kevin Molino scored two goals, Robin Lod added another and Minnesota United beat the Colorado Rapids 3-0 on Sunday night for the first playoff victory in franchise history.

Fourth-seeded Minnesota, unbeaten in its last nine games, will play top-seeded Sporting Kansas City in the conference semifinals. Sporting beat San Jose in a shootout earlier Sunday.

According to a university source, St. Thomas Athletics will begin a four-week no practice period on Saturday, Nov. 21 after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz implemented a four-week dial back on certain activities Wednesday to slow the spread of COVID-19.

According to the Minnesota Department of Health, college athletics are not allowed to conduct practice unless athletes are tested three times per week.

“If a higher education institute chooses to continue intercollegiate athletic programming, athletes must be tested for COVID-19 three times per week even during weeks when there is no competition and there is only practice,” MDH wrote on its COVID-19 recommendations document for higher education institutes.

Lauren Dettmer can be reached at lauren.dettmer@stthomas.edu.