The Vikings' first five drives Sunday against a very average Washington defense gained a total of 90 yards and resulted in four punts plus a turnover on downs.

That turnover on downs was the last of the sequence, coming with about a minute left in the first half. Teddy Bridgewater looked overmatched (again). The play calling was questionable (again). The defense was the only bright spot (again). Somewhere in there, we (mostly joking) tweeted that maybe it was time to give Christian Ponder yet another chance.

What happened next is as perplexing as it is encouraging for Vikings fans, coaches and players. RGIII gifted the Vikings with another opportunity before halftime by making a horrendous throw that Captain Munnerlyn picked off at midfield. Given another chance, Bridgewater and the Vikings cashed in with a quick TD, and suddenly trailed just 10-7 after playing a mostly ineffective half.

That touchdown started a string of the five final drives (not counting the designed runs near the end with the Vikings trying to run out the clock) that looked nothing like the first five. Indeed, Minnesota scored four TDs on those five drives, with Bridgewater looking sharp, the play-calling suddenly looking lively and the entire offense finding a rhythm.

Bridgewater had completions to eight different receivers (though just one pass was caught by Cordarrelle Patterson). He had a nice rapport with Greg Jennings and his tight ends. And the Vikings stopped taking deep shots — even though they were open early, Bridgewater just isn't consistent enough with that throw yet — opting instead to smartly work intermediate routes instead that are more in Bridgewater's comfort zone.

Teddy got the ball out a little faster; the offensive line blocked a little better (Bridgewater was sacked twice on the day, and the times he was hurried seemed to diminish as the game wore on); and most importantly everyone from players to coaches seemed to trust each other to do their jobs well.

It added up to a win that puts Minnesota at 4-5 at the bye. The Vikings will have two weeks to gameplan for a Bears team full of holes. If they can pull of that road win, they have three consecutive home games after that in order to really try to make a move.

A loss today would have ended a lot of that talk. For almost a half, it sure seemed like things were headed that way. Instead, the offense found a competence not seen since the Atlanta win.