Dilly Dilly We Took Down Philly!

VIKINGS 23
EAGLES 21

I barely even thought about the Vikings this week. Not that I thought they had NO chance to win, but after the last couple games I was pretty much just looking ahead to the post-Philly schedule when it eases up a lot. I was more concerned with HOW the Vikings looked in this game then whether or not they actually won. A competitive loss like last week, with hopefully better defense, and I could still buy it that this team can put it together and make a run. A 38-7 repeat and it would be pretty hard to maintain optimism.

Instead we got the best of all. This team played its best game of the season AND won the damn game.

The defense in the first half....YES! That is what we have been missing. The pass rush was effective. The big plays were being limited, if not erased completely. And they put one in the endzone themselves, with the Linval rumble that may be hard to top as my favorite play of the season.

And once again Kirk Cousins was excellent. The offense stalled in the redzone a couple times, but Cousins was on point. That TD pass was another of those absolute beauts that Keenum just could not do. The line kept him fairly clean for the most part. The run game had a tiny bit more life to it.

Now, the 1st half would have felt even more exhilarating if not for the obligatory kicking issues. When Bailey clanked one from 28, it was here we go again. He also missed one from farther out, but man. After an early afternoon taking pleasure in the Packers kicking misfortunes, we just couldn't get a clean game of our own.

The 2nd half was always going to be terrifying. These ARE the Vikings. They cannot do things easy. So the Eagles immediately drive down the field, and are about to cut it to 7. But Kendricks gets in there and causes a fumble. Our ball. And then the most un-Vikings like sequence in ages. Deep in our own end, we go to the deep ball. Deep to Thielen, with elite YAC. Then another 20 some yards to Diggs. When has a Vikings offense in recent memory EVER played it anything but super conservative in that spot?

Oh they then went conservative as hell and only got 3, cause the Vikings never make it easy. The Eagles kept moving the ball, but the Vikings defense didn't break. The offense has their one 3 and out though, and the Eagles had their shot. They cut it to 20-14. Then an ill-advised lateral leads to a fumble and Eagles ball. The sinking feeling was immense.

But the defense held. Harrison made a big breakup on 3rd down, and the Eagles last offensive threat was done. The Vikings took the ball, ate some clock, got a few 1st downs, even some solid runs, and set up a field goal.

Now, I was practically having an anxiety attack as Bailey lined up. I mean, we've seen this story before. Recently. But where the late great Daniel Carlson had his shot at redemption 3 weeks ago and blew it, Bailey came through. He basically made the perfect kick. And one of the biggest wins of the Zimmer tenure was secure.

Oh sure, they had to give us all one last heart attack with the onside kick that Thielen almost let get away. But these ARE the Vikings.

So the opening 5 week gauntlet is finally done. Now, nobody could have predicted the tie, but a lot of people, even ones like me who had high hopes for this team, thought they may come through on the other side with just 2 wins out of 5. Nobody thought Buffalo would be a loss, but as I said at the time it just meant they were going to have to win one they weren't expected to, which they now have.

The schedule gets so much easier now. Now sure, any game could be lost, but hopefully what happened against Buffalo spooked this team and a similar slip up will not happen against Arizona or the Jets or Detroit. If they handle their business, the only game before the bye that should be a threat is New Orleans, although it's at home, and we got a QB who can match Brees in a potential shootout. This team could get to the bye 6-2-1. Even 5-3-1 would still set them up well.

They still have work to do on both sides of the ball, and who knows if Griffen figures in at all, but the magnitude of today's win cannot be overstated. It could change the entire path of the season. 2-2-1 looks a hell of a lot better than 1-3-1.