Greatest Skol On Turf

Vikings 38
Eagles 20

Remember 2 weeks ago? When the Vikings season was over? When the Vikings not only needed to move on from Kirk Cousins, but release him immediately? When Stefon Diggs was supposedly done playing here and wanted a trade?

All that crap felt like a very distant memory today, as the Vikings not only won, but played their most satisfying game since 2017, as they unleashed the Kirk Beast and bombed the Eagles right out of the stadium.

It was truly astounding the aerial assault in the first half. Kirk Cousins threw 3 touchdowns, 2 of them absolute bombs to Diggs, and another on a fade to Thielen. He even narrowly missed 2 others, on a third bomb to Diggs that was just a little too far, and an endzone shot where Thielen made an amazing catch but his arm hit out of bounds just a moment before that 2nd foot got in.

Kirk was the best he has ever been in purple. The haters have to be on suicide watch after a game like this. But I'm sure they'll just say the Eagles aren't any good, or that Kirk only played so well because of injuries on the other side.

It looked like we could have our own 38-7 here, but to their credit the Eagles fought back. Down 24-3 they went right down and scored.

It started to get a little dicier before halftime. We got the ball, and were driving again, but a ball clanked off Diggs' hands and was picked off by Andrew Sendejo of all people. The Eagles moved into field goal range but the D held.

Then, with all the momentum, and with them getting the ball to start the 2nd half, Doug Pederson for some reason decided to call a fake field goal. We were onto them, and Griffen got a pick. It was so bizarre. There were only like 25 seconds left, no timeouts, and they were at like the 20. Basically if that play didn't get a touchdown it was a waste of time.

But it stalled the Eagles momentum. However, Philly got it right back to start the 3rd as they drove right down and scored again to make it 24-17.

Then when our next drive was an ugly mess filled with a couple big penalties and another Diggs drop, and we had to punt, it really got anxious. Could we actually be forced to suffer through a blown 24-3 lead to this team?

The Eagles had a short field to work with too, but the D held them to the 3. The lead was preserved.

Then came the biggest drive of the season. Immediately Kirk comes out and hits Diggs for a couple solid gains, then a really nice shot to Olabisi Johnson. There was a positively goofy double reverse run by Diggs, who went from looking like he was about to pass, to high-stepping like he's Deion Sanders, before finally just running. A couple plays later it was Diggs again, toe tapping at the back of the endzone on a strike from Kirk.

It was a fantastic response drive, to answer all that momentum the Eagles had. And to bail out a struggling defense for a change.

It seemed to snap the defense out of things too. The Eagles never scored again. First a Kendricks sack destroyed their next drive. Then Barr got a fumble. Then Alexander got a pick. Then the clock ran out.

Amidst the defensive clampdown in the 4th we did get a Dalvin touchdown. The run game wasn't as explosive today, and actually Mattison was the leading rusher, but the narrative was that the Vikings couldn't run on Philly at all.

We won a game against a good team without dominant performances by the run game or the defense. That's big. It shows we can win games, big games, in different ways.

Obviously you don't want the defense to struggle, and to be sure they were really on their heels today a lot. They did a poor job of getting at Carson Wentz, and let him move around in the pocket way too much. And Wentz seemed to find every opening and mismatch.

But, especially considering we pulled away and got the win, I don't think it's the worst thing in the world that this team had to really fight through some problems and figure out how to get a tougher win. I think it's never a bad thing to have a win AND have things to work on.

Now we got another even bigger game next week at Detroit. When Vikings seasons have gone haywire in recent years it seems to come from losing games to the Lions. I won't say it's a MUST win, but you don't want to go 0-3 in the division.

It looks like the NFC is softening up. The Rams and Cowboys are each behind us now. The Vikings technically sit in one of the playoff spots now, pending MNF.

Amazing considering the season "ended" 2 weeks ago. 🤔🤔🤔