A Total Shellacking

Eagles 24

Vikings 7

Well, at least it wasn't 38-7.

Those great vibes from week 1 lasted approximately 8 days. They were snuffed out in convincing fashion on Monday night during a grotesque, lopsided loss to the Eagles.

No silver linings here. This was a complete ass kicking. Philly dominated us on both sides of the ball, and amongst other indignities caused Kirk Cousins to have his worst game in almost 2 calendar years, much to the delight of the KCDS crowd.

All the scoring happened in the first half, when Jalen Hurts was allowed to do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. First a game opening TD drive, then a dagger deep shot over our burned safeties. It was 14-0 and we had run 3 plays. You just can't get in a quick hole like that on the road.

The Vikings did briefly appear ready to make things a game when they finally got the offense going a little bit. Sparked by a jet sweep carry by Jalen Reagor, the offense showed life. Kirk found a few open receivers, the last Irv Smith for a TD. So okay, at 14-7 you think we're ready to do our thing. 

Nah. The Eagles next drive resumed the onslaught, and culminated in a truly embarrassing Hurts TD run where he was about to run out of bounds, then cut back and rumbled through seemingly our whole defense, collectively disinterested in making a tackle.

We still might have stayed in the game, except that late in the half a brilliant Kirk deep shot to Irv, which would have been a walk-in touchdown, was dropped. Irv had previously caught a TD, but also made poor efforts on a couple contested third down balls that ended drives. This can not happen.

To make matters worse, KOC made a rookie mistake by calling a timeout that led to the Eagles driving for a field goal.

Opportunities existed in the 2nd half. The offense drove to start the 3rd, but JJ ran a bad route and Kirk was picked at the goal line. 

Pat P blocked a field goal, that Kris Boyd should have returned for a TD, but it set us up in scoring range. But this drive ended very quickly in another pick, one very much on #8. 

By the time Jordan Hicks made a pick and ran it inside the 10, it was desperation time anyway. Kirk's 3rd pick was just a desperation throw. JJ made a poor effort to catch the ball, but by then the game was over.

You can't blow the degree of chances the Vikings had in this game and expect to win. 

The offense has disturbingly scored just 13 points in the last 6 quarters. The run game was a complete non-factor (Kirk was the leading rusher). Adam Thielen and KJ Osborn are ghosts. Once JJ was shut down it was over. The Eagles ended up just running blitz after blitz and the OL had no chance. Somehow Kirk only got sacked twice. 

The defense didn't give up a 2nd half point, so I guess you can't exactly say they didn't adjust, but that first half was ghastly. Why were receivers given so much free space? If the game plan was just to make Hurts have to beat you in the air instead of on the ground, well, it failed. We got beat both ways. I'm realistic. I knew 7 points last week was not going to happen, but they were non-competitive and I don't know why. Players seemed disengaged or something. Passes were dropped all over the place. Poor tackling. At least our rookie punter showed up. 

Look, teams get their asses kicked sometimes. This was one of the toughest games on the schedule, especially if the Eagles are this good. KOC is still a first time head coach and he can have growing pains just like a player would. I'm not one of these idiot fans already calling for his head. I still think this is a good team that can be great. But Monday night also showed they can also be bad. 

The 2022 season, and KOC's tenure as a head coach here, will be defined by how they bounce back from this humbling blowout.