Fumbling It All Away

EAGLES 34

VIKINGS 28

Well, we knew that this 0-2 was coming. 

Once the Vikings blew their opener against the inferior Bucs, you knew that then having to go to Philly on a short week, and with 2 starting offensive linemen out, was likely a pre-determined loss.

But these are the Vikings. So they didn't just go out there on Thursday night and get boatraced and get destroyed. No, they genuinely had a chance to win this football game, only to give another one away. 

At times it was almost deja vu from last week. In the first half, the Vikings defense largely looked very strong. A Jalen Hurts deep shot set up an early field goal, but that was it for Philly til late in the half. 

And again the Vikings offense was iffy. Bradbury was out, and Darrisaw was active but never saw the field for some reason. So you knew Kirk was in for a beating, and yeah, he took shots all game.

But the issue was the fumbles. Brandon Powell (who is here to return punts) fumbled a return away. Alexander Mattison (who is blowing his big shot worse than Ezra Miller) fumbled the very next offensive play. 

The defense though did not allow points after either turnover. We even picked off Jalen Hurts once. Finally we put the ball in the endzone and for the lead on a Kirk to Hockenson score. 

Naturally the defense then let the Eagles drive to retake the lead, almost entirely on the ground.

The key sequence of the game was late in the half. After the Eagles score, Kirk led a nice drive into at least game tying field goal range. Then he lofted a ball downfield to Jefferson, who caught the ball, turned toward the endzone, and dove. But he forgot the ball, fumbling it out the corner of the endzone for a touchback. So instead of a 1st and goal inside the 5 or even a TD right then and there, we get nothing. 

Even worse, we let the Eagles run (literally run, no passes) into long field goal range in barely 30 seconds. And of course they nailed a 61 yard field goal, because OF FUCKING COURSE THEY DID. 

That awful 10 point swing turned into 17 when on the 2nd play of the 2nd half Kirk got strip-sacked, which the Eagles quickly turned into another 7. What should have been 14-10 us was now 20-7 then in less than 2 minutes of actual gametime. 

It looked like things were really going to snowball then when we go 3 and out and then give up a 63 yard Devonta Smith TD. Our OL matters also got even worse along the way, as Oli Udoh (in for Darrisaw) suffered an apparently serious injury and we had to turn to recent waiver pickup David Quessenberry. 

Kirk went into gunslinger mode, and fired a dandy long TD strike to Jordan Addison to at least make things competitive again. 

But just like last week, the defense struggled to get off the field in the 2nd half. The Eagles just kept running it down our throats. They got over 250 yards total. I honestly didn't even understand why they bothered to throw at all.

Danielle Hunter woke up the echoes for a couple sacks and got us the ball back into the 4th. KJ Osborn (a massive disappointment so far) dropped a pass, but JJ got it back the next play, and we were off on an 86 yard TD drive that ended when Osborn was left hilariously wide open in the endzone, presumably because the Eagles figured he simply couldn't catch. He did catch this one though and it was a 6 point game. 

The defense just couldn't hold though. D'Andre Swift had a back-breaking 43 yard run to set up a short TD that mostly put the game away. 

Kirk did put together another TD drive, which ended in another Hockenson score, but time wasn't on our side, and we didn't get the onside kick, and one last hopeless hail mary from deep in our end fell harmlessly.

So, you can go glass half full or half empty. Half full is that, in about as tough a spot as I can recall a Vikings team facing, they played a very competitive game and arguably beat themselves more than the Eagles did. Half empty is that they're still 0-2, and likely facing a 2 game deficit in the division, and the OL is a battered mess.

Kirk balled out despite taking another beating. Naturally the KCDS is flowing again (he even got blamed for the JJ fumble), but Kirk is the reason this season is far from lost. He and JJ are clicking. Addison is already excelling. The OL and the pitiful run game are issues that need fixing or at least masking. But I do think this defense has shown a welcome competence. They just need some help.

Chargers come to the purple palace a week from Sunday. I expect a motivated, pissed off Vikings team to come out and get in the win column.