INTO THE SUNKEN PLACE

EAGLES 28

VIKINGS 22

Is this not classic Vikings? I didn't think they would win this game, yet they managed to find a way to NOT win that was so aggravating and depressing that I want to find the nearest bridge to leap off of. 

The Eagles. Defending Super Bowl champions. Likely pissed off following back to back losses. You knew this would be a tough task.

But a tough task becomes impossible when you spend as much time beating yourselves as they beat you. The Vikings could have won on Sunday. Instead, they blew a chance at a big win, and now face the reality that the entire season might be teetering on the edge of oblivion.

I figured the Vikings porous run defense would be no match for Saquon Barkley, and the game's opening drive did look like that. The Eagles gashed us on the ground. Then, on a 4th and 2, it was Jalen Hurts's turn, as he threw a 37-yard TD pass to AJ Brown, who torched Josh Metellus. Much to the delight of the many Eagles fans at US Bank Stadium.

The Vikings opening drive foretold day-long doom. Carson Wentz again got the start, and did hit a big pass to Jordan Addison (a walk-in TD if the pass is accurate), but also missed a likely TD later in the drive with a bad throw. Then Blake Brandel snapped the ball over Wentz's head for a huge loss. So a 1st down at the 19 led to Will Reichard having to hit a 59-yard field goal. 

In the 2nd quarter, Wentz again made a terrible throw, this one a pick six to a wide open defender. Just a couple plays into the next drive, Wentz lofted up a total arm punt for another pick. That turnover didn't lead to points, but Wentz was playing like an idiot.

The Vikings mustered another scoring drive the next time they had the ball, highlighted by some terrific Jefferson YAC. But again, they misfired in the redzone, with a near miss TD to Jefferson and then a holding penalty that wiped put a Nailor TD. Not sure why you have 2nd and 1 at the 6 and then just go pass happy. 

The 3rd quarter started with another scoring drive, and another drive that died in the redzone. Here was the game's most inexplicable blunder. On 2nd down at the 9, and while facing minimal pressure, Wentz chose to just pitch the ball into the ground for no reason. Worse, with no receiver there, it was ruled intentional grounding. Drive dead. Reichard for 3 again. Am utterly baffling play by Wentz, who spent the whole day seeing ghosts, apparently, despite pretty solid pass protection most of the time (the Vikings had 4/5 of their starting OL). 

All these field goals inevitably bite you, and on the Eagles' next drive, they bit. Hurts zipped a deep ball to DeVonta Smith for a 79-yard touchdown that pushed the Eagles lead to 21-9. The Vikings finally put one in the endzone on the subsequent drive, a direct snap to Jordan Mason, who just barely crossed the plane. 

The Vikings were somehow hanging in this game into the 4th quarter. But this final frame would add a new horror: The 3rd and long.

The Eagles had a 3rd and 15 pretty deep in their own end, but Hurts scrambled (as the Vikings pass rush failled to get home) and found a wide open Smith for a 28 yard gain. Luckily, this drive ended in a missed field goal. 

So the Vikings held the ball in the 4th quarter with a chance to go take the lead. And yet again, they reached the redzone. What could happen? Well, this time it was a 3rd down sack that forced yet another field goal and a 21-19 score. 

The Vikings' defense failed again after this, and again on a 3rd and long. I swear this whole game was bad deja vu. Hurts scrambled and fired a pass for a 1st down. Then, he had another rush-free scramble and found Smith wide open in the middle of the field, before zipping a laser downfield to Brown for the touchdown. 28-19.

By now, it was pretty much desperation time for the Vikings. But to cap things off for the offensive failures, we reached the redzone again. TJ Hockenson almost hauled in a diving TD, but replay overturned it. Of course, he had to dive because Wentz made a bad throw. We needed 2 scores and took the 3 here. 

We had all the timeouts, so we had a chance to get the ball back. But once again, 3rd down defense doomed us, as Hurts (unpressured....I swear every play was the same thing) lofted a long ball downfield to Brown to ice the game.

The Vikings are not good.

That's the harsh reality. A third of the way through this season, the Vikings have played one good game, and maybe 7 or 8 good quarters total. They're 3-3, but it's a very hollow 3-3. They're also in last place now, too, so that's fucking great.

It's looking like a lost season. Off a bye, about as healthy as they've been all year. This is where the quality of play should have been better, with signs of improvement. Instead they kicked away an extremely winnable game.

The schedule is not going to ease up. They have 11 games to go, and not a single one of them looks to be easy. And you have to figure it will take at least 10 wins to even be a wild card. There isn't a chance in hell the Vikings can go 7-4 the rest of the way unless their quality of play drastically improves, and very quickly.

With Wentz going in the tank, you might as well try it again with McCarthy. Deep down I think the Vikings really blew it handing the whole thing over to this guy, but you gotta play him to know for sure. 

But I'm on the verge of losing all hope for this season. So many personnel decisions have not worked out. The team doesn't look well coached. There's talent here for sure, but to what end? This team has a long way to go and a short time left to get there.