With all the drama and speculation surrounding the vikings this offseason, I thought I'd take a look at one of the major points of contention from last season: the season ending loss to the eagles in the playoffs. To me, this game epitomized the entire viking season last year. It had everything that went right and wrong for the vikings all year. I recently recorded the NFL Network replay of the game. Over the past couple of weeks I've watched the game several times in bits and pieces, trying to capture the entire game. During this time I've taken notes on different players and different plays that I think were key to the game. NFL network doesn't show every single play on their replays, so with the help of games stats from NFL.com I've been able to come up with this analysis of game. Hopefully this won't be too long winded and you'll bear with me through this. See you after the jump and I hope you can bear with me through all of this.

Eagles get the ball first. One first down and punt.

Evaluation: Good but not great, the theme of the game for our defense.

Vikings throw on first play. Jackson hit as he threw incomplete. This becomes the theme of the game. Vikings get a first down and wind up at 4th and inches at the viking 30. Childress elects to punt.

Evaluation: This is the first big mistake of the game. You have the worst punt coverage team in the history of the NFL and you have the number one running back in the entire league.  It's fourth and inches, what do you do?  This was a stupid decision.

Eagles blitz on third down and one guys is untouched. The qb has to have blockers.

Eagles return the punt to inside the vikings 30. (62yds)

Evaluation: Effectively here, it would have been better if the vikings had gone for it on fourth down and failed.

Vikings allow 1 yd and eagles kick field goal. 1 yard. No offense necessary on this score. Our coaches bad decision, and our woeful punt coverage were all that was needed.

3-0 eagles

Peterson gets hit in head on next vikings play and is pulled from the game.

Jackson hits berrian on 3rd down for a big gain.

Jackson hits wade on another 3rd down for 11yds.

Peterson comes back

Jackson throws timing route. Rice isn't there on time, vikings punt from eagles 42.

Evaluation: Vikings get 3 first downs on jacksons arm while peterson is unavailable.  No peterson, and we still moved the ball.  On the last third down, if you're just watching the game, you're going to blame jackson.  But if you watch it more closely, in the context of what the offense is trying to do, this play was all rice's fault.  Rice is the primary receiver on this play. How do I know?  The quickness and timing of the play.  The ball is gone from jackson's had less than 3 seconds after the ball is snapped.  This is the premise of the west coast offense.  Most plays are designed for the qb to throw to a specific spot on the field, not a specific player.  A better route runner is in the proper position on this play and jackson is credited with another crucial 3rd down conversion.  Instead, everyone says "who the hell is he throwing too?".

Eagles start at 25.

Buckhalter runs for 26yds

Vikings hold at 35.

51yd field goal.

Evaluation: Everyone points to the westbrook 71yd touchdown as the only big play the vikings gave up.  I disagree. That buckhalter run was crucial and a lot of defensive players made mistakes on this play.  In my opinion, if ej is in the game this big run never happens.  In the end the viking defense bends but doesn't break.  Again, good but not great.

6-0 eagles (end of first)

Vikings get bogged down and jackson hits rice at 3rd and 6 for a first down (4/6 on third down at this point).

Jackson almost hits allison on 3rd and 3, pass interference (5/7 on 3rd).

Next 3rd and 2, peterson goes all the way (6/8 on 3rd). what a run, no one even touched him.

Evaluation: This is what we've been waiting for.  ap breaks off a big one.  But without jackson's crucial 3rd down conversions, the run never happens.

7-6 vikings

Sharper get hurt on next eagles possession, out.

Vikings use 2nd time out at 10min left in 2nd.

35yd pass play to viking 20. (mccauley)

31yd field goal.

Evaluation: Again, the westbrook touchdown isn't the only big play.  This 35yd was big and mccauley got burned bad.  Hopefully asher allen turns into a good nickel back at least.  We really missed gordon for this game. And what's with burning our 2nd timeout of the game with 10min left in the half?  This becomes meaningful.  In the end, the defense hold.  Good, but not great.

9-7 eagles

Vikings get to their own 35, jackson throws pick (hit as he throws) to asante samuel for a td

This is the play tjack gets body slammed.

Evaluation: I don't know if this was tj's fault or not.  He had two guys on him when he threw it.  He probably should have thrown it out of bounds or taken the sack.  Eagles blitzed 2 on this play and hid it well, no one picked them up.

16-7 eagles

3rd and 5 at the viking 42, jackson throws to berrian down to the eagles 31.

(Eagles allowed 32% 3rd down conversion 2nd best in nfl)

Taylor just rocks. Takes us down to the 3.

Peterson in for the td.

We just ran it down their throats on this one with tj making the crucial throws.

Evaluation: This is my favorite drive of the game.  What a monster taylor is when he comes in fresh.  AP may have scored the td, but this was taylors drive.  The eagles knew we were going to run and they just couldn't stop us.

16-14 eagles

3rd and 1 at their own 48, mcnabb goes long and griffin picks it at the viking 13.

Evaluation: Got lucky here, eagles were moving the ball well until this play.

Vikings take over at their own 13 with 1:10 left and only 1 timeout and go three and out (run,incomplete,run).

Coach calls 2 runs with 1:10 left and 1 to?? wtf?

Kluwe gives a good punt but eagles take over at their own 44 (needing about 20yds for field goal) with 0:18 left.

Evaluation: 2nd big mistake of the game.  First of all the vikings only have 1 timeout because they wasted 2 earlier in the half.  Secondly, you're passing game is clicking (7/10 on 3rd down conversions).  Third, there's still time if you give tj some protection to throw.  Childress decides to playcall as if there's still 5min left instead of 1.

Westbrook get 9yds with 0:13 left. needs about 10 more yds for field goal.

Incomplete with 0:08 left.

Westbrook tripped up in bounds to end the half.

Evaluation: Defense dodges a bullet.  If westbrook gets out of bounds on that play, the eagles get a shot at 3 more points.  They shouldn't have been on the field to begin with, but they did nothing on this drive but get backed up.

16-14 eagles at halftime (vikings 7/10 on 3rd down, eagles 2/7)

Evaluation: At this point 2 big coaching gaffes have us in our current plight.  We've moved the ball well against the eagles defense, but they've moved it well against ours as well.  Our defense has played good but not great.  They haven't been on the field for long stretches because we are losing the field postion battle big time.  Their average starting spot is the 33. Ours is the 18.

Vikings open the 2nd half with 2 17yd passes to sass.

The run is going no where as the eagles are run blitzing on every play (hence the success of the sass passes)

3rd and 6 at the eagels 44 (another blitz!) jackson loses the ball but recovers for a loss of 12.

No time at all for jackson. That last set of downs went run, run, pass.

Vikings pin eagles at their own 5 on the punt.

Evaluation: I won't call this the 3rd big mistake of the game, but it comes close.  The eagles are run blitzing on every play.  Selling out big time.  Jackson doesn't have any time to throw anything long.  He hits sass twice on quick outlets for 34yds total.  So, does the coach call plays that have all the receivers on short to intermediate routes?  No, he runs.  The only good news is that the eagles start with their worst field position of the day.

Mcnabb converts the third down from the endzone.

Mcnabb moves the eagles down the viking 35 on 5/7 passing but is sacked on 3rd down and eagles punt.

Evaluation: That conversion was clutch.  Mcnabb knows his job.  Again though the eagles pick us apart halfway down the field until the sack.  Our defense is good, but not great.  Additionally, now we're back in bad field position again.

Vikings next possession - run, run, run, punt (on 4th and 1 again) eagles get the ball at the min 40.

Evaluation: WTF CHILLY??  Did you not see our last possession where the eagles run blitzed on EVERY play?  Did we run some play action?  Did we dink and dunk them like they just dinked and dunked us?  Is that the west coast offense?  Worst series of the game here and that includes the turnovers.

Mcnabb fumbles on second play and vikings recover at the viking 38.

Evaluation: Finally a lucky break.

Vikings go incomplete, run, incomplete

Vikings pin eagles at the 4.

Evaluation: Jackson is under a lot of pressure.  The eagles blitz is one of the best in the business and the vikings just aren't picking it up well.  Jackson makes some bad decisions (inexperienced bad decisions) but if we just pick up the damn blitz he wouldn't be in that position!

Eagles drive to their own 46 on 4/5 passing by mcnabb.

Evaluation: Mcnabb dinks and dunks us again but we hold.  Good but not great.

Vikings move to their own 35 before punting (blitz, blitz, blitz) jackson has no time at all after berrian penalty on 3rd and long.

Evaluation: After the last drive, the eagles do the exact same thing on defense.  Exactly.  Do we exploit what we know and put in some plays to take advantage of what we KNOW is coming?  No, we run the same basic plays as last time.  We do move it a bit, but the berrian penalty was a gift.  There wasn't a penalty there.

Next play, westbrook goes 71yds for a score.

Evaluation: This one breaks us.  You can see it in the whole team.  Everyone's play drops a little after this play.  The eagles have shut us down offensively and our defense isn't stopping them.

23-14 eagles

Vikings take over at their 25.

Wade misses a catch on first down.

No blocking 2nd down, 2 guys through untouched.

Evaluation: The first down miss was 100% wade just plain dropping it.  On second down, ARGH, PICK UP THE DAMN BLITZ!  I'm not sure what to make of the 3rd down play.  3 receiver set, wade in the slot, can't tell who's wide on the strong side but the guy just stops running.  The pass is to wade but he's got 3 guys on him.  This was obviously a timing pattern and whoever the other receiver was didn't do his job and allowed all the defenders to go to wade.  This was incomplete but in no way was it tj's fault.

Eagles go 3 and out (their first of the game)

Evaluation: Ok, I've changed my mind.  Our defense hasn't been good this game.  They've been very average.  One 3 and out?  One?

Vikings get the ball back at their own 15 and go immediately to shotgun.

1st pass awesome coverage.  The ball hits rice in the hands.

2nd pass terrible pass by jackson.

3rd pass hit as he throws, incomplete, roughing the passer

On the next 2nd down, tj scrambles for 17 yds. (first scramble)

Bad snap, fumble assigned to jackson even though it hit him in the foot at the vikings 47.  Eagles recover.

Evaluation: This could have been a good series and possibly given us a slight chance.  But rice just plain missed the ball.  And that 2nd down throw by jackson?  I can see why people say bad things about him.  That one stunk. Birk.  What can I say.

Eagles go 20 yds on 5 plays for a field goal. Vikings use all 3 timeouts, plus a penalty on philly, plus 2 minute warning.

Evaluation: Someone is going to have to explain to me how the vikings can have the clock stopped on a penalty plus the 2 minute warning and still need all 3 timeouts to get the ball back on 5 plays.  The eagles just ran over our vaunted run defense.  Pathetic.

26-14 eagles

Vikings get the ball back, tj goes 4/6 passing but there are 2 penalties on cook and 1 on herrera.

Evaluation: Take away the penalties on this drive and tj marches us down the field.  Probably not enough time to actually score but he moved us.

End of game (vikings 1/8 on 3rd down, eagles 3/7).

Postgame Evaluation:

Like I said in the beginning, this game was a microcosm of our entire season. Our defense seemed to play well but really didn't (mcnabb went 24/35 or 68%). You can't allow almost 70% passing and call yourself a good defense. We did hold them to a 2.9 rushing average.

Our special teams did bad although we didn't give up a special teams td (although it was close). Special teams stat of the game: eagles punt returns, 5 for 109 yds - vikings punt returns, 1 for 1 yd. That's right, we had 1 whole yard on punt returns for the entire game. Their average field postion: 33, ours: 18.

On offense we did pretty good in the first half but terrible in the second half. Let's blame tj right? He can't read defenses so he sucks. Apparently our coaching staff can't read defenses either because philly basically ran one defense the entire second half. They blitzed the run on most plays even if it was a passing down. Our protection just wasn't there. TJ had no time to throw. When he did, he made the plays. You could have thrown any qb of all time in their prime in this game and they would have sucked. You can't throw the ball when you don't have protection. You need at least 3 seconds to pass the ball unless you're just going to throw it to a receiver at the line. Loadholt better be the real deal or we'll see the same thing all year this year. The right side of our o-line was a sieve.

Our coaching sucked. Bad decisions, no flexibility. No in game adjustments. People can say that we have to dumb down our offense because our qb sucks but I don't see what that has to do with burning 2 timeouts in the first 20 minutes of the half. Or not going for it on 4th and inches when you have the best running back in the league and the worst punt coverage unit in nfl history. Or when the defense is run blitzing on every play so you decide to run 3 times and we have to punt.

We don't necessarily need a new qb. We need more consistency on defense. Having every back healthy should help there, but our defense wasn't very good in this game. Yes we had 3 sacks and a pick but we have to stop them more consistently. Basically we didn't have the secondary to cover the eagles receivers. And the eagles receivers aren't that good but they have so many. I don't think I even need to talk about special teams anymore. Offense must become more flexible. We can't telegraph our plays every down and then jump on the qb when they get stuffed every play. You're always going to have mistakes in a game. I understand that and I expect that. To me, if we had better coaching, we win this game. Everything else could have gone the same. Our level of play throughout could have remained as it was. Our special teams can still suck. Our defense can bend too far. Our o-line could fail to pick up the blitz. Our qb can still make some bad throws. But give me better coaching and we win this game.

Sorry for the length of this post and thank you for bearing with me through this.  It was painful for me as well.