Vikings Suffer First Loss, 21-10, To Eagles

Coming into the game, the Minnesota Vikings’ offense was humming along and the team as a whole was +11 in turnover ratio on the season. All of that came crashing to earth in Week 7 at Lincoln Financial Field.

Thanks to four Vikings turnovers, including three that came courtesy of Sam Bradford, the Minnesota offense never got going on Sunday, and the result was a 21-10 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

There was no scoring in the first quarter, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t any action, as the two teams combined for five turnovers on five consecutive drives. After the teams exchanged three-and-outs, we had (in order) an interception of Carson Wentz by Andrew Sendejo, an interception of Sam Bradford (his first of the year) by Rodney McLeod, a fumble on an exchange between Wentz and Darren Sproles, a strip sack of Bradford by Connor Barwin, and another interception of Wentz, this one by Xavier Rhodes. All of those turnovers resulted in zero points.

Minnesota got the first points of the game in the second quarter, courtesy of Blair Walsh, who put home a field goal attempt from 48 yards out to give the Vikings a 3-0 lead. However, that lead didn’t last long, as Josh Huff took the ensuing kickoff back 98 yards for a touchdown. Philadelphia then made the extra point, but took it off the board following a penalty on Harrison Smith, electing to try a two-point conversion from the 1-yard line. Wentz then took the ball over from a yard out to give the home team a lead of 8-3. The home team added a 35-yard Caleb Sturgis field goal to take an 11-3 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Philadelphia got the first points of the second half, too, courtesy of a four-yard touchdown pass from Wentz to Dorial Green-Beckham, to put the Eagles ahead by a score of 18-3. They added a 20-yard field goal by Sturgis to push the lead to 21-3 with just over six minutes left. Bradford found Cordarrelle Patterson for a garbage time score from 14 yards out to make the score a little more respectable at 21-10.

Neither team really lit things up on the stat sheet in this one, but Sam Bradford looked particularly awful in his return to Philadelphia. The stat sheet says he went 24-for-41 for 224 yards, one touchdown, and one interception, but he was awful. He was responsible for three of the Vikings’ four turnovers and was under siege all afternoon long. The team didn’t go over 100 yards passing until midway through the fourth quarter. Matt Asiata led the team in rushing with 55 yards on 12 carries, while Cordarrelle Patterson was the team’s leading receiver with 67 yards and the late touchdown on seven receptions. Minnesota made four trips into the red zone, and only came away with points on one of them.

The stat sheet was even uglier for the Eagles, though they still won the game. Carson Wentz completed less than half of his passes, going 16-of-38 for 138 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. Josh Huff was the Eagles’ leading receiver, bringing in 39 yards on four catches in addition to his 98-yard kickoff return that really made the difference in this one. Ryan Mathews carried the ball 14 times for 56 yards to lead the Eagles in rushing.

The Vikings fall to 5-1, and as a result the NFL no longer has any more undefeated teams. They will play another prime time game in Week 8, as they travel to Soldier Field to take on the Chicago Bears on Halloween night for Monday Night Football. The Eagles move to 4-2, snapping their two-game losing streak, and they travel to Jerryworld to take on the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.

The Minnesota Vikings suffer their first loss of the 2016 NFL season, falling 21-10 to the Philadelphia Eagles. We’ll have more on this game over the next day or two. In the meantime, thank you to everybody that got their coverage of today’s game right here at The Daily Norseman!