Minnesota Vikings at Philadelphia Eagles: Key Information and First Quarter Open Thread

We are about an hour away from kickoff in Philadelphia between the Minnesota Vikings and the Philadelphia Eagles. This is a pretty significant game for both teams, but it sure would be nice if the Vikings could find a way to pull this one out, wouldn’t it?

Here is everything you need to know about today’s contest.

Time: Sunday, 7 October, 3:25 PM Central time

Location: Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Television coverage: KSTP-9 in the Twin Cities, and FOX affiliates across the country that you can see on the maps right here

Radio coverage: Vikings Radio Network, Sirius Channel 127, XM Channel 225 (PHI feed)

Line: Philadelphia -3, over/under 48.5

Prediction: Eagles 31, Vikings 27

Three keys

1) Try actually playing defense - The Minnesota defense has been getting torched up and down the field against pretty much every team they’ve played this season. There’s too much talent on this defense for them to continue to be this bad, so they need to figure out their issues and start stopping opposing offenses. If they get into a shootout with the Eagles, I’m not sure if they can keep up.

2) Limit mistakes - The Vikings need to win the turnover battle this week to have any chance of winning. They were very good at taking care of the football in their win over San Francisco, and less so in every game since then. When you’re facing a team the quality of the Eagles, there’s no reason to give them extra opportunities, so Kirk Cousins needs to continue making good decisions and everyone needs to ensure they hold on to the football.

3) Keep your focus - I’m sure the Vikings have spent their week being reminded of the last time they played in this stadium. They’re still also dealing with one of their teammates fighting a significant issue. However, they need to do what they can to put all of that in the rear view mirror and concentrate on the task at hand. We can’t see the same sorts of lapses that have plagued this team the past couple of weeks if they want to win this game and turn their season around.

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As usual, we will have a new Open Thread at the start of each quarter, ladies and gentlemen, so keep your eyes peeled for that. With that, enjoy the game, folks!

SKOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL VIKINGS!!!!