Minnesota Vikings at Philadelphia Eagles: Second quarter recap and third quarter discussion

It’s halftime in Philadelphia, and your Minnesota Vikings trail the Philadelphia Eagles by a score of 24-7 on Monday Night Football.

The Eagles started the second quarter with the lead and the football, and added to their point total on the first play courtesy of a 53-yard pass from Jalen Hurts to Quez Watkins. The extra point was good and, just like that, the score was 14-0.

The Vikings’ offense got things going a bit on the next drive, as Jalen Reagor got the team’s first first down against his former team on an end-around. The Vikings pushed into the red zone on a nice throw from Kirk Cousins to K.J. Osborn, and Cousins then found Johnny Mundt for 17 yards to the Philadelphia 2. On first-and-goal, the Vikings got on the board on the first touchdown catch since 2020 for Irv Smith Jr., a 2-yard connection to get the Vikings their first points of the night. Greg Joseph hit the extra point and the Vikings cut the lead to 14-7.

The Vikings then put together their best defensive series of the night and got the Eagles to punt it away again. But the Vikings’ offense did nothing and punted it back. After that, we saw a complete breakdown from the Minnesota defense, as Jalen Hurts ran one in from 26 yards out to make the score 21-7 at the two-minute warning.

The Vikings had a chance to close the gap, but on a perfectly-thrown pass from Kirk Cousins that probably should have gone for a 63-yard touchdown, Irv Smith Jr. straight-up dropped it. Minnesota punted it away, and Hurts got Jake Elliott into position to attempt a 38-yard field goal, which he connected on to make it 24-7.

Minnesota’s offense has been awful for most of the evening. Justin Jefferson has just three catches for 24 yards thus far and Adam Thielen hasn’t been targeted once thus far. If the Vikings want to turn this around, that needs to change quickly.

We’re at halftime in Philadelphia, and the Minnesota Vikings trail the Philadelphia Eagles by a score of 24-7. Come on in and join us for the third quarter of play, won’t you?