Philadelphia Eagles 24, Minnesota Vikings 7: Vikings flop in prime time

The Minnesota Vikings (and their fans) were feeling pretty darn good about things after their opening week victory over Green Bay. There was pretty much nothing to feel good about in Week 2.

The Vikings got absolutely hammered on both sides of the ball on Monday Night Football, as the Philadelphia Eagles cruised to an easy victory over the purple by a score of 24-7.

The Eagles got on the board first, taking the opening kickoff and going 82 yards, culminating with a 3-yard touchdown run from Jalen Hurts to give Philadelphia an early 7-0 lead.

The remainder of the first quarter was scoreless, but the Eagles got back into the end zone on the first play of the second quarter on a 53-yard bomb from Hurts to Quez Watkins to increase their lead to 14-0.

The Vikings finally got an answer on offense, as they marched down the field and got into the end zone on a 2-yard toss from Kirk Cousins to Irv Smith Jr. It was the first touchdown catch for Smith since 2020 and cut the Philadelphia lead to 14-7 with just under ten minutes left in the first half.

The Eagles quickly got the lead back to 14 again thanks to Hurts, who ran one in from 26 yards out at the two-minute warning on a play that saw a complete breakdown by the Minnesota defense. The extra point was good, and the score was 21-7 at the two-minute warning.

Minnesota’s defense got one more chance to fall apart before halftime, as the Eagles went from their own 5-yard line to a position where Jake Elliott could attempt a 38-yard field goal, which he made to make the score 24-7 heading into the locker room at halftime.

The Vikings’ offense put together a solid drive to start the second half, but it ended poorly, as Kirk Cousins was intercepted in the end zone by Darius Slay and an opportunity was missed. The Eagles responded by, once again, doing whatever they wanted on offense and got themselves into position to attempt a field goal, but the kick was blocked by Patrick Peterson and returned to the Eagles’ 30 by Kris Boyd.

The Vikings had been given another opportunity to get back into the game. But, as was the case all night, the Vikings’ offense couldn’t do anything with it, as Cousins was intercepted by Avonte Maddox to end the drive.

The Vikings got an interception of their own midway through the fourth quarter as former Eagle Jordan Hicks got one off of a deflection and set the Vikings up with first-and-goal from the 9-yard line. But, once again, Kirk Cousins was intercepted, and it was Darius Slay again taking one away in the end zone to thwart that effort.

The Vikings had a couple of opportunities at the end that they couldn’t capitalize on, which was the theme all night long. It was a pretty ugly effort for the Vikings all around, to be honest.

The Vikings fall to 1-1 on the season and will return to U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday afternoon when they host a suddenly very dangerous Detroit Lions team. Philadelphia moves to 2-0 and will travel to play the Washington Commanders next week.

That does it from Philadelphia, where the Minnesota Vikings fall to the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football by a final score of 24-7. Thanks to everyone that got their coverage of this week’s game right here at The Daily Norseman!