The Minnesota Vikings survived a late charge by the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles to snap a three-game winless streak with a 23-21 win. The Vikings let a 20-3 lead slip to 20-14 and gifted the Eagles the ball at their own 30-yard line but came up with a defensive hold, followed by a lengthy drive to set up Dan Bailey’s 52-yard field goal to ice the game.
Zach Ertz caught a touchdown with 1:09 to go, but the Vikings recovered an onside kick to essentially end the game. Philadelphia had no timeouts remaining.
Similar to the San Francisco game in Week 1, the Vikings defense bent in the second half while the offense failed to extend a lead until their much needed drive in the fourth quarter. Kirk Cousins drove the team 11 plays, 55 yards in over six minutes as Bailey atoned for two previous misses with his longest kick as a Viking.
Minnesota’s defense ignited the Vikings to a 14-point halftime lead with its second defensive touchdown of the year, then did just enough down the stretch to clinch a win despite allowing a touchdown in their prevent defense.
For the first time, the offense and defense were mostly in sync.
It’s wild to think that some were concerned about Cousins’ lack of chemistry with Adam Thielen after the preseason. Thielen’s 68-yard reception from Minnesota’s own 5-yard line put him over the 100-yard milestone for the fifth consecutive game to start the season, the third player in the Super Bowl era to do so. He also caught a Cousins fade for a 3-yard touchdown to give the Vikings a 17-3 lead late in the first half.
Cousins had his third extraordinary performance in four games, finishing with 307 yards on 30 of 37 passing despite taking 11 hits. Thielen’s 116 yards and Diggs’ 116 yards (25 on the ground) marked another huge day for the tandem.
The game turned, though, on Linval Joseph’s 64-yard return touchdown in the second quarter on a fumble forced by Stephen Weatherly’s explosive rush. Wentz lost his grasp on the ball, which fluttered to Joseph, who rumbled down the sideline with a convoy of blockers. It was his first touchdown since a 1-yard touchdown carry in 2009 for East Carolina. The big defensive tackle was seen getting oxygen on the sideline during the next defensive drive.
That restored order to a game that the Vikings had dominated statistically but hadn’t broken open in the first half. At one point they had nine first downs to the Eagles’ one with over 100 yards more on offense. But two Bailey missed field goals spoiled two nice drives — an infuriating development one week after Bailey was perfect on all his kicks against the Los Angeles Rams and three weeks after he replaced rookie Daniel Carlson, who missed three kicks at Green Bay. Bailey’s misses from 28 and 45 yards kept the Eagles in it, but Joseph’s return and Cousins’ touchdown pass to Thielen with 21 seconds remaining in the first half took the pressure off Bailey, who delivered later.
The much-maligned defense came through. Not only did they force their first turnover since Week 1, but they held the Eagles to just 91 first-half yards, sacking Wentz twice. Their only blemish early on was a 48-yard 50-50 ball allowed by Mike Hughes against Shelton Gibson. Things opened up for the Eagles in the second half as Wentz led several drives deep in Vikings territory, though one ended in a fumble and another in a field goal. The Vikings sacked him three times and only allowed seven receptions by wide receivers as they beat the Eagles in Philadelphia for the first time since 2010.
Minnesota rotated defensive backs, working former Bengal George Iloka in with Jayron Kearse and Mackensie Alexander. The Vikings even got Holton Hill in the mix on a third down stop with Xavier Rhodes on the sideline. Rookie Jalyn Holmes made his debut as well at defensive end.
Minnesota didn’t escape the game unscathed. Riley Reiff, who’s been dealing with a foot injury, departed the game in the second quarter, moving Rashod Hill to left tackle and rookie Brian O’Neill to right tackle.
Cousins thrived despite being pressured all game, absorbing hit after hit including a controversial roughing the passer call on Michael Bennett that preceded Thielen’s touchdown. Bennett appeared to illegally hit Cousins around the knees.
The Vikings are back to .500 (2-2-1) with the win and face Arizona next Sunday.
Stay tuned for more coverage from Philadelphia.
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