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The Vikings used a rare combination of offense, defense and special teams to produce an entire team effort loss to the Eagles on Sunday. Almost everything that had been a strength became a weakness, and almost every weakness papered over by a 5-0 start was exposed.
With that as a backdrop, here is the game story in five GIFs (and a few words, too).
Failure to take advantage: The Vikings were set up TWICE by their defense in the red zone off of early turnovers, and in each case they turned it right back over to the Eagles. The roughest was after Andrew Sendejo returned an interception to just short of the goal line, only to have a Sam Bradford pick keep the Vikings from taking a quick 7-0 (or at least 3-0) lead.
Sam Bradford comes crashing back to earth: Speaking of failure, Bradford had plenty of it Sunday — his worst game by far in purple, and his first clunker with the Vikings. His final numbers, aided by garbage time, weren't terrible. But he was intercepted once (and it could have been more) and he fumbled four times (two of which he lost). His pocket awareness was as alarming as his lack of accuracy.
Offensive line a mess: It turns out signing a left tackle off the street isn't the cure-all for an offensive line decimated by injuries and poor play. Bradford was pressured all day, leading to six sacks. The running game was again inconsistent (at best). It's alarming, to say the least, what a good defense can do to this offense.
Special teams: A Blair Walsh field goal was the highlight of the day for the special teams, which gave up a momentum-turning kickoff return TD and a muffed punt for a turnover as well. After the special teams (minus Walsh) were so great for the first five games, a certain regression to the mean was expected. But did it have to all come in one game?
Overall disgusting act: The offense and special teams were dismal. The awareness level was lacking all around. The only possible good news for the Vikings is that it only counts as one loss and they're still 5-1. One bad game doesn't undo everything that's been done.
