PHILADELPHIA — The Minnesota Vikings came in to their rematch of the NFC Championship Game on Sunday desperately hoping to get their swagger back.
They walk away from a 23-21 win over Philadelphia having achieved that feat by surviving a late push from the Eagles, halting an early losing streak in the process while regaining control of their season at a critical point.
The Vikings recaptured the spirit of what makes this team so good; why they haven’t been counted out in the NFC picture despite going through a host of ups and downs during the most difficult stretch on their schedule.
After a slow start offensively in the first half, when back-to-back red zone drives stalled on third-and-short and kicker Dan Bailey missed field goals from 28 and 45 yards out, the Vikings’ pass rush broke the game open.
With 4:24 to play in the second quarter, Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz dropped back to pass with a fresh set of downs and was charged in the backfield by Stephen Weatherly. The Vikings’ third-year defensive end rushed off the left edge before he sacked Wentz while forcing the ball loose. There to recover the fumble was nose tackle Linval Joseph, who breathed life into the game before he headed to the sideline to get back all the oxygen he expelled on the ultimate big-guy touchdown.
Joseph hauled the fumble recovery 64 yards in the other direction for the Vikings’ first touchdown of the game and a 10-3 lead.
And who said 329-pound defensive tackles aren’t fast? According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Joseph reached a max speed of 18.2 miles per hour on his fumble return touchdown. To put that into context, Jets safety Marcus Maye reached a max speed of 18.3 miles per hour on his 104-yard interception return that wasn’t a touchdown against the Broncos.
For the first time all season, the Vikings’ defense showed flashes of the version that reached elite status last season. When Minnesota needed a big defensive stop late in the game after its offense gave the Eagles unfavorable field position following a Kirk Cousins fumble, the Vikings re-ignited their pass rush. They got after Wentz with just over nine minutes to play, stalling Philadelphia’s drive before handing things back to the offense to burn off 6.5 critical minutes in the fourth quarter with a 20-14 lead. That’s when Latavius Murray notched 27 of the drive’s 55 yards.
Cousins was fantastic in the face of pressure all game, completing 30 of 37 passes for 301 yards and a touchdown. Adam Thielen recorded his fifth straight game with 100 yards receiving, becoming the third player in NFL history with 100 receiving yards in each of team’s first five games of the season, joining Charley Hennigan in 1961 (Oilers) and Bob Boyd in 1954 (Rams), according to Elias.
It wasn’t just the Vikings’ defense that came through to help Minnesota get to 2-2-1. Bailey nailed a 52-yard field goal with 2:51 left in the game to extend the Vikings’ lead to 23-14. After one last scoring drive from Philadelphia under the two-minute warning, Thielen recovered the Eagles’ attempt at an onside kick to put the game away.