The Minnesota Vikings bubble burst on Sunday, and they now only lead the Green Bay Packers by one game in the loss column.
Against a tough Philadelphia Eagles’ defense, Minnesota was brought down several pegs on Sunday. The Eagles built up a three-score lead, then coasted to a 21-10 victory.
Vikings’ quarterback Sam Bradford entered the game with these stats and league rankings: completion percentage, 70.4 (1st); yards per pass attempt, 7.92 (6th); and quarterback rating, 109.8 (2nd). Against the Eagles, he plummeted to a 58.5 completion percentage, 5.5 yards per attempt, and a rating of 71.6.
Until the final minute, the Vikings were held to three points and without a touchdown. Bradford left the game banged up, as he was sacked six times and took 19 hits. He also fumbled four times (losing two) and was intercepted once.
The Vikings have been successful this season by winning with defense and special teams. Their offense was simply asked not to make mistakes, but their offensive line is starting to look like a huge weakness.
The Eagles flipped that script on Sunday and now the recipe for beating the Vikings — get after the quarterback and create havoc — is pretty apparent.
Maybe the Packers do have a chance in the division yet after all.