The 4 Biggest Losers from the Vikings Loss to the Eagles
It’s not totally unfathomable to lose a game to the Philadelphia Eagles, but after maintaining a puncher’s chance to win in Week 7, the Minnesota Vikings indeed fell by six points and into last place inside the NFC North. Consider the following four players the “losers” from the event.
Sunday, October 19th, wasn’t overly kind to the Vikings, losing to the Eagles by six points. These are losers from that event at U.S. Bank Stadium.
The Vikings have a few days to shake off the loss before facing the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday Night Football. The following players, listed alphabetically, will need serious bounceback performances, if applicable, rather soon.
Main Losers from Vikings-Eagles
Sunday didn’t go well for these men.
1. Blake Brandel (C)
With recent momentum that Brandel could latch on as the team’s center for the long haul, the tackle-turned-guard-turned-center regressed — at least for a game — against Philadelphia.
Brandel snapped the ball over quarterback Carson Wentz’s head on a key early redzone transaction, which sullied the Vikings’ chances of scoring a touchdown. The Vikings lost 22 yards on the play, forcing kicker Will Reichard to drill a 59-yard field goal.
The officiating crew also flagged Brandel for a questionable holding call in the redzone, cancelling a Vikings touchdown. Whether the holding penalty was justified or not — it wasn’t — Brandel is still a “loser” in the strictest definition of the word because of the flag.
And, of course, Brandel has problems with Jalen Carter, who tormented Minnesota all afternoon and registered a couple of quarterback hits — one that resulted in a pick-six from the guy at the bottom of this list.
2. Ivan Pace Jr. (LB)
With Blake Cashman returning to full health and the starting lineup in Week 7, the Vikings benched Pace Jr. He played zero defensive snaps, only factoring into the special teams gameplan.
Instead, Minnesota used linebacker Eric Wilson, who took over for Cashman about a month ago, and safety Josh Metellus in a linebacker capacity, at times.
It’s unclear if Pace Jr. will get his job back — maybe, maybe not.
Anytime a player gets unceremoniously benched, well, he makes “loser” lists like this.
Our Janik Eckardt on the Pace Jr.-Wilson situation, “Injuries can happen at any time, and suddenly, a benched player is back in the spotlight. There’s also a chance that the benching was just opponent-related.”
“Potentially, the Vikings wanted Wilson on the field against the Eagles, and Pace is a better fit for Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers, who will be Thursday’s opponent. But maybe Wilson is just a better football player at this point. Especially in home games, the crowd is making so much noise, it’s hard to get the plays from one side to another, and having a second linebacker with the ability to communicate at a high level can make a difference.”
Not long ago, Pace Jr. was the next big thing for the Vikings.
“Wilson has shown that he’s more than a communicator, however. The veteran entered the game with 35 tackles, a couple of tackles for loss, and two forced fumbles. On Sunday, he was credited with 1.5 sacks and six tackles. In March, he was re-signed as a backup, and he has now started five consecutive games, even with both initial starters healthy,” Eckardt continued.
“On Thursday, we’ll learn whether Pace’s role was a genuine benching or just a game-plan decision. Pace will turn 25, and he’s in the final year of his rookie contract.”
3. Isaiah Rodgers (CB)
Versus the team that cut him loose seven months ago in free agency, Rodgers produced a 29.8 Pro Football Focus grade. Yes — 29.8. That score is unspeakably woeful.
Minnesota sold out to contain Saquon Barkley — that worked, and it’s what teams did against Adrian Peterson 15 or so years ago — leaving the cornerbacks to fend for themselves.
How did Philadelphia respond? Easy — for the first time all season, the oft-mentioned maligned passing attack for the Eagles decided to click again, as quarterback Jalen Hurts picked on and cooked Rodgers in particular.
Rodgers scripted one of the worst “revenge games” in sports history. It was, of course, a single game, and the man can rebound as soon as this Thursday. But A.J. Brown had him for lunch.
4. Carson Wentz (QB)
Wentz gift-wrapped a pick-six to Jalyx Hunt, didn’t deliver touchdown passes to open receivers, created a mind-bogglingly bad intentional grounding penalty, and generally stunk.
Like several backup quarterbacks throughout Vikings history, Wentz had a chance to hang onto the QB1 job indefinitely while J.J. McCarthy finishes a high ankle sprain recovery, but he did the opposite.
Wentz played so poorly — he put together an entire reel of bloopers to last a whole season in one game — that Minnesota may be forced to bench him in favor of the hobbled McCarthy or undrafted rookie, Max Brosmer.
The Wentz era in the Twin Cities is winding down, and Sunday versus his old team will be the smoking gun for change in retrospect.
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