The Minnesota Vikings were able to hold off a late-game comeback effort by the Philadelphia Eagles and get their second win of the 2018 season on Sunday.
Trips to Philadelphia have not been the most enjoyable for the Minnesota Vikings in the recent past. But on Sunday, the Vikings were able come out of a tough road matchup against the Eagles with a 23-21 win.
The victory is Minnesota’s first in Philadelphia since that random Tuesday night game in 2010.
In the first half on Sunday, the Vikings stormed out to a 17-3 lead and it seemed like beating the Eagles was going to be an easy task. But Philadelphia outscored Minnesota 18-6 in the second half and made the game a lot closer than it probably should have been.
After scoring a touchdown with less than 1:30 remaining in the fourth quarter that cut the Vikings’ lead to just two points, the Eagles needed to recover an onside kick to still give themselves a chance at a win.
Thanks to Minnesota wide receiver Adam Thielen recovering the onside kick though, the Vikings were able to hold on and narrowly defeat Philadelphia on Sunday.
Speaking of Thielen, the Minnesota pass catcher finished the afternoon with seven catches for 116 yards and one touchdown. He became the first player in NFL history to begin a season with five straight games of at least 100 receiving yards.
Thielen’s buddy Stefon Diggs didn’t have too bad of a performance himself this week either. Diggs ended Sunday with 10 catches for 91 yards.
Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins continued his impressive 2018 season as he completed 30 of his 37 passes for 301 yards and one touchdown against Philadelphia. Cousins has thrown for at least 300 yards in three of his five games this year.
On the defensive side of the ball, Minnesota looked more like the tough unit that most around the league have become accustomed to since Mike Zimmer became the team’s head coach in 2014.
The Vikings put pressure on Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz all day long and ended up sacking him three times.
Minnesota also held Philadelphia to just two 3rd down conversions and forced the Eagles to commit two turnovers, one of which was a fumble that all 329 pounds of Vikings defensive tackle Linval Joseph returned 64 yards the other way for a touchdown.
Minnesota clearly made the most of their extra time off this week and it resulted in a big road win over the defending Super Bowl champions.
On the slate for the Vikings in Week 6 is a meeting inside U.S. Bank Stadium with the 1-4 Arizona Cardinals.