Vikings Fumble Away any opportunity to beat Eagles in loss on TNF

It was a very frustrating evening for Vikings fans last night. However, I am going to make an effort to not be a pessimist in this post.

Minnesota:
QB:
K. Cousins 31/44 364 yds 8.3 avg 4 TD 125.6 rtg (1 fumble lost)
RB:
A. Mattison 8 car 28 yds 3.5 avg 7 long
WR:
J. Jefferson 11 rec 159 yds 14.5 avg 30 long
J. Addison 3 rec 72 yds 24.0 avg 1 TD 62 long
TJ Hockenson 7 rec 66 yds 9.4 avg 2 TD 24 long
KJ Osborn 3 rec 34 yds 11.3 avg 1 TD 18 long
J. Oliver 2 rec 13 yds 6.5 avg 13 long
DEF:
D. Hunter 3 sacks
H. Phillips 0.5 sack
I. Pace Jr 0.5 sack
T. Jackson 1 INT
K:
G. Joseph 4/4 XP

Game Summary:
I had hoped the Vikings would leave their fumble troubles back in the past this week. However, it doesn't seem like that happened. The Vikings started the game on defense, and actually played fairly well. In fact, the defense was the brightest part of the first half. The Vikings offense went out after Philly had a field goal and proceeded to punt. The defense then forced their first punt of the game, but Brandon Powell fumbled on the return as he was crossing the Eagles 30 yard line. First fumble. Philly's offense comes out and doesn't do much, and Theo Jackson gets his first interception of the season picking off Jalen Hurts. However, on the very next play, Alexander Mattison gets pickpocketed on an I form running play. Second fumble. The Philly offense can't go anywhere again, Vikings defense forces a field goal attempt. Somehow Jake Elliott misses the field goal and the Vikings get the ball back. This time, finally, the offense puts together a good drive that ends in a Cousins-Hockenson TD pass. Suddenly after practically giving the ball away the Vikings have the lead. On the next drive, Philly marches down and scores as well, although they ran it for 13 of the 16 plays that drive. On the next drive, the Vikings are marching down again and look like they will score before half to take the lead. Instead, in the most unlucky of ways, Jefferson catches the ball and fumbles it over the pylon which by rule is a touchback. Third fumble. All Minnesota fans now hate that rule. Philly winds up kicking a 61 yard field goal to end the half.
That was all only in the first half. The second half didn't start much better. Minnesota got the ball out of the halftime. First play is a Mattison short run. Then on the second play, the o-line breaks down and Cousins gets sacked and loses the ball. Fourth and final fumble. Philly would score two plays later to make it a 13 point game. Minnesota would punt on their next drive, and Philly would score again to seemingly put this game out of reach at 27-7. However, on the Vikings next drive, Cousins tosses another deep pass for rookie WR Jordan Addison for his second career touchdown in as many weeks to ease score to 27-14. The Vikings defense would force two straight punts, but the offense didn't score on their one drive in between. After the last punt, the Vikings scored on a Cousins-Osborn touchdown to bring the game to 27-21, suddenly a one-score game. However just when the Vikings needed the defense most, they were absent and allowed another scoring drive from the Eagles that would prove to be the game-winning drive. The Vikings would score on their next drive, with Hockenson's second TD of the night. The defense would find their footing again, but it was far too late, as the Vikings only had time for one last heave down field that fell to the grass. 
So, just to recap, the offense and defense both played brilliantly on some drives, and then looked bad on others. The Vikings can't stop fumbling the ball. The o-line was actually able to allow Cousins to throw for 364 yards against the best pass rush in the league (more of that is probably on Cousins then the line). So I chalk it up to this: if the Vikings didn't give the ball up so recklessly, then I think they can win this. Now this kind of optimism in defeat is dangerous, I don't recommend it. But I am going to speculate for a minute here. If the Vikings can clean up the ball disciple and maybe sign a FA o-lineman, this team could actually win 10 games. I can totally see this as doable, but only if they plug at least one of the holes. The fumbling has to stop, one is a mistake, 6 total is a pattern. Time will tell if this will happen, but if the Vikings can clean up their turnovers they can probably go toe to toe with any team this year.

Injury Report
While OL Christian Darrisaw and S Josh Metellus left early in the game, they both returned later in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.
OL Oli Udoh was carted off the field in the 4th quarter with an apparent knee injury, his status is unknown. We will hopefully know after an MRI back in Minnesota.

Up Next
The Vikings take a long week here and will play again at home next Sunday when the Chargers come to town. Kickoff is at 12 PM CT.

​#skol