​The Eagles and the Vikings Are Both for Real: The Sam Bradford Bowl

Sam Bradford was battered, bruised, sacked, and intercepted. The permanently prodigal son was welcomed home to Philadelphia—and sacrificed as the fatted calf.

Yet no matter how much the Eagles are feasting in celebration today (and they should be!), Vikings fans should not despair. Sunday's loss to the Eagles is nothing but the other shoe dropping.

The first quarter was brutal, dire football; at one point, four consecutive series ended in turnovers. Both Bradford and Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz struggled to complete a pass, while Minnesota rode plodding tailback Matt Asiata to the game's first points: a second-quarter field goal. But Eagles returner Josh Huff took the ensuing kickoff back for a touchdown, and the tide turned green.

The Eagles ran up a 21-3 lead across the second half, keeping the Vikings offense off the board until the final minute. Bradford finished with just 24 completions on 41 attempts, a garbage-time touchdown, an interception, two fumbles lost, and six sacks. It was a thorough repudiation of the Peter King–floated idea that Bradford should be in the MVP discussion.

On the other side of the ball, Wentz struggled against the league's fiercest defense, but his 52.4 passer efficiency rating isn't that much worse than the 63.7 the Vikings have allowed to all quarterbacks so far this year. With his defense playing so well, however, Wentz doesn't need to be great, and Sunday proved that.

And of course the Philly defense played so well—they were attacking the same quarterback they've faced in practice for two years running, including nearly all of this year's training camp. They know Bradford's weaknesses and have more than enough talent to exploit them. The Eagles now get a sack on a whopping 9.1 percent of opponent dropbacks, a rate second only to the Denver Broncos' 9.7 percent.

After Sunday's upset, the Vikings and the Eagles appear to be very similar teams. Neither was ever going to finish the season 16-0, but neither is a sheep in wolf's clothing. As rough as their offenses have looked in their losses, they've looked just as good in their wins. Even after Sunday's debacle, Bradford remains the league's eighth-rated passer at 100.3.

In the end, the Vikings fell into the same trap that snared the Eagles: after spending two weeks thinking about how undefeated they were, they went on the road to a talented but underperforming team that was hungry for a win.