Why was the Vikes’ #1 scoring defense dominated by the Eagles? I waited a week to try to find some insightful article but couldn’t really find any other than the usual “the Vikes blew it in the playoffs a usual” - stuff like that.
What did the Eagles do that no one the whole year did, or what did the Vikes do that they hadn’t done all year? Below is the best I could come up with - not much really other than maybe it was nothing more than a mental letdown.
“In the space of one week, the Vikings went from their most impressive playoff win to their worst playoff loss. It was as if the coaches forgot how to coach and the players forgot how to play. They showed impressive mental toughness in the way they beat the New Orleans Saints in the final second last week. Maybe they used it all up. Maybe they still had a miracle hangover and couldn’t get in the proper mind-set for this game.”
Looking forward to what could be a really entertaining Super Bowl - the two top-ranked teams in the NFL (according to the stats I use) - don’t always get that in the Super Bowl.
One explanation is that the Viqueens game plan assumed Foles couldn’t throw deep, and by the time they figured out he could and a couple longish passes weren’t a fluke, it was too late.
I grew up in Minnesota, so for two games I was a Vikings fan again! I was looking at all sorts of stuff about Bud Grant, Fran Tarkington, etc.
Bud Grant would often go hunting after Saturday walk-throughs. He was very quick to say that there was more to life than football.
Fran Tarkington was saying that back then they didn’t take the Superbowl seriously. They thought winning the conference was the big thing, and the Superbowl was just a fun thing to do for winning your conference. (I wonder how much of that is true though? Maybe just an excuse to make him feel better??)
I was really hoping the Viking would make it this year. But, perhaps it is best not to get to the Superbowl and lose big. Again.
The refs.
They were paid to ensure the finals were the Eagles and NE.
(do I need /sarc?)