Vikings writer gives 3 reasons why the Eagles will beat Minnesota

The Eagles are three-point underdogs heading into their NFC Championship Game matchup against the Minnesota Vikings. Everyone is betting against them once again.

If you’re among the doubters, today’s post might change your mind.

Bleeding Green Nation already took some time to chat with the Daily Norseman in order to preview this week’s matchup. You can read that here.

Today, we’re back with three reasons why each team might lose. This format forces us to consider each team’s weaknesses, rather than just being homers.

So here are three reasons why the Vikings could lose, as written by Daily Norseman’s Christopher Gates. Check out Daily Norseman to see why I think the Eagles could lose.

1) The Eagles’ defensive interior is just too tough

The Eagles boast one of the game’s best defensive tackle combinations in Fletcher Cox and Tim Jernigan. While the Vikings’ offensive line has been vastly improved over what we saw from them the last time these two teams faced off, this could turn out to be one of their tougher tests of the season. Not only are Cox and Jernigan outstanding against the run, spearheading the NFL’s best rush defense, but they can also provide pressure in the passing game. The Vikings’ interior trio of right guard Joe Berger, rookie center Pat Elflein, and left guard Mike Remmers (who made his first ever start at left guard last week after starting at right tackle for much of his career) are definitely going to have their hands full. If they can’t keep Case Keenum clean and clear of interior pressure, he could end up throwing up some “YOLO balls” like the one we saw last week that wound up getting intercepted by Marcus Williams. They’re also going to make it very difficult for the Vikings to establish any sort of a run game, which will put even more pressure on the quarterback position.

2) Really, is Nick Foles that bad?

A lot of the focus in this one has been on the quarterback position, and rightfully so. On one side, there’s Case Keenum, who just about everybody has been waiting all season to see. . .well, remember that he’s Case Keenum. On the other side, there’s Nick Foles, who is replacing a guy that was the frontrunner for the NFL MVP award before tearing his ACL in Carson Wentz. While Foles has not looked great since taking over as the starter, it’s not as if he’s completely incompetent when it comes to running an NFL offense. He put a season on film a couple of years ago where he threw 27 touchdown passes and two interceptions, for crying out loud. That’s a ridiculous ratio for anybody. Now, like Keenum, Foles is getting ready to line up for the biggest game of his football life. If he can rise to the occasion in this one and look more like the 27/2 quarterback he was in 2013 and less like the quarterback he’s been the past couple of weeks, it’s going to present problems for the Vikings. The Vikings’ game plan on defense should be to worry about containing the Eagles’ running game and forcing Foles to beat them. He’s shown the ability to do that before.

3) The letdown is inevitable, isn’t it?

Most of us have watched the replay of the final play against New Orleans more times than Jim Garrison watched the Zapruder film. It’s on the short list of the greatest moments in Vikings’ history, and one of the craziest plays to end an NFL game of all time. The Vikings had a 0.1% chance of winning last week before that final play, and the team and their fans have been floating ever since then. However, something like this can go one of two ways for this team. It can either springboard them to a run to being the first team in NFL history to play a Super Bowl on their home field. . .or it can be the exhilarating high that they inevitably come crashing down from. This team needs to be 100% focused on the task at hand this Sunday, because the Eagles are the #1 seed in the NFC for a reason. Lincoln Financial Field is going to be every bit as crazy as U.S. Bank Stadium was last week, and if the Vikings are hoping to simply ride the wave that they caught last Sunday afternoon to a victory in this one, they could be in for a very rude awakening.