The Vikings used a rare combination of offense, defense and special teams to produce an entire-team-effort loss to the Eagles on Sunday. Almost everything that had been a strength became a weakness, and almost every weakness papered over by a 5-0 start was exposed.
The most glaring was the offensive line, which continues to be a mess. It turns out signing a left tackle off the street isn't the cure-all for a unit decimated by injuries and poor play.
Sam Bradford was pressured all day, leading to six sacks and a raft of turnovers — though Bradford's pocket awareness was as alarming as his lack of accuracy. The running game was again a non-threat.
The only possible good news for the Vikings is that it only counts as one loss, and they're still 5-1. One bad game doesn't undo everything that's been done.
But for that one game, it was a total system failure.
Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.
