When Mike Zimmer said the Eagles attacked some of the Vikings' strengths in a blowout loss in the NFC title game, he might as well have been talking about safety Harrison Smith.
Smith put together the kind of season that forced him into the conversation for Defensive Player of the Year.
So mysterious, then, was Zach Ertz's 36-yard catch and run or Alshon Jeffery's 53-yard touchdown grab while Smith trailed both plays at the end of the first half in Philadelphia.
The what-if game pervades the early parts of that blowout.
Smith's typically Nostradamus-like vision was seemingly gone against the Eagles. That game still shouldn't tell the tale of his season, and what it means moving forward.
Since he's one of four cornerstone Vikings defenders signed through the 2021 season, you can find a deeper look at Smith's impeccable year marred by an unsatisfying finish on the Access Vikings blog.
ANDREW KRAMMER
