Philadelphia Eagles: What the Loss to the Minnesota Vikings Means Going Forward

When the Philadelphia Eagles walked off their home field last night, they did so knowing that a first-round bye was now out of the question. The Minnesota Vikings, under a rookie quarterback, went into Philadelphia and handed it to the home team.

Joe Webb was terrific in only his second time seeing significant action under center. He outdueled Michael Vick, who is a similar QB to Webb, although Vick is obviously way better. 

Nevertheless, for one night Webb can say he outplayed Vick.

But outside of the Vikings, what does this mean for the Eagles, who have Super Bowl aspirations?

Well, for starters, the blueprint to stopping Vick for the playoffs has just been executed by Minnesota. Vick was pressured play after play and took a beating throughout the entire night.

There was rarely a play where Vick had time to sit back in the pocket, read the defense and find his receivers. When Vick is forced to scramble like he had to against Minnesota, the Eagles are in trouble.

Despite the tough loss to the Vikings, the Eagles will still finish as the third seed heading into the playoffs. More importantly, Philadelphia will get to rest Vick in Sunday's season finale against Dallas.

The rest will be much-needed after Vick suffered a quadriceps injury on the first play of last night's game. While the injury may seem like a bit of an excuse from Vick, he was clearly limping toward the end of the game, and the accuracy he has showed this season wasn't there.

Vick will now have at least 10 days off before the Eagles' first playoff game. 

The loss to the Vikings will fall on Vick's shoulders, but there are other issues with the Eagles right now that they need to fix if they hope to advance deep in the playoffs.

As impressive as Webb was, the Eagles defense was equally unimpressive. Even though the defense only gave up 17 points—one of the Vikings touchdowns was a defensive score—the fact that they were unable to get to the rookie QB was shocking.

The Chicago Bears made Webb look like he didn't belong on the field in Week 15, yet Philadelphia made the young QB look like the next big thing.

Another problem for the Eagles is their unwillingness to commit to the run. Andy Reid needs to ride LeSean McCoy and the ground game more than they are right now. Last night the Eagles threw the football 43 times compared to just 22 rushes—eight of those rushes were from Vick.

You have to run the football in the playoffs to have a chance to win, especially if you are Philadelphia. Vick is a special player, but the constant pounding he's taken over the course of the season seems to be wearing on him.

Run the football and it will limit the hits Vick takes, along with opening things up for the passing game.

When it's all said and done, Philadelphia has the offensive weapons to play with any team. The key will be using all of them without leaning on Vick too much.

Going forward, the Eagles still remain a Super Bowl threat, but the invincibility Vick showed earlier in the season is fading fast, and without him playing at a high level, the Eagles aren't nearly as good.

All of a sudden the chinks in the Eagles armor are becoming more noticeable by the week.