PHILADELPHIA _ Carson Wentz could not find Sam Bradford amid the postgame commotion after the Eagles' 21-10 win over the Minnesota Vikings, which might make him the only player in an Eagles jersey who had hard time reaching Bradford on Sunday.
For all the discussion about the Wentz-Bradford matchup leading up to Sunday's game, the prevailing story line was an Eagles defense that menaced Bradford, outplayed the Vikings' heralded unit, and revealed why the Eagles should continue to be taken seriously after advancing to 4-2.
"It was fun to watch our defense today," coach Doug Pederson said. "That's the defense that we expect every week going forward."
If that's the case, Philadelphia will be a happier place than it had been the previous two weeks. After losing consecutive games and having their defense humiliated last week against Washington, the Eagles redeemed themselves by beating the NFL's final undefeated team in front of 69,596 at Lincoln Financial Field.
The Eagles forced four turnovers against a team that had not committed an offensive turnover all season. They limited the Vikings to 282 yards on 74 plays, a measly 3.8 yards per snap. Bradford was sacked six times, hit 12 times, and fumbled four times, with the Eagles recovering two of them.
Bradford finished 24 of 41 for 224 yards with one touchdown and one interception, but it was the Eagles' pressure on him that was most impressive. The defenders overpowered an outmatched Vikings line, whether it was the four-man pass rush or with considerably more blitzing than usual for a Jim Schwartz defense.
"They played aggressively, they were blitzing a lot," Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. "I would, too. We didn't pick up anybody, so you might as well."
The Eagles were also helped by their special teams, which included Josh Huff's 98-yard kickoff-return touchdown, a fumble recovery on a punt, and two field goals by Caleb Sturgis.
The defense and special teams helped overcome an offense that sputtered against one of the NFL's best defenses. Wentz had his worst game of the season, going 16 of 28 for 138 yards with one touchdown, two interceptions, and three fumbles, one recovered by the Vikings.
Wentz accounted for three of the Eagles' four turnovers. Ryan Mathews also fumbled, the blemish on an afternoon when he rushed 14 times for 56 yards. Huff led all receivers with four catches for 39 yards.
"We can control what we can control, which is don't allow them to score points," said safety Rodney McLeod, who had a sack, an interception, and a forced fumble. "Our job is to defend that end zone. We did that, too. And obviously, special teams helped out."
In the first quarter, the end zone was a lonely place. Pederson deemed the Bradford trade that elevated Wentz into the starting lineup a "win-win" for both teams, but neither team looked like a winner early in the game. Five consecutive drives finished with turnovers.
The first came with the Eagles backed up on their own 6-yard line. Wentz overthrew Brent Celek and into waiting arms of Vikings safety Andrew Sendejo. The Vikings gained possession 2 yards away from the end zone, but Bradford's potential touchdown pass was intercepted by McLeod.
The Vikings reclaimed possession in the red zone when a Wentz fumble was recovered at the Eagles' 17-yard line. The Vikings had possession for one play before Connor Barwin beat tackle Jake Long for a strip sack that was recovered by Malcolm Jenkins.
The game continued on the next Eagles possession, when Wentz forced a third-down pass to Nelson Agholor that was intercepted by Xavier Rhodes at the Vikings' 39-yard line. Of all the turnovers, that seemed to be the one that most vexed Wentz after the game.
"There's no reason to force that one," Wentz said. "As a quarterback, sometimes that just happens. There's really no rhyme or reason. You see things and you kick yourself in the tail after the play, but you learn from it and you move on."
The turnover did not result in points, and the game remained scoreless until the Vikings connected on a field goal six minutes into second quarter. Their lead last 13 seconds because that was how long it took Huff to return the kickoff return for a touchdown. It was the Eagles' second consecutive week with a kickoff-return touchdown, and their league-leading 21st non-offensive touchdown since 2014.
The touchdown resulted in an 8-3 lead because after the Vikings were penalized for running into Sturgis on the extra point, Pederson elected to go for a two-point conversion from the 1-yard line, which Wentz ran in for a score.
The next turnover came with the Vikings driving late in the third quarter, and McLeod raced around the edge of the line for a strip sack on Bradford that Beau Allen recovered. The play was an example of how the Eagles increased their blitzing on Sunday. They blitzed a defensive back on 13 Bradford drop-backs, matching the amount of times an Eagles defensive back rushed all season, according to ESPN.
"Any time you know a quarterback on the other team and kind of know his strengths and weaknesses, just trying to him some different looks and put some pressure on him from different areas," Pederson said. "It was a great game plan."
The Eagles responded with a field goal, and they took a two-score lead in the third quarter when Wentz led a nine-play, 77-yard scoring drive that ended with Dorial Green-Beckham's first touchdown of the season. With the way the Eagles defense played, that lead would be enough. The defense stymied the Vikings twice from the 6-yard line in the fourth quarter when the Vikings needed only one yard, which was the latest example of the group's dominance on Sunday after last week's embarrassment.
"It was a tough week for a lot of guys in our room, just like it was for [Schwartz]," Barwin said. "I think he just went back to kind of the basics and what his real core values for that defense and we did that well."
Pederson said on Friday that he challenged the veterans on the team to take ownership of the team's plight and show how the Eagles could rebound. He said after the game that they "took it upon themselves this week" to make the corrections and adjustments and that "the leadership stood up today, took command of the group."
Pederson needs it to continue because next up, the Eagles visit the rival Dallas Cowboys with a chance for first place in the NFC East.
"Sitting at 4-2, we like where we're at," Wentz said. "Obviously, we have Dallas coming up ... but it was good to come out here and beat a really good Vikings team."
