Carson Wentz got sacked three times, hit eight more times during loss to the Vikings. Photo by Andy Lewis / contrastphotography.com

Eagles franchise quarterback Carson Wentz has been back for three games and the Birds have lost two of them, the second was a 23-21 loss to the Minnesota Vikings at the Linc.

His numbers have been good. Sunday against the Vikings, Wentz was 24 of 35 for 311 yards and two touchdown passes. He rushed five times for 26 yards (5.2 yards per carry). Wentz did not throw an interception but was sacked three times. His quarterback rating was an outstanding 115.3.

But something is missing and everyone, not just Wentz, is part of that question.

In the second quarter, the third-year signal-caller was sacked for an eight-yard loss by Stephen Weatherly who forced the ball out of the hands of Wentz and right into the arms of 6-foot-4, 328 pound Linval Joseph, who rambled 64 yards for a touchdown.

Lane Johnson’s blocking on the play was brutal. The 2017 All Pro right tackle is not having a good season to date and the Eagles record (2-3) reflects that.

“We can look at a lot of reasons, I’m not going to point at one,” Johnson said at his locker after the game. “We’re all professionals here. There are no excuses for wins and losses. When wins are coming, everything’s great. When losses are coming, you have to be self-critical. It doesn’t matter what player you are, you have to go back to the drawing board, look yourself in the mirror and have a hard look.”

More problems hit the Eagles later in the second quarter.

With 36 seconds left in the half and the Vikings facing a second and six from the Eagles 23-yard line, Michael Bennett looked like he had sacked Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins for an eight-yard loss. The veteran pass rusher was hit with an un-explainable roughing the passer call.

Bennett looked like he was shoved to the ground and wrapped up Cousins legs on the way down. The quarterback bent his knees cleanly as if to submit that the play was over and he was sacked.

Fans across the NFL will be talking about this call all week.

The Vikings offensive line seemed to come up with amnesia when asked about the play.
“I didn’t really see it, I was trying to block my guy,” right guard Mike Remmers said at his locker after the game. “I don’t know. You guys would probably know better.”

The flag set the Vikings up with a first down at the Eagles 11-yard line. Two plays later Cousins hot wide receiver Adam Thielen with a three-yard touchdown pass.

The Eagles trailed 17-3 at the half but got the ball to start the third quarter.

The Eagles put together a robust 10-play drive that put the Birds at the Vikings six-yard yard line.

On first and goal, running back jay Ajayi took the hand-off and fumbled at the five, Vikings recovered.
Like Johnson, Ajayi said he was going to look in the mirror.

“I can’t do that,” Ajayi said, shaking his head. “I pride myself on being elite. I want to be elite. You can’t do that when your team is counting on you. You just had a great drive to start off the second half. In order to finished the drive, I’ve got to make sure I get the ball and get in the end zone. You see what happened at the end of the game. That’s what we talk about when we say ‘self-inflicted’ …I can’t do that to the team. I take pride in my craft. When we have opportunities, we have to take advantage of every one. I am very disappointed in myself.”

Ajayi said everyone is looking back at 2017 and expects the same results..

“When you win a Super Bowl, everyone is comparing us to last year,” said Ajayi, who finished with 29 yards on eight carries. “This is a new team and we’ve got to do better. This is the 2018 Eagles. We have to figure out what we’re doing wrong and how we can get back to another Super Bowl. We’re not doing that right now.”

Insult was added to injury on first down. Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins hitting Thielen with a 68-yard catch-and-run from their own five-yard line.

The drive stalled after 91 yards at the Eagles four-yard line and Minnesota had to settle for a 22-yard field goal to make the score 20-3.

Cornerback Jalen Mills, who is also not off to a good start this year, thought it was a big deal to break up a pass that forced that field goal and was displaying theatrics like it was the final play of last year’s Super Bowl.

Eagles All Pro defensive tackle Fletcher Cox was not happy with Mills and literally was seen shoving his teammate back toward the sidelines after Mills began jawing with Theilen.

Both players talked on the sidelines immediately after the incident and appeared to straighten it out. Neither players talked about it after the game. Safety Malcolm Jenkins said, “I didn’t see it.”

The mistakes kept coming. Wentz committed a crucial, drive-killing intentional grounding penalty with 10:03 left in the fourth quarter.

The Eagles had just scored a touchdown to make it 20-14 when the penalty occurred.

“[It was] very frustrating,” Wentz said. “We went down and scored, had momentum, got the ball back in great [field] position, and then go backwards, backwards, backwards. It’s extremely frustrating.”

The Eagles were still in it. They needed a stop and didn’t get it. The Vikings were able to put together an 11-play drive that drained 6:24 off the clock.

The back breaker happened with the Vikings facing third and one at their own 44-yard line. Cousins hit tight end Kyle Rudolph for a 17-yard pass play and a fresh set of downs.

“Kirk’s an amazing player and a great teammate,” Remmers said. “We love to block for him. This line, running backs, tight ends…we try to give him as much time as he possibly needs out there. That’s a tough defense that we faced there. I’m just happy we came out with a win.”

Kicker Dan Bailey, who had missed two easy field goals earlier in the game, hit a 52-yard shot that effectively sealed the win for the visitors.

To his credit, Wentz led the Birds on a 75-yard, seven play drive that ended with a seven yard touchdown pass to Zach Ertz. But it was too little, too late. The on-sides kick failed and Eagles had three losses on the still-young season.

Wentz said the team is playing like a young team, making mistakes that have to be corrected. Head coach Doug Pederson didn’t disagree with his quarterback.

“It feels that way,” the third-year coach said. “It feels, because of the mistakes that we’re making. I saw his comment and mentioning that we’re making rookie mistakes. A veteran team making rookie mistakes, and those are the things that I’ve been talking about with you guys and our players have been talking about it.

“We’re all on the same page with it,” he continued. “It has to be eliminated. As I told the team at the end of the game yesterday in the locker room, championship teams can’t make these mistakes and expect to win. That’s where we are. That’s the team we’re at right now and there is a sense of urgency, I think, to obviously get better, to fix it. We’re on a short week this week. But our guys are professionals and they will get it done.” *

Follow Al Thompson on Twitter @thompsoniii