Turnovers quickly killed any momentum Vikings brought with them

Even a 75-yard scoring drive on the first possession of the game withered on the vine for the Vikings, who gave up the next 38 points in their worst playoff loss since a 41-0 setback against the New York Giants in January 2001.

Asked what the Vikings did on their first possession that they didn't do on subsequent possessions, running back Latavius Murray was succinct. "Well," he said, "we didn't turn the ball over."

With the ball and a chance to add to their early lead, Vikings quarterback Case Keenum threw a pass right into the hands of Philadelphia cornerback Patrick Robinson, who reversed field and directed blockers for a 50-yard touchdown that tied the score 7-7.

It didn't seem fatal at the time.

"I don't think so," Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said. "It was still 7-7 at the time. It might have got the crowd into a little bit, but we just didn't play well."

Turnovers were a big part of that, three in all, and four if you count a failed fourth-down conversion attempt from the Eagles' 7-yard line in the third quarter. Asked if that was the killer play on Sunday, Murray said, "There were a lot of killers."

None, however, was as damaging as a 9-yard strip sack that robbed Keenum of the ball as the Vikings were driving for the tying score midway through the second quarter.

Instead, the Eagles recovered at their own 24-yard line and proceeded to drive 76 yards to go up 21-7 with 1:18 left in the half.

"One of the things we preached coming in was turnovers," Keenum said. "They took care of the ball, and we didn't."

The Vikings finished the regular season with a plus-5 turnover margin, surrendering the ball only 14 times this season, third best in the 32-team league. Keenum completed 28 of 48 passes for 271 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions — the second to Corey Graham at the Eagles' 15-yard line with six minutes left.

"I felt like we were moving the ball OK, and then we had the interception and we had the strip sack with the fumble," Zimmer said. "It's hard to overcome those on the road."

They didn't.

"You could look at the (first) interception and say from there, we couldn't really get anything going," Murray said. "But still, whether they scored once, twice, there were still moments and opportunities for us to come back and put a drive together and score some points and make it a game. But we weren't able to do that."