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What the loss means for Eagles' playoff seeding

The loss to the Vikings locks the Eagles into the No. 3 seed in the NFC playoffs, meaning they'll host a game in the wild-card round.

There will be plenty of time to discuss just what happened to the Eagles in their 24-14 loss to the Vikings Tuesday night.

But, for now, let's break down what it means.

The Eagles are locked into the three-seed in the NFC. That means they'll host a game in the wild-card round. They can no longer earn a first-round bye. And also, they cannot lose any ground with a Week 17 loss.

In other words, don't expect any starters to play against the Cowboys.

As for who the Eagles will play in the first round, it comes down to three teams: the Giants, Packers or Bucs. One of those three will be traveling to the Linc.

The Packers are in with a win against the Bears. The Giants are in with a Packers loss and a win over the Redskins. And the Bucs are in with losses by both the Giants and Packers, plus a win against the Saints.

Game observations

* Michael Vick turned in his worst performance of the season. In the first half, he completed 13 of 21 passes for 128 yards, a touchdown and an interception. But his QB rating of 75.1 could have been even worse. The Vikings dropped at least two interceptions. Overall, he was 25 of 41 for 263 yards, one touchdown and one interception for a QB rating of 77.6. He averaged 6.4 yards per attempt.

* Vick turned it over a total of three times, fumbling twice. He's now been picked off in five straight games.

* The Eagles scored on one of seven first-half possessions. After Vick completed a 3-yard touchdown to Clay Harbor in the first quarter, here were the Eagles' next five possessions: punt, interception, punt, fumble, missed field goal. Antoine Winfield sacked Vick at the end of the first half and forced a fumble. He recovered it and went 45 yards to the end zone to tie the game at 7.

* Vick and DeSean Jackson could not get on the same page. He failed to complete a pass to Jackson the first six times he targeted him. Overall, Vick completed two passes for 32 yards to Jackson on 12 targets.

* We saw some new faces on defense for the Eagles. Rookie defensive tackle Jeff Owens saw his first action of the season before going down with a knee injury in the second half. Derrick Burgess was active for the first time. And Akeem Jordan saw his most significant playing time since being benched earlier in the season for Moise Fokou at the strong-side linebacker position. I have to re-watch the game, but I believe Jordan was used mostly in the Eagles' nickel package.

* Trevor Laws left the game in the third quarter with a shoulder injury, but later returned.

* The Eagles scored 14 points, the lowest total in any game Vick has started and finished this season. The previous low was 26.

* Cornerback Dimitri Patterson was beat for a 46-yard gain by Percy Harvin in the fourth. He was also whistled for a pair of penalties. Patterson was benched in the fourth as Joselio Hanson played right cornerback in the base defense, and Trevard Lindley came in to play outside in the nickel.

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