PHILADELPHIA -- There's a clock in Sam Bradford's head, and it's ticking fast. The alarm goes off at 2.3 seconds, which is the average length of time it's taking the Minnesota Vikings quarterback to throw the ball this season. That was the fourth-fastest time in the entire NFL entering Sunday's game, and Sunday's game showed the reason for that.
"It's hard to evaluate his performance when you look like a sieve in there," Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said after his team suffered its first loss of the season 21-10 to the Philadelphia Eagles.
There's a clock in Zimmer's head too. Although it's showing weeks and months instead of seconds, it's ticking just as unmercifully. Zimmer is a man who knows his team's glittering 2016 start didn't come with much margin for error. At some point, the alarm clock is going to ring, and the expiration date is going to arrive. At some point, the wolf knocks on the door and sacks Bradford six times in one game.
"We were soft. We got overpowered. We got whipped," Zimmer said. "It was a poor display. We have to stay away from negative plays offensively. We're not good enough to overcome these things."
The 5-0 record the Vikings carried into Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday wasn't a mirage, but it wasn't bulletproof, either. The pressure with which the Eagles' defensive front whipped Minnesota's overmatched tackles was the attack for which Zimmer has clearly been bracing. Philadelphia sacked Bradford six times, and the Eagles also hit him 19 times and knocked him down 14 times. A tackle rotation that included T.J. Clemmings, Jeremiah Sirles and recently signed veteran Jake Long didn't have any answers for the Eagles' edge rushers, who were appropriately unimpressed.
"They were down a couple of offensive linemen," Connor Barwin said, "so we knew there was going to be some opportunity there."
Was there ever. Bradford and the Vikings' offense didn't turn the ball over once the first five games of the season. They turned it over twice in the first quarter Sunday. The only reason this game didn't get out of hand right away was that the Eagles turned the ball over three times in the first quarter, a truly sordid 15 minutes of facsimile football in which it appeared as if each offense perceived the ball to be radioactive.
But when things did settle down, it was Bradford, more than Philadelphia's Carson Wentz, who spent the critical part of the day under siege.
"It's hard to throw when someone's grabbing your arm," Zimmer said. "I'm not worried about Bradford."
He should be. Even if he isn't concerned about Bradford's performance (which is what he meant), there's surely reason to worry about Bradford's health if the protection issues don't improve. Bradford is in his seventh NFL season and has played all 16 games only twice -- most recently in 2012. The Vikings obviously know he's a health risk; everyone does. They acquired him a week before the start of the season out of desperation, for a first-round pick and more, because Teddy Bridgewater got hurt and they believed they had a chance to win the Super Bowl if they could get decent quarterback play. The risk, for the Vikings, is worth it because they believe -- and believe they have shown -- the ability to compete with anyone in the NFL this season.
But oh, that ticking clock. Not two weeks into the season, Minnesota lost starting left tackle Matt Kalil and, worst of all, star running back Adrian Peterson. That combination of absences has left the Vikings without a running game or a viable, week-to-week plan to keep Bradford upright. And they feel it.
"He's as tough as they come, and he's shown that in these last five games," Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph said of Bradford. "I'd like to eliminate some of those hits he's taking and keep him on his feet."
Bradford would like that too, and Zimmer made no secret of how badly he craves that. The Vikings aren't going to be able to go get outside help. They already dealt their first-round pick for Bradford, and they're only about $426,000 under the salary cap. Even if they could trade for a new left tackle, they couldn't pay him. This is what they've got: this combination of overmatched tackles and a loud, ticking clock.
"Obviously, I've been on teams that have had the injury bug, and I've fought it too," Bradford said. "It's been a different group of guys in front of me, but I can't let that affect me. I've got confidence in those guys. They've done a great job of keeping me clean, keeping me protected. I think we'll come back, figure out a way to get better, and we'll overcome this."
That clock that's in Bradford's head every time he takes a snap is just like the one that needs to be in the Vikings' heads as they swallow their first loss and take this turn into the middle part of the season. They're 5-1 and have looked as good as any team in the league this year. But because they can't afford for Bradford to get hurt and because their biggest current problem puts his health at direct risk, they don't have a lot of time to get this figured out.