The Minnesota Vikings will show off their shiny new quarterback in the season opener White Tom Compton Jersey , formally turning over the on-field leadership of a team built for Super Bowl contention to Kirk Cousins and his fully guaranteed $84 million contract.The player directly in front of Cousins, his importance not to be understated, will likely be making his debut with the Vikings at the same time. Brett Jones has been in Minnesota for less than two weeks, but he's on track to start at center Sunday when the Vikings host the San Francisco 49ers. He'll have as much on his plate as anyone wearing purple."Kirk's an excellent communicator. He wants things done a certain way, and you've got to be able to try to the best of your ability to try to emulate what he wants," Jones said. "Anytime there's a new center, you want to try to have consistency, so I'm just doing what I'm told and making sure we're all on the same page so whoever's in there can adjust and play well so the Vikings can have success."Pat Elflein, who performed relatively well as a rookie, just began practicing with the team this week. The Vikings have lost their primary starting guards from last year, Nick Easton to injury and Joe Berger to retirement. So, for all the enhancements the Vikings have made to a roster they reached the NFC championship game with last winter, the offensive line lost more than it gained over the offseason."It's not ideal, but it is what it is," Cousins said. "We're not going to dwell on what we can't control. We're going to focus on what we have and making the best out of it, and I'm excited to build a rapport with Jones and the rest of the O-line so that hopefully we can develop a continuity as the season goes on."Elflein wore a helmet and full pads at practice Wednesday, but he was listed as a limited participant on the injury report. Considering Elflein was just removed from the physically unable to perform list four days prior, coming off ankle and shoulder surgeries earlier in the year White Trae Waynes Jersey , the chance of him being cleared to play against the 49ers is slim. That leaves Jones, who was acquired in a trade on Aug. 26 with the New York Giants , in the center of attention."We're going to coach him all week and then he's going to play center in the NFL like he's done for a lot of games already," Cousins said.While there's some justifiable concern about using a center who's never snapped the ball to Cousins in a game setting, the chemistry between Jones and the guards and tackles on either side of him is probably even more critical."Each person relies on the other person," Jones said. "If one person does one thing bad on offense, it's a glaring tackle in the hole for a loss. If one guy does something bad on defense, you might have a backer or a safety or somebody come down and cover you. On offense, one mistake can be a big mistake."Danny Isidora, who started one game at left guard as an injury replacement for Easton last season as a rookie, has also been taking turns at center. Coach Mike Zimmer said recently he thinks that might actually be Isidora's natural position."He stays in balance pretty well there. He keeps his hips square. He's got some power on the double teams," Zimmer said.NOTES: Cousins was chosen this week as one of six team captains for the season, with left tackle Riley Reiff, tight end Kyle Rudolph, defensive tackle Linval Joseph, defensive end Everson Griffen, and linebacker Anthony Barr. ... Cornerback Mackensie Alexander, in line to be the primary slot man in the nickel package Youth Harrison Smith Jersey , did not practice Wednesday because of an ankle injury. Cornerback Xavier Rhodes (hamstring) and Reiff (foot) were listed as limited participants. The Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles have played against each other 27 times throughout the years, dating back to their first matchup in 1962. According to Eagles fans, only one of those games has ever mattered.[Waits for Philly fans to throw full beer cans and scream “THIRTY-EIGHT TO SEVEN!!!!1!!1” a few dozen times]OK, now that we’re done with that, let’s take our weekly look back at the Vikings’ history against their upcoming opponent. As always, the numbers in this story are brought to you by the good folks at Pro Football Reference.Total regular season and playoff games between the Vikings and the Eagles: 27All-time record: Regular season: Vikings, 13-10. Playoffs: Eagles, 4-0.Total Vikings points scored, head-to-head: 594 (22.0 points/game)Total Eagles points scored, head-to-head: 650 (24.1 points/game)Longest Vikings winning streak vs Eagles: 7, their first seven meetings from 28 Oct 1962 to 3 Dec 1978Longest Eagles winning streak vs Vikings: 5, from 11 November 2001 to 4 January 2009Most recent Vikings road win in series: 28 December 2010 (final score 24-14, the infamous Tuesday night game)Most recent Eagles home win in series: 21 January 2018 (final score SHUT UP)Biggest Vikings road win in series: 21 points, 15 December 1963 (final score 34-13)Biggest Eagles home win in series: 31 points, twice (48-17 on 11 November 2001 and...SHUT UP)Current streak: Eagles, 2 winsObviously, the Vikings can’t do anything on Sunday that will make up for the thrashing they took in last year’s NFC Championship Game. Even if they win by a score of 38-7 or better, it’s a regular season game and the Eagles already have their shiny new Super Bowl rings.What the Vikings can do is try to find the wheels that fell off of their defense last January and haven’t been put back on yet. The Los Angeles Rams will likely expose a lot of defenses throughout the course of the season Youth Stefon Diggs Jersey , but the way they out-schemed the Vikings in every way on that side of the ball was uncharacteristic of what we’re used to seeing from a Mike Zimmer-coached defense. The offense looked much better last week, but Minnesota is still dead last in rushing and pressures allowed through four weeks. The Vikings need to clean things up in a hurry. Meanwhile, the defending champs are coming off a disappointing loss of their own. They squandered a two touchdown lead on the road to the Tennessee Titans, allowing three straight fourth down conversions in the game-clinching overtime touchdown drive. Most of the key pieces have returned for a shot at a repeat in Philadelphia. However, throughout the preseason and through the first four weeks of the regular season, this doesn’t look like the Eagles team that rampaged their way to a title eight months ago.While the Vikings dominated this series early on, winning the first seven matchups, the Eagles have seven of the past nine between the two teams. Both of the Vikings wins during that stretch were rather unexpected. In the aforementioned Tuesday night game, Joe Webb and the 5-9 Vikings upset the 10-4 Eagles that were favored by 14.5 points at kickoff. Philadelphia was favored by seven points in 2013 when Matt Asiata had the hilarious stat line of 30 rushes, 51 yards, and 3 touchdowns in a 48-30 Vikings win.The most recent regular season game between the Vikings and Eagles wasn’t the most aesthetically pleasing contest. In Week 7 of 2016, each team turned the ball over four times. Despite putting up paltry offensive numbers, Carson Wentz and the Eagles won 21-10 thanks in large part to six sacks of Sam Bradford. It was the first loss of the season for the Vikings, who would stumble to a 3-8 finish after starting 5-0. That’s a brief look at some of the history between the Vikings and the Eagles as we prepare for Sunday’s game in Philly. We’ll have more for you as we get closer to kickoff.