Just as Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz was beginning his first sharp ascent, his quarterbacks coach, John DeFilippo, cautioned that there are two sides to this mountain.

"There's going to be peaks and valleys with him. There is," he told ESPN. "It's just a matter of when it happens."

That was back in mid-September, a few days after Wentz burst on to the scene with a two-touchdown performance in the opener against the Cleveland Browns. He followed that up with impressive outings against the Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers. After three weeks, Wentz was 66-of-102 (65 percent) for 769 yards with five touchdowns and zero interceptions. The Eagles were 3-0, and Wentz was the next Brett Favre or Andrew Luck or Ben Roethlisberger, depending on which coach or pundit you asked.

Eagles coach Doug Pederson said that he is going to work with rookie quarterback Carson Wentz on a mechanical flaw that has affected his throwing accuracy. Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

Then came a downward turn, starting at the tail end of the Detroit Lions game when Wentz forced a downfield throw to Nelson Agholor late that was snared by cornerback Darius Slay for his first career interception. In his two outings since, Wentz has completed just 54 percent of his throws with one touchdown to three turnovers.

There are some factors to consider when analyzing those numbers: He has been without suspended right tackle Lane Johnson for both of those games, and was hit 12 times and absorbed five sacks against the Washington Redskins as rookie Halapoulivaati Vaitai struggled in his first NFL action. And though Vaitai settled in some this past week, Wentz was facing the best defense in the league Sunday in the Minnesota Vikings.

You can point to receiver drops (5.4 percent of Wentz's passes have been dropped, the fifth-highest mark in the league, per ESPN Stats & Info) or general lack of standout play from his skill position players, but there's no denying that Wentz's own play has fallen off.

His dip in accuracy has been noticeable. Per Stats & Info, Wentz was 0-of-7 on passes that traveled more than 10 yards downfield against Minnesota, and his 16 completions had an average target distance of 1.6 yards downfield.

Head coach Doug Pederson has picked up on a mechanical issue. He noted Monday that Wentz's lower body and feet are not pointing in a direct line toward the intended receiver at times.

"Sometimes when your feet are not on the target line, you tend to throw high and you tend to throw inside of a receiver, which is what we saw a little bit yesterday," he said. "We just have to continue to drill it and drill it down to where you get in the game and it does become second nature."

A big part of getting Wentz back to form will be to help him rediscover the comfort zone that he operated so effectively from early on. Pederson said he's charged with the task of "keeping things very familiar for him" as the rookie grinds through his first season so that he can just go out and execute, while keeping him out of situations where he's forced to throw it 35 to 40 times a game. For the latter to happen, his support system -- the O-line, the ground game, the defense -- will need to do their part to help limit the weight that falls on the young quarterback.

"Right now, we’re trying to build his confidence each and every week," said Pederson, "and I thought our guys [Sunday] did an outstanding job of [not allowing a sack] against a team that had 19 coming in. They protected him, kept him clean, and it just gives him confidence now and gives our whole unit confidence moving forward."

The coaching staff anticipated these kinds of ebbs and flows and, judging off DeFilippo's comments from back in mid-September, there is little concern that this will devolve into a season-long funk.

"There's two things that I know about him," he said of Wentz. "There's going to be many more peaks than valleys, and No. 2, this guy has the mental makeup and the mental toughness and the character to pull himself out of a tough game or a tough series of plays or a tough half."