Vikings-Seahawks

Travelling to Seattle for a prime time game is always a tough task. It's been a very difficult place for the Minnesota Vikings in recent years. It continued to be a tough place to play last night. The Seattle Seahawks held on for a 37-30 win over the Vikings. The difference in the game was a disastrous third quarter for the Vikings. After taking a 17-10 lead in the first half they couldn't get out of their own way to start the second half. They had four third quarter possessions: punt, fumble, punt, interception. That ridiculous stretch made it real easy for the Seahawks to score 24 points. Just like that, the Seahawks had a 34-17 lead. Making matters much worse, Dalvin Cook injured his shoulder on the fumble. The good, if there is a good in a big game loss, is that the Vikings didn't fold. They fought back to move within a single score of the Seahawks at 34-30. The Vikings even had a shot to win the game. With 3:27 to play they had possession of the ball with the game in their hands. They mounted a drive but it didn't go far enough. After gaining two first downs, the Vikings turned the ball over on downs near midfield. The Seahawks salted away the win from there.

The good. 

About the only good was that the Vikings fought their way back into the game. And the offense did it without Dalvin Cook, left tackle Riley Reiff and little second half production from Stefon Diggs. 

Kirk Cousins played well. If you listen to the talking heads in the media he doesn't do that in prime time games or big games. This one was both and he played well. He's been playing well for a while.

Laquon Treadwell had a 58-yard touchdown reception!

The bad. 

The result.

The defense was gouged by the Seahawks running game. Perhaps that's partially due to Linval Joseph returning from knee surgery and he needs to get his wind back and shake off some rust. Whatever the reason the run defense was a real concern last night. 

The officials didn't do the Vikings any favors when they ignored a pass interference call that allowed Seahawks cornerback Trey Flowers to intercept a Cousins pass to Diggs. Flowers had one hand on Diggs' chest and the other grabbing him from behind. But this is the new normal for the NFL. We can't have a game without a bogus pass interference call or non-call.

Dalvin Cook's injury. Hopefully it doesn't keep him out of any games. 

ESPN announcers Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland were terrible. It felt as if Seahawks radio broadcasters Steve Raible and Dave Wyman were doing the game. I've never heard a supposedly neutral duo so biased. Even while the Vikings were controlling the action in the first half or coming back in the fourth quarter, the attention was all Seahawks. McFarland was so anti-Vikings that he talked about the Minneapolis Miracle as if it was against the Vikings. It would've been great if ESPN had cut the "mic'd up" Russell Wilson clips by about 100%.

Moving forward
The Vikings hit the final quarter of the season at 8-4. They control their playoff chances. The remaining schedule:

Detroit Lions
@Los Angeles Chargers
Green Bay Packers
Chicago Bears

The big game is the Packers game. It's a Monday night affair. Hopefully we don't have to listen to ESPN's Packers announcers. We'll have to listen to a lot of honking about Cousins' Monday night record. Hopefully, Adam Thielen's hamstring is sound for all games that the Vikings play in 2019. The offense has played remarkably well without him but teams need their best players when they play their biggest games. They need Thielen on the field for all of the special things that he can do. They also need him on the field to keep defenses from suffocating Diggs with coverage. The Vikings need Cook on the field. They need a more stout defense. Nearly the entire defense seemed a step or more slow against the Seahawks. Perhaps that was due to a significant number of players that missed practice time last week with an assortment of injuries. I like the fight in this Vikings team. I really like their playoff chances. And I'd sure like to see them take another shot at the Seahawks in a game far more important than the one played last night.