Adrian Peterson, Hall of Famer, fumbled the game away
By Dan Zinski
Adrian Peterson, a Hall of Fame running back, fumbled the ball to Seattle with the Vikings driving to put the game away.
The Vikings looked like they were on their way to victory over the Seahawks, and a ticket to the second round of the playoffs, until an unfortunate series of events turned triumph into what some might call tragedy.
After a hard-fought game filled with gritty defense and not that much offense, the Vikings led 9-7 with 10:48 left in the fourth quarter. One more score and perhaps Minnesota would salt away a huge upset victory over Seattle.
On second-and-five from the Minnesota 27, Teddy Bridgewater threw a short pass to superstar running back Adrian Peterson who ran for an apparent first down.
Peterson however did not have the ball secured – perhaps he was trying too hard again! – and it was ripped out by Seattle’s Kam Chancellor. Ahtyba Rubin recovered the fumble and the Seahawks took possession on the Minnesota 40.
Seattle then drove the ball down to the Minnesota 28 and kicked a field goal to take a 10-9 lead with 8 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
The next four possessions were a punt for Minnesota, a punt for Seattle, a punt for Minnesota and a punt for Seattle.
After the last Seattle punt, the Vikings got the ball back with 1:42 needing only a field goal to win. A big play to TE Kyle Rudolph helped Minnesota drive deep enough into Seattle territory to make victory seem certain.
“Seem” being the key word.
In conservative fashion, the Vikings ran the ball deeper into Seattle territory and set up Blair Walsh for what presumably was a chip shot field goal to win the game.
The snap to Jeff Locke appeared good, but Walsh missed the field goal wide left and the Vikings lost the game 10-9.
Replay appeared to show that Locke had failed to spin the laces away from Walsh, as dictated by common procedure.
Next: Gjallarhorn shatters from the cold
After the game, Walsh and Locke were both questioned by the media. Both took their share of the blame for the Vikings’ loss.
Some Vikings fans wanted to lay the whole thing on Walsh.
Blair Walsh owned it, and he was crying at his locker. Do you REALLY need to spew your 140 characters of venom, telling him to “die?" Man...
— Phil Mackey 🎙 (@PhilMackey) January 10, 2016
If you go back to the beginning of this particular sequence of events, you see that it all started with Adrian Peterson fumbling away the Vikings’ chance to secure a victory.
Adrian Peterson, the man whose fumble set up Seattle’s comeback, mysteriously escaped without being grilled by the media. But his place in the Hall of Fame is still safe, one assumes.