Embarrassing offensive performance leads to Vikings loss vs. Seahawks

The Minnesota Vikings offense didn’t show up in Seattle during Week 14 of the 2018 NFL season and the team got crushed by the Seahawks in prime time.

A win by the Minnesota Vikings would have given them excellent playoff positioning going into Week 15. However, the team’s performance, especially on offense, left a lot to be desired against the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football.

The first quarter saw the Vikings and Seahawks trade field position, showing off great defense while struggling to move the ball. The powerful run offense of Seattle sputtered out of the gate, but found itself gaining momentum with each drive.

Seattle won the field position battle and put themselves in a spot to be threatening to score at the start of the second quarter. They got into the red zone, but a great sack by Danielle Hunter pushed them back and forced the Seahawks to settle for a field goal.

Continuing to struggle on offense, the Vikings and Seahawks traded field position some more and Seattle once again put themselves in a spot where they were knocking on the goal line. However, great pressure from the Minnesota pass rush forced a bad throw from Russell Wilson which was intercepted by Eric Kendricks to close out the first half with the score 0-3 in favor of the Seahawks.

The third was rather uneventful, but the fourth quarter started off with one scoring drive thanks to a questionable pass interference call on Xavier Rhodes that put the ball on the 10-yard line. Thanks to a great sack by Anthony Barr with help from Linval Joseph, Seattle once again had to settle for a field goal to go up 0-6.

On the next drive, Kirk Cousins found Stefon Diggs on a long play and picked up some yards to Adam Thielen to get into a goal-to-go situation. Sadly, Seattle managed a goal-line stand and kept Minnesota scoreless after a turnover on downs.

After forcing a three and out, Minnesota got back into field goal range and instead kicked it this time. However, it was Bobby Wagner who lept over the line to block the attempt and keep the Vikings scoreless and get the ball back to the Seahawks.

Minnesota Vikings

Right away, Seattle hit the ground running. Russell Wilson gained 40 yards and then Chris Carson added some more to put the Seahawks right back into the red zone. This time, Carson punched the ball in from two yards out. Following a two-point conversion pass from Wilson to Tyler Lockett, Seattle led Minnesota 0-14.

Needing to score quickly, Kirk Cousins tried to get the ball down the field but had the ball knocked out of his hand by Jacob Martin with the fumble was recovered by Justin Coleman, who returned it for 29-yards for a touchdown. The Vikings trailed by 21 with less than three minutes left in the game.

With the game firmly in hand, the Seattle defense loosened up and allowed Minnesota to move the ball down the field. The drive ended with Cousins hitting Cook for a score to save a shutout, making the score 7-21 in favor of the Seahawks.

Minnesota attempted an onside kick, but it was recovered by Seattle. Since the Vikings had no timeouts left, the Seahawks were able to kneel the game out.

The Monday Night Football game between the Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks ended with a final score of 7-21. The purple and gold now have a record of 6-6-1 and cling to the sixth seed in the NFC playoff picture.