It was the kind of game that seemed to deserve a blocked field goal standing as the most memorable play.
The Seahawks, in their latest and maybe most mind-boggling effort at simply finding a way to win, beat Minnesota, 21-7, on Thursday night in front of 69,007 at CenturyLink Field.
They did so with their best defensive effort of the season. Ironically, this was overshadowed by a special teams play – their best defensive player, linebacker Bobby Wagner, leaped over the line of scrimmage to block a field goal with 5:46 left.
That kept the score at 6-0, which was in every way an accurate portrayal of the way the game had been played.
Seattle, though, then scored two touchdowns in a span of 18 seconds to blow the game open. Then, the Vikings then scored with 1:10 left to snap Seattle’s first potential shutout since 2015. But the Seahawks will take it, getting their eighth win in their last 11 games since an 0-2 start. While it didn’t clinch a playoff spot for the Seahawks, it went a long way toward assuring one, with statistical models now giving Seattle a 99 percent chance of getting to the postseason. Now 8-5, the Seahawks are the only NFC team other than the four division leaders that owns a winning record. Minnesota, regarded as a Super Bowl favorite before the season, fell to 6-6-1.
Wagner’s block was set up by a dizzying sequence in which the Vikings were first stopped on a fourth down at their 2. Then, after holding the Seahawks’ offense and forcing a punt, Minnesota got the ball back and moved to the 29.
The Vikings got one first down to the 30.
But the drive stalled there thanks to consecutive pass breakups from Shaquill Griffin on second and third down, first against Stefon Diggs and then against Adam Theilen.
That set up a 47-yard field goal attempt by Dan Bailey.
Wagner, who once leapt over the line to block a field goal on the road against Arizona in 2016, jumped between the guard and tackle and blocked the kick. (That is a legal play – a flag was initially thrown and a penalty could have been called if he had jumped over the center.)
Seattle’s offense then finally broke through thanks to Russell Wilson redeeming what was statistically the worst passing game of his career – he finished with a career-low 72 yards – with a 40-yard scamper to set up a 2-yard touchdown by Chris Carson. That put Seattle ahead 14-0 with 2:53 left.
On Minnesota’s next possession, Jacob Martin forced Kirk Cousins to fumble and Justin Coleman picked up the ball and retuned it 29 yards for a touchdown with 2:35 left.
Thus, a game that once appeared like it might be remembered for Seattle’s lost opportunities became yet another “W” in a season surprisingly filled with them. The Vikings threatened to take the lead early in the fourth quarter, driving to the 4 thanks to a 48-yard pass from Cousins to Diggs. But the Seattle defense – so good of late in the red zone – rose up again.
A run, an incomplete pass, and another run gained three yards and the Vikings decided to go for it from the 1.
From there, Cousins threw behind tight end Kyle Rudolph with Bradley McDougald getting his hand in to break up the pass with 9:06 left.
Seattle, though, couldn’t move it, forced to punt from its own 2, with a rare Michael Dickson mis-hit punt going just to the Seattle 41. Seattle then went three-and-out, but Wagner followed with his field goal block that ignited a party.
The Seahawks dominated the first half, outgaining the Vikings 175-61, including 136 rushing yards on 22 attempts against a Minnesota defense that came into the night allowing only 99 per game. But Seattle had just a 3-0 lead to show for it, twice being stopped on drives inside the Minnesota 20, and with the first half ending in disaster.
Seattle had a first-and goal at the 1 with 16 seconds left after a Wilson scramble. But thanks to the run Seattle had to take its final time out. And that led to disaster. On the next play, Wilson dropped back and rolled to the right. But with no one open, Wilson then tried to reverse course and then slipped. Once that happened, Minnesota’s Danielle Hunter broke through and Wilson tried to spin out of trouble.
But once in Hunter’s grasp, Wilson flung the ball to the right side of the field hoping for an incompletion to stop the clock because a sack would have ended the half.
Only, the ball went right to Minnesota linebacker Eric Kendricks, who (fortunately for the Seahawks) had trouble controlling the ball cleanly and fell down. Otherwise, he might have run it back for a touchdown. As it was, it turned a long drive – 13 plays, 59 yards – into nothing.
The Seattle defense played as well as it has all season in the first half, holding Cousins to just 4-8 passing for 27 yards. The play of the Seattle secondary got a lot of attention during the week after the 49ers threw for 386 a week ago Sunday.
The Vikings also helped a bit by sticking true early to their stated quest to run the ball more – Minnesota came into the game with the highest percentage of passes in the NFL at 67 but ran it 11 times on 19 plays in the first half. The Vikings punted at the end of their first five drives (other than a kneeldown at the end of the first half) and didn’t get past their own 41.