Vikings Lose To Seahawks On Heartbreaking Missed Field Goal

Somehow, someway, the Seattle Seahawks’ march to a third consecutive Super Bowl remains alive.

The victory advances the Seahawks to the Divisional round for a meeting with the top-seeded Carolina Panthers, who finished an NFL-best 15-1 in the regular season.

NBC analyst Rodney Harrison talked about that moment as he reacted to the field goal miss by Vikings kicker Blair Walsh, who hooked the ball left on what would have been the game-winner from 27-yards out against Seattle Sunday. The temperature and minus-25 wind chill were the coldest in Vikings history.

The Vikings played the flawless game, and they still could not beat the Seahawks in the playoffs.

Miscues Haunt Offense: Multiple members of the Vikings offense said their unit could have done more in the stunning loss. It also caused coach Pete Carroll to decide that the longest field goal the team would attempt would be in the 47-yard range.

“It was an ugly game, we didn’t play very good on offense”. “It’s so quick that I don’t know what happened”, Walsh said. That magnificent play set up a short pass from Wilson to Baldwin that put Seattle on the board, still down 9-7.

The Seahawks have taken their first lead of the game on a 46-yard field goal by Steven Hauschka that gave them a 10-9 lead midway through the fourth quarter. The Vikings would get the ball one last time and they would drive down to the Seattle nine.

While the Minnesota Vikings played stout defense, some of the struggles were likely attributed to the cold.

Anybody who thinks Seattle was lucky to escape Sunday’s 10-9 victory in Minnesota isn’t seeing the big picture.

Holder Jeff Locke referenced the laces of the ball facing in when Walsh took the kick by saying he “definitely could have spun the ball better” despite wearing gloves because of the cold weather. “I don’t care if you give me a watermelon hold, I should be able to kick that through”.

“I’ve probably never been more proud of a football team than I am of this team”, he said. Headed the same direction toward the open end of the stadium in the third quarter, Wilson overthrew Chase Coffman, and Trae Waynes intercepted the deflected pass to set the Vikings up for another field goal.

But to the horror of Vikings team-mates and fans in an ice-encrusted US Bank Stadium, Walsh pulled his chip shot well wide of the posts and the Seahawks couldn’t believe their luck as they snatched a fortuitous win. Then the Seahawks were celebrating an improbable win not unlike their rally past Green Bay in the NFC Championship Game previous year.

The Seahawks will play the Panthers next week in Carolina.

Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins was sacked six times as the Packers roared back from 11-0 down to overpower the home side at FedExField. He passed for one touchdown and ran for another, and he wasn’t picked off. In the receiving end, Devin Funches had 120 yards and one touchdown in seven catches while Corey Brown added 58 yards in three receptions. They gained all of 11 yards heading into the second period, and they trailed by double digits.

Rodgers and Lacy then led Green Bay back.