Seahawks advance to Divisional Round

Vikings kicker Blair Walsh had a chance to send Minnesota on to the Divisional Round, but his 27-yard field goal sailed wide left with 22 seconds remaining.

The Seahawks, runners-up in last season’s Super Bowl and champions two years ago, now advance to a meeting with the National Conference number one seeded Carolina Panthers next week.

Walsh’s miss was the final act of an icy afternoon in Minnesota, where sub-zero temperatures before kick-off made the game the third coldest match in National Football League history.

Pete Carroll, the Seattle Seahawks coach, acknowledged that his team enjoyed good fortune. He scooped up the ball and rolled to his right about 20 yards behind the line of scrimmage and found wide open receiver Tyler Lockett in the middle of the field for a gain of 35 yards down to the Vikings’ four-yard line.

“It was all good until my eyelashes froze”, said Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman.

“This was really a survival game for both teams”, Carroll said.

The Seahawks (11-6) didn’t score until Russell Wilson’s short touchdown pass to Doug Baldwin early in the fourth quarter. We knew it was going to be a dogfight and it would come down to the last second. But he was quick to admit this one will take time. “I just tried to extend the play”.

Can we find some sympathy for our neighbors to the north? That 15-yard foul resulted in Minnesota starting its drive at the Seattle 48. Seattle recovered the football and scored the eventual game-winning field goal on their ensuing drive when Steven Hauschka converted a 46-yard kick.

“That’s something that will haunt me throughout the offseason”, Peterson said. “Our defense played outstanding”.

“We wanted to prove the world wrong”, veteran defensive end Brian Robison said. “Even with all the adversity throughout the game, we still had an opportunity at the end”.

And while there were other factors that led to Minnesota’s defeat, there’s no questioning that No. 28’s fumble was one of the single biggest setbacks of the day. And for the second straight day, Walsh did so with a quiet grace and humility, reminding reporters that he wants us there when he makes the winning kick and understands we need to be there when he misses. As he talked about how he plans to come back more confident than ever, I was struck by this: Minnesota fans have been spoiled, by and large, by kickers over the past decade.

“I’m telling you, sometimes that can psychologically get a kicker”, NBC color analyst Cris Collinsworth said of the laces while watching a replay. I know Jeff did his job and Kevin did his job. Then, when Walsh shanks the kick, their dejected narration turns to excited screaming with little warning. That’s 99 percent. Blair Walsh was also 32 for 33 in his career on kicks less than 30 yards.

Mike Zimmer said there was no excuse for the miss.

The Vikings built on their advantage with 43- and 47-yard field goals in the third quarter before the Seahawks offence finally heated up in the fourth. Christine Michael took Lynch’s spot in the starting lineup and rushed 21 times for 70 yards. But we won, we kept battling. This team has a lot of fight, a lot of heart.