Seahawks fly past Vikings 38-7 for 3rd straight victory

The Minnesota Vikings found out what December football is all about when the Seattle Seahawks invaded TCF Bank Stadium on Sunday.

25 OCTOBER 2015: Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer celebrates a defensive stop on the Lion’s final possession during game action between the Minnesota Vikings and the Detroit Lions during a regular season game played at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan.

Well, here we are 30-some years later, and if I hadn’t listened to that stockbroker, I would’ve bought shares in Microsoft and sold them by now, no doubt parlaying that windfall into blissful retirement in the Bahamas.

The Vikings, in many ways, are a better version of what they were in 2012: They are in their comfort zone when they build an early lead, can base their offense on Peterson and allow their defense to shut opponents down. Let’s start by talking about the good!

The Vikings need to figure that out very soon.

Minnesota’s defensive effort was hampered by injuries.

Minnesota has a short week as the team will travel to face the Arizona Cardinals on Thursday night. Yeah, they look that good now. Meanwhile, the Seahawks are looking to re-establish themselves as a playoff team and resemble the squad that has been a force in the postseason for the last couple years.

And with Peterson made irrelevant the Vikings were simply ineffectual on offense, with the defense essentially pitching a shutout.

The Vikings, who haven’t overcome a deficit of 21 points or more since 1985, were no match for the Seahawks after Seattle scored more than 28 points for the fourth consecutive week. That won’t bode well for the team’s fortunes down the stretch run of the season.

For the second straight game, the Seahawks have forced interceptions and then turned those turnovers into points. Francis is more of a run-stopper, which could be useful against Adrian Peterson this week.

Adrian Peterson is the NFL’s leading rusher. They keyed on him and stuffed him at the line so often that the Vikings put AP on the bench shortly before half. The passing game was mostly ineffective, with just 202 yards and one interception that was returned for a touchdown. “To finish with eight carries, it’s tough”. The Vikings bag appears to contain little besides Peterson, which is now another problem goring forward for the rest of the season.

Doug Baldwin had two touchdowns and 94 yards receiving and Thomas Rawls rushed for 101 yards and a score as the Seahawks (7-5) did whatever they wanted against an injury-depleted Vikings defense. They failed on both accounts.

Wilson had three touchdown passes to stake Seattle to a 21-0 halftime lead. Bad positioning, poor tackling and even a lack of fire were all contributory. “I’m not going to dwell on it because we have a long season ahead of us”, Peterson said. Clark thrived, with two sacks in the first quarter of Bridgewater as the Seahawks took command early. The Packers and Seahawks outscored Minnesota a combined 68-20, with Cordarrelle Patterson’s 101-yard kickoff return in the third quarter the Vikings’ only score on Sunday.

There is plenty of blame to go around in such an overwhelming defeat.

“When he’s able to stay in the pocket, make his reads and deliver the ball like he’s been doing the last 12 quarters, he becomes so deadly because he still has the ability to get out of the pocket and work his magic”.