Seahawks Soar to the NFC Wild Card Race

Both the Seattle Seahawks and the Minnesota Vikings had a chance to make their campaign for a run in the play offs more legitimate.

But the Seahawks, came out on top and are now in the mix for the NFC Wild card race. The Seahawks defeated the Vikings with a final 21-7 score on Monday night in Seattle. Seattle is in fifth place for the race for the NFC Wild card berth.

https://twitter.com/Seahawks/status/1072554207411081218

Seattle Struggles

The score is a bit deceiving.  Seattle didn’t get away from the Vikings until the last few minutes of the game. The first points of the game were obtained by the Seahawks, and it was from a 37 yard field goal by kicker Sebastian Janikowski.

This was shortly after Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson got sacked on the third-and-nine, which led his team to the decision to make the kick. In the second half, Seattle almost got themselves into even more trouble.

When they were at first-and-goal with no timeouts on the Minnesota one yard line, Wilson tried throwing the ball only for it to be intercepted by Minnesota Linebacker Eric Kendricks.

It was not Wilson’s night. He completed only 10 of 20 attempts.  However, he maintained a positive attitude to help lead his team to a win. “If you wanna find a championship team, you have to find ways to win even if it doesn’t look pretty. Tonight we kept battling and kept battling ” Wilson said.

The Saviors for the Seahawks

The defense and running game however kept the them from falling apart.

Looking at the defense Shaquill Griffin and Tre Flowers added 15 combined tackles. While Justin Coleman scored and recovered a fumble. Bobby Wagner led the team with nine tackles, and at the end of the game added a crucial field goal block.

Offensively, Seattle had 214 rushing yards which was more than twice the amount of 99 that the Vikings was giving up per game.

Running backs, Chris Carson and Rashaad Penny added 90 and 44 yards respectively and Wilson added 61.

Vikings Offensive Troubles

The Vikings offense seemed to be simply outplayed. Their quarterback Kirk Cousins struggled throughout the night. He threw for 208 yards. Cousins also had a fumble where he was sacked and Justin Coleman returned the ball for a touchdown to put Seattle up 21-0. The Vikings couldn’t score until the fourth quarter.

As a result of the offensive woes, on Tuesday afternoon the Vikings decided to fire offensive coordinator John DeFilippo.

This wasn’t the first game the Vikings have struggled offensively, this is the second consecutive game where they haven’t put up at least 300 total yards.

They’ve failed to reach 300 yards in the last four of their five games.

The Vikings rank 17th in the league for yards per game, are 20th in points per game, and are 30th in rushing yards per game.

John DeFilippo has been relieved from his duties as offensive coordinator.

Kevin Stefanski has been elevated to Interim Offensive Coordinator and will handle play-calling duties. pic.twitter.com/bI30IP3OV0

— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) December 11, 2018

What’s next?

Up next for the Seahawks are the San Francisco 49ers next Sunday. If they win this next game in San Francisco, they can clinch a berth for the NFC Wild Card. According to the website FiveThirtyEight they have a 99% chance of making the playoffs.

For the Vikings, their next challenge will be the Miami Dolphins at home. Minnesota’s odds of going to the playoffs have dropped to 57%. Going into Monday’s game their odds were at 70%.