Vikings Fail to hold off the Seahawks, take a close loss on SNF

Last night on Sunday Night Football the Vikings lost a very close game in Seattle.

Minnesota Vikings 26 Seattle Seahawks 27

Minnesota:
QB:
K. Cousins 27/39 249 yds 2 TD 1 INT 92.8 rtg 1 fumble lost
RB:
A. Mattison 20 car 112 yds 5.6 avg 25 long (3 rec 24 yds)
D. Cook 17 car 65 yds 3.8 avg 1 TD 10 long (5 rec 24 yds)
M. Boone 2 car 19 yds 9.5 avg 12 long
WR:
A. Thielen 9 rec 80 yds 8.9 avg 2 TD
I. Smith Jr. 4 rec 64 yds 16.0 avg 
J. Jefferson 3 rec 23 yds 7.7 avg
K: 
D. Bailey 2/2 FG (52, 46) 2/2 XP
DEF:
E. Wilson 1 sack 1 INT
I. Odenigbo 1 sack
Y. Ngakoue 1 sack
J. Lynch 1 sack

Game Summary:
I came into this game not having very high expectations for this Vikings team. We never seem to win in Seattle, even in our best years, especially on primetime tv. Also, it seems the Seahawks are having their best season in a while. The only place of hope was that the Seahawks stayed a little too close for comfort when they played the Dolphins last week. 
But the game kicked off and the Vikings made my jaw drop. The offense cooked up (literally) a touchdown on their first drive when Dalvin Cook ran in for the score. Then what impressed me even more is that the defense held the Seattle defense to a 3 and out! The offense returned to the field and kicked a field goal. Another somewhat impressive drive by the offense! Then the defense comes out and hold Seattle to yet another 3 and out! But then unfortunately the offense stalls and punts. The Seattle offense then started driving downfield but the defense was able to stop them again around midfield. This is pretty much how the half ended. But I will say that this half was the best half of Vikings football we have seen all season so far! Yeah the offense didn't score tons of points but the defense held Seattle's offense to 0 points. Don't expect it to continue.
The second half brought a more down to earth approach. Seattle came out and scored 3 touchdowns as the defense seemingly took the 3rd quarter off. The offense came out and Kirk threw an interception. Then Cook appeared to limp off the field with an apparent groin injury. He was taken to the locker room. It all unraveled for the Vikings but not so far that they didn't have a shot. In the 4th quarter the Vikings marched down the field and scored on a Cousins-Thielen connection (2nd of the game, the other in the 3rd quarter) to give the Vikings the 5-point lead with 7 minutes to go in the game. The Seattle offense got the ball back. However, 4 plays in Eric Wilson intercepted Russell Wilson to give the Vikings a chance to put them up by 2 scores. The offense drove the ball down to the 15 yard line. But that is where they would stall. They did drive the clock down to the 2 minute warning. But they had a chance on fourth down to go for field goal which would make it an 8 point game or they could go for it and try and punch in the first down and ice the game. Zimmer chose to go for it on 4th down and we paid the price. Mattison couldn't quite jump the hole and we lost the ball. Seattle then proceeded to drive down the field and score after converting on 2 4th downs. This pretty much sealed the game as we were down by 1 point. We tried to get it up field but a very weird call at the end of the game ruled that Cousins fumbled which drew the remaining 10 seconds off the clock. I very much disagree with that call, but it most likely would not have mattered.

Overall I think the Vikings played very well this game. The defense is young so I expected the showing in the second half. The offense still has a little to be desired. Apparently by all models available the 4th down stop would not have mattered. I don't believe that but here we are. I hope we can play really well in the future as it is fun to watch them play with a fire.

Injury Report
RB Dalvin Cook left the game in the 3rd quarter with a groin injury but soon returned for a few snaps. After that he was pulled for the rest of the game as he didn't seem like he was at 100%. Alexander Mattison pulled the load after that and surpassed Cook in yards for the game.
WR/RS KJ Osborn did not play yesterday due to a hamstring injury. He hopes to return to the lineup next week.
Still no word on Danielle Hunter's status. Many now believe he will rest for the remainder of the year and hope to return next year. 

Up Next
Now the Vikings will return home to US Bank Stadium to take on the winless Atlanta Falcons. Kickoff is next Sunday at 12 PM CT.

#SKOL