Fight Unrewarded

Seahawks 37

Vikings 30

They almost did it. One game after coming back from 20-0 down against Denver, the heart stopping 2019 Vikings nearly pulled an even bigger rabbit out of their hat.

Down 34-17 after the most unspeakably awful quarter of the season, the Vikings rallied and had the ball with a chance to go take the lead and likely win. It's awful that this rally did not go the final length, but honestly I'm not sure I have felt this good about a Vikings team, and a Vikings quarterback, showing this kind of fight in ages.

I expected a loss. This is one of those games that going in feels unwinnable. Seattle is basically invincible in the Carroll-Wilson era in primetime home games. They have always had Mike Zimmer's number. And the Seahawks may be the best team in the NFC, with a star QB playing at an MVP level. 

Off the bye, the Vikings came out and played a pretty good first half. We went right down the field on the 1st drive for a Cook TD. We got a nifty pick six from Harris on a tipped ball. We held Seattle to just 10 points, which I will take every single time. And we even orchestrated a perfect drive before halftime to tack on a field goal. It was 17-10.

Then the fucking bottom fell out in the 3rd quarter. 

The 3rd quarter was a nightmare. After a 3 and out, Seattle just went right down the field to tie the game(helped along by the cadaver that used to be Xavier Rhodes). Then on the very first play of the next drive Dalvin Cook fumbles the ball, AND Cook got hurt, AND Diggs was hurt too. Now, luckily Diggs was back in soon, and Cook at least returned to the sidelines, but for a few minutes I was flashing back to that Detroit game in 2017 when Cook tore his ACL, a game that ranks with the most depressing games in 30 years as a Vikings fan. You could not script a more horrific scenario. 

Seattle got a field goal. Our depleted offense(we had also lost Rieff to a concussion) did nothing, and now Wilson hit his one long bomb of the game, burning--you guessed it--Rhodes for another score and a 27-17 lead. Then on the very last play of this nightmarish quarter, Kirk's sideline pass to Diggs was bobbled and intercepted(with some pretty blatant uncalled DPI to boot). 3 plays later, and less than 2 minutes into the 4th, Seattle was in the endzone again and a 17-10 game had swung violently to 34-17 the other way.

But even with everything imaginable going wrong, this team did not quit. Even in losses you can learn where your team stands, and they showed in the 4th quarter that they have the guts to fight back. 

Kirk found a hilariously wide open Laquon Treadwell for a long touchdown. Seattle drove again, but we got a key fumble. Kirk takes us right down the field again, and Kyle Rudolph made one of his patented primetime one handed TD grabs. Dan Bailey shanked the PAT, cause why not, but all the momentum was going our way. We finally got a big negative play with a sack of Wilson, and got the ball back with like 4 minutes left.

It's a damn shame that this was where the rally died. We got one first down but that was it. 

For one final blunder CJ Ham fumbled the kick return after an insurance field goal by Seattle, although we would have only had like 15 seconds left and no timeouts.

Moral victories don't exist. Losing this game sucks. It makes winning the north a lot harder. It breathes some life into the Rams, now just a game back. It probably kills your hopes of getting any sort of bye.

But the way this team took this deluge of misfortune and found its way into having even a chance at a game winning drive under these circumstances makes me even more confident that they will win out, and be a dangerous out for any January opponent in any building.

And we have the quarterback. Kirk Cousins was fantastic tonight. I simply will not tolerate any argument to the contrary. No Cook, no Thielen, OL playing poorly, receivers dropping balls, and he damn near led a 3 touchdown comeback in one quarter in Seattle.

It's a shame that his efforts were not rewarded with an ultimate narrative busting W.