SEATTLE CURSE WASHED AWAY

VIKINGS 27

SEAHAWKS 24

October 2006. America was watching The Departed, and for some reason, listening to Justin Timberlake. And that was the last time the Vikings won a game in Seattle, led by the decaying corpse of Brad Johnson, and sparked by a 90-yard Chester Taylor TD run. 

Since then, Seattle had probably jumped Chicago as the Vikings' most cursed destination. We kept having to play there, and kept losing. 

But maybe this is a Vikings team in the mood to break curses, and they finally broke through on Sunday, with a jolting 4th quarter rally to pull of a huge win that keeps open some amazing possibilities.

Since these are the Vikings, they insisted on making it a little harder than they needed it to be. 

Playing in wet conditions, the Vikings made a statement on the opening drive. They ate almost half the quarter, and TJ Hockenson made a fantastic catch to convert a 4th down, finishing with a Darnold to Addison TD.

Addison had a 3rd down drop on the next series that swung the momentum. Then the Seahawks needed just 7 plays to storm down the field and tie the game, as Stephon Gilmore got burned on a Geno Smith TD throw.

The Vikings grabbed the lead back on a terrific endzone shot to Justin Jefferson. JJ did the Griddy of course....and got flagged for it. Sure. Throw a flag for a guy doing the same dance he has been doing for 5 years.

Smith decided to dish out an early Christmas gift, Dallas Turner's 1st career interception. The Vikings got a field goal out of that to go up 10. 

We were in control of this game until late in the half. We took the ball with under 2 minutes left, and proceeded to go 3 and out and use only 32 seconds while doing it.

Then our defense, which had a bracingly hot and cold day, imploded and let Seattle go right down the field for a touchdown. A very disappointing finish to the half. 

Seattle stayed on the move to open the 3rd, but at least only got a tying field goal, which the Vikings quickly matched to retake the lead.

The Vikings couldn't add to the lead. They had a couple more drops, and the run game was kind of being abandoned again.

This looked fatal when the schizo defense again went into total meltdown mode and flailed haplessly as Seattle marched to a go-ahead touchdown.

With barely 4 minutes left, the Vikings were staring down a wholly avoidable loss that would destroy any realistic chance to win the NFC North and #1 seed. The difference between needing 3 road wins or 2 home wins to reach the Super Bowl is massive.

But I knew we had a shot, cause Sam Darnold has been playing his best in the most clutch spots for weeks. And now he had the newest biggest drive of his career. 

Things looked grim as Darnold was engulfed on a sack that would set up a 3rd and long. But Sam had his facemask grabbed on the play. And they actually threw the flag this time! First down and new life.

Sam even got his ankle rolled up on on the play. Maybe that should happen to him more often, cause on the next play he stepped up in the pocket and fired arguably his best pass of the year, a deep shot over a pair of DBs and into the hands of Jefferson, who flew into the endzone for the go-ahead TD. This is why you need to keep Darnold. 

The only downside is we scored awfully quick, and Seattle started moving the ball again. But Gink got our elusive 1st sack of the game, and helped push them into long field goal range. Very long. 60 yards long. And the kick was no good!

We burned Seattle's timeouts and some clock, but needed one more stop. We quickly got it as Theo Jackson, playing only cause Harrison Smith missed his 1st game in 2 years, picked off Geno. 

Seattle curse broken. You don't break curses easily. This was a tough win in a hostile environment in poor weather against a desperate team (this loss may have killed Seattle's playoff hopes). 

They only get tougher from here, with Green Bay in town next and then at Detroit. But the dream of the most improbable great season in franchise history remains alive.