Only eight days removed from grinding out a defensive win over the Eagles in Philadelphia, the Seahawks won’t get much of a reprieve in Week 13. The late-season gauntlet for Seattle continues with a home duel against the Minnesota Vikings.
Minnesota will enter Seattle with a nearly identical situation as the Seahawks. The Vikings are 8-3 and sitting in a wild card spot barely behind their division rivals in the Packers while the Seahawks are 9-2 and just behind their primary rivals, the 49ers.
A win on Monday night is crucial for both teams for two different reasons. First and foremost, it is critical in the wild card standings. The Vikings have a chance to leapfrog the Seahawks to the No. 5 seed with a win, while Seattle can tighten up its grip on the No. 5 seed by taking care of business at home.
The second reason has to do with divisional standings. Division titles are still very much within grasp of both teams, with the NFC North title actually being a little closer for the Vikings. Green Bay and Minnesota share identical 8-3 records, with the Packers only holding on with a head-to-head tiebreaker. Meanwhile, the Seahawks are desperate to keep pace with a Niners team hellbent on running away with it.
The Vikings boast one of the most talented rosters in all of football and the Seahawks are one of the hottest teams in the league. It certainly looks like Monday night is shaping into must-watch television this week.
Prediction: Seahawks over Vikings 17-14
This is a rematch only one year later of the same game between the same teams at the same venue on the same broadcast. Last year the Seahawks were able to win 21-7 over Minnesota, but it was a hard-hitting brawl for the majority of the game.
The Seahawks were nursing a 6-0 lead well into the fourth quarter until they blew the doors open late with two big plays. However, the Vikings were well within striking distance multiple times and had they been a little more productive in their goal-line situations, the outcome wouldn’t have been so favorable to Seattle.
The Vikings are playing some of their best football in years, and their talented receiving duo of Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs are certain to be more of a challenge than the no-name Eagles wideouts the Seahawks secondary made swift work of last week. Not to mention running back Dalvin Cook, who is one of the best in the league.
However, the Vikings are also led by a quarterback who is 0-7 on Monday nights. Kirk Cousins is having a great year as well, but it is hard to pick a quarterback who is winless on “Monday Night Football” versus the team with the highest win percentage in MNF history that is also led by the league’s potential MVP.
The Vikings will put up a strong challenge just like last year, and their defense will stymie Seattle’s offense for large parts of the game, but expect some more late-game magic from Wilson to pull it out.
