Seahawks' playoff hopes take a dent in costly loss to Vikings

Bob Condotta, The Seattle Times on Dec 22, 2024

Published in Football

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SEATTLE — The Seahawks' last regular-season home game of 2024 may have turned into a swan song for the season.

A shocking late collapse allowed the Minnesota Vikings to escape with a 27-24 win at Lumen Field, a result that leaves the Seahawks' playoff hopes hanging by a thread.

The Seahawks fell to 8-7 and a game behind the Los Angeles Rams, who improved to 9-6 with a win over the Jets in New York.

That means a combination of a Seahawks loss Thursday at Chicago and a Rams win over Arizona next Saturday and the season could be over next weekend.

For a brief moment, the Seahawks appeared as if they had at least stayed tied with the Rams when AJ Barner scored on a 4-yard TD pass from Geno Smith with 4:21 remaining in the game.

That gave the Seahawks the lead, at 24-20, for the first time all day.

But the Vikings needed just 30 seconds to retake the lead on a 39-yard pass from Sam Darnold to Justin Jefferson with 3:51 remaining.

The TD came a play after Seahawks rookie Byron Murphy II was called for a face mask that negated his own sack that would have set up a third-and-long.

The Seahawks responded by reaching the Minnesota 37 with a first down and a tie game at least seemed in the offing.

But a sack on first down moved the Seahawks back 7 yards.

The two-minute warning time out gave the Seahawks some time to think about it.

They opted for a 60-yard field-goal attempt by Jason Myers, whose career long is 61. The kick was into the open end zone, generally considered more difficult.

With what appeared to be a slight breeze in his face, Myers' kick came up short.

That gave the Vikings the ball at midfield.

The Vikings ran it twice to force the Seahawks to use their time outs, then took a sack on third down.

The Seahawks got the ball at their own 17 with no time outs.

A false start on Abe Lucas moved it back to the 12. Two plays later, a Smith desperation pass was picked off and that was that.

It was the second straight loss at Lumen Field and means the Seahawks end the year 3-6 at home.

Events earlier in the day eliminated the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers and turned the West into a true two-team race with two games to go.

For the second straight home game, the Seahawks dug an early hole, falling behind 17-7 midway through the second quarter.

But unlike the 30-13 loss to Green Bay last week, this time the Seahawks came all the way back.

The pass to Barner capped an 11-play 68-yard drive in 6:16.

The Seahawks had a first-and-goal at the 3. But two runs lost a combined one yard, and given the team's red zone issues of late, that seemed ominous.

On third down, Smith got time for routes to develop and fired in the back of the end zone to Barner who got a step on former Seahawks Shaq Griffin in the back of the end zone.

The Vikings responded in shockingly quick fashion, and the Seahawks are up against it to try to force a season finale game at L.A. against the Rams to mean something.

Minnesota seemed in control for most of the first half.

But the game seemed to turn late in the first half, doing so as the Vikings appeared on the verge of taking control. A Dallas Turner interception of a Smith pass led to a field goal and a 17-7 Vikings lead.

The Seahawks went three-and-out and the Vikings got the ball back at their own 29 with 1:57 left, figuring that at the least a first down or two would allow them to take a 10-point lead into halftime — but with the chance to add to it.

The Seahawks forced a three-and-out that took just 32 seconds off the clock.

Still, being backed up at their own 12, the Seahawks figured at best to try to get into field-goal position.

But offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb asked Smith to come out firing.

Smith hit Metcalf for gains of 20 and 12, then Jaxon Smith-Njigba for 13.

Then came one of Smith's best passes of the season as he threaded it to Smith-Njigba over the middle into tight coverage for a gain of 25.

After his lone incompletion on the drive, Smith hit Smith-Njigba for a TD that got the Seahawks right back in the game.

Smith-Njigba, who had three receptions for 56 yards on the drive, wheeled around Tyler Lockett at the line of scrimmage out of a bunch set and caused Vikings cornerback Byron Murphy Jr. to have to maneuver around teammate Stephon Gilmore and created just enough separation to get open.

Smith was 13 of 17 for 169 yards and two TDs in the first half

The Seahawks had 25 yards rushing on five attempts as they outgained the Vikings 194-160. They ended the half with an edge in yards per play of 8.8 to 4.3.

The Seahawks got the opening kickoff to the second half and drove 40 yards in eight plays to set up a 43-yard field goal by Myers that tied the game at 17 with 10:37 to play in the third quarter.

A Vikings field goal a little later made it 20-17 and set the stage for a frantic ending that also may be fatal for the Seahawks.