Analysis: Vikings’ 26-0 loss earns its place in their history of misery in Seattle

SEATTLE — They have been undone here before. In 2002, it was Shaun Alexander scoring five touchdowns in a Seahawks blowout win over the Vikings. In 2012, it was Percy Harvin screaming at coach Leslie Frazier about Christian Ponder on the sideline; a year later, Harvin made sure his return from hip surgery would allow him to make his Seahawks debut against his former team.

Mike Zimmer’s season-long feud with John DeFilippo ended after a Monday night game in 2018, when the coach fired the offensive coordinator the morning after a 21-7 loss here. The Seahawks ran over and through the Vikings in 2019, and, after Seattle stopped Alexander Mattison on fourth down in 2020, Russell Wilson drove the Seahawks 94 yards in less than two minutes and hit DK Metcalf for the game-winner on fourth down, as Harrison Smith shouted obscenities at rookie Cameron Dantzler with a glare that could have pierced through the rookie’s core.

But never in their 21st-century misadventures in Seattle’s cacophonous stadium have the Vikings left Lumen Field without points.

They were shut out for the first time in 18 years on Sunday, falling 26-0 to the Seahawks in a defeat that will take its place in their history of fraught journeys to the Pacific Northwest. Not since a 34-0 loss to the Packers on Nov. 11, 2007, had the Vikings been held scoreless; not since Joshua Dobbs did it against the Bears in 2023 had the Vikings seen a quarterback throw four interceptions in a game.

Max Brosmer, making his first NFL start on Sunday with J.J. McCarthy recovering from a concussion, was picked off four times in Seattle, including on a disastrous sidearm throw in the second quarter that Ernest Jones IV returned 85 yards for a touchdown. The score was Seattle’s only touchdown until a Zach Charbonnet run in the fourth quarter; it felt for much of the day like the only one the Seahawks would need.

“In no way, shape or form can we play offensive football like that and try to win at a place like this,” coach Kevin O’Connell said. “I did think our defense played as well as they could, considering the amount of lift that they had to do today. I thought we had some moments in the kicking game, field position-wise. We just did not have the type of offensive performance that is ever going to be acceptable in the Minnesota Vikings organization.”

The Vikings had six first downs in the first 51 minutes, failed to convert their first seven third-down attempts and finished with five turnovers, as Aaron Jones Sr. lost a fumble in addition to Brosmer’s four interceptions. An offensive line missing Christian Darrisaw and Donovan Jackson allowed four sacks and created little room to run, with Jones and Jordan Mason gaining just 11 yards on six first-half carries. Even though the Vikings sacked Sam Darnold four times before halftime and held Jaxon Smith-Njigba (the NFL’s leading receiver) to 23 yards on two catches, the game felt nearly out of reach by the time the Seahawks reached double digits.

The Vikings, whose only victory in Seattle since 2006 came in Darnold’s stirring performance last December, are now 4-8, having lost four straight since a Nov. 2 upset of the Lions brought them back to .500. Their playoff hopes exist in only a few farfetched scenarios, which would require them winning their last five games while leapfrogging five teams in a bid for a wild-card spot. Perhaps most concerningly, the offense that’s supposed to be their livelihood is in a critical state.

Carson Wentz, who’s out for the season after left shoulder surgery, remains their only quarterback to throw for 300 yards in a game this season. The Vikings haven’t surpassed 200 passing yards in a game since McCarthy threw 42 times in a Nov. 9 loss to the Ravens, and have turned it over 13 times in their last four losses.

Jefferson, who sat at the end of the Vikings’ bench for much of the second half and kept a towel over his head on the sideline, declined to speak to reporters through a team representative after the game before leaving the locker room. McCarthy, whom O’Connell said was still in the concussion protocol as of Sunday night, could start again next week against the Commanders if he recovers in time to get a full week of practice.

It would likely take McCarthy’s prolonged absence for the Vikings to go with Brosmer, who completed 19 of his 30 passes for 126 yards on a day when both O’Connell and the quarterback said he might have been operating too quickly for the Vikings’ timing-based offense. Brosmer missed a throw for Jordan Addison before he finished his break, and hit Jefferson on just two of his six targets.

“It’s difficult to make that adjustment [during the game],” Brosmer said. “Honestly, it comes from experience. I could have done a better job through the rest of the game of noticing that quicker, maybe, and trying to slow myself down a little more. I pride myself on trying to get the ball out in a timely fashion. But sometimes when it’s too fast, the rest of the concept doesn’t develop the way it’s supposed to.”

When Brosmer’s third-and-6 pass to Addison was marked a yard-and-a-half short of a first down, O’Connell called for a play-action pass that would have Brosmer rolling right after faking a handoff on a power run to C.J. Ham. With DeMarcus Lawrence grabbing Brosmer’s left arm, the quarterback submarined a pass toward Josh Oliver while falling forward. Jones swooped in for the first of his two interceptions, pumping his arms and driving his knees as the former high school sprinter pulled away from the Vikings’ pursuit and jumped into the first row of the Lumen Field stands.

“I thought we might have had a little better spot on the third-down play,” O’Connell said. “We struggled to run it at the point of attack and things like that. Wanted to try to see if we could get Max out on the perimeter, [with] kind of a run-pass option. They ended up having a looping player in his face right away. Fourth down, he’s trying to make a play, and it ends up being obviously catastrophically bad.

“One of the reasons why you go for that, in that moment, is even if you don’t get it, the field position is going to be on your side with a defense playing really well. I’ve got to call a better play there. Got to decide the best option for us to try to limit that ever being the outcome in that scenario, but also give us a chance to score. We knew we’d have to score some points to win the game and to try to capture the momentum off that turnover, which I thought was a critical sequence.”

Before Sunday, the Vikings were 13 of 19 when running on third or fourth downs and needing less than two yards, though they’d attempted the third-fewest runs in the league in such situations and their conversion rate ranked just 17th in the league. O’Connell said the Vikings’ struggles running the ball influenced his decision to roll Brosmer out on fourth down, adding, “It felt like a chance to get the quarterback out on the edge, not drop-back pass or anything in that situation, or see if we can have multiple options besides just seeing if we can hammer it up in there.”

Brosmer said it’s his responsibility on the play to “take care of the football, and not try to make something happen when it’s not there.” At the end of the day, O’Connell told him, the loss was a valuable learning opportunity.

Experience for their quarterbacks is among the last remaining virtues of a season that began with high hopes based on the premise that the Vikings could win with a veteran cast that would support a young passer as he grew.

So many of the Vikings’ losses in Seattle have been costly blows to teams with playoff hopes. They’d exit on a misty Pacific evening pondering how they could recalibrate their postseason path. Sunday’s game, by contrast, played out on a bright late autumn afternoon, with no clouds in sight to abate the sunshine that streamed over the stadium’s south stands.

It was a rare setting in Seattle, where even the Vikings’ offensive futility stood out from the defeats that had preceded it.

“I don’t lose belief in anybody in here or anybody in this organization,” tight end T.J. Hockenson said. “I love this place, love this team, and you just have to keep moving forward.”