Kevin O’Connell and the Minnesota Vikings have cruised down the road to the playoffs. While the Vikings had to get over some preseason noise, they dampened it, entering Week 16 with a 12-2 record and a chance to earn home-field advantage in the NFC playoffs for the first time since 1998.
But while the Vikings have breezed by Lambeau Field, Draft Bust Alley, and Top-Five Trade Destinations for Justin Jefferson Way, there will be a green glow in the sky as they approach their next stop. Some call it the Emerald City, but it would be more accurate to call it “Action Green.” It’s where all of Minnesota’s horrors have come to life, and it comes with a history as dark as a grunge band’s greatest hits.
We’re not just talking about a game with the Seattle Seahawks. We’re talking about Lumen Field, where Seattle has tormented the Vikings since it opened in 2002.
The Vikings were introduced to Lumen Field just weeks after it opened in September 2002. The Arizona Cardinals were the first team to learn about Seattle’s new home-field advantage after moving from The Kingdome. However, the Vikings were next, running into a freight train named Shaun Alexander.
A third-year back out of Alabama, Alexander scored on the opening drive and ripped off a 20-yard touchdown run to give the Seahawks a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. Daunte Culpepper ran in a touchdown from 12 yards out and Rian Lindell and Gary Anderson exchanged field goals to keep the game manageable for the Vikings, down 17-10.
However, everything went haywire in the final 2:53 of the first half. Alexander’s 80-yard touchdown reception from Trent Dilfer swung the game back in Seattle’s favor. Later, Alexander scored a three-yard touchdown to put the Seahawks up 31-10 at the two-minute warning.
D’Wayne Bates fumbled the following kickoff, allowing Alexander to score his fifth touchdown of the first half on the next play, and Reggie Tongue returned a Culpepper interception 46 yards to give the Seahawks a 45-10 lead in front of a national television audience.
The 48-23 loss gave the Seahawks their first victory in their new stadium. Although Chester Taylor’s 95-yard touchdown run highlighted Minnesota’s 31-13 win in Seattle in 2006, it stands as their lone win at Lumen Field in seven trips.
In other words, the worst was yet to come.
Adrian Peterson was entering his MVP form when the Vikings went to Seattle in 2012. While he did his part with 182 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, Christian Ponder threw for 63 yards and an interception in a 30-20 loss to the Seahawks.
Also, this was the game where Leslie Frazier yelled at Percy Harvin; Frazier, at the time, was the most mild-mannered coach on the planet. When the Vikings returned the following year, Harvin was on the home sideline. The Seahawks limited Peterson to 65 rushing yards and held Ponder to 129 passing yards with two interceptions in a 41-20 loss.
The next trip came five years later when the Vikings tried to claw their way to the playoffs. Coming off a trip to the NFC Championship game the year before, new quarterback Kirk Cousins didn’t mesh with offensive coordinator John DeFilippo, and Seattle shut out the Vikings until Cousins threw a six-yard touchdown pass to Dalvin Cook with 1:10 remaining.
The 21-7 loss would be the last game DeFilippo served as offensive coordinator for the Vikings, but Kevin Stefanski helped Minnesota find some traction in 2019. The Vikings took a 17-10 lead on Dan Bailey’s 47-yard field goal at the end of the first half. However, Seattle out-scored the Vikings 21-0 in the third quarter, including a 60-yard touchdown pass from Russell Wilson to David Moore to put Seattle up 27-17.
Rashaad Penny doubled up the Vikings on a 13-yard touchdown pass with 13:30 left in the first quarter. Laquon Treadwell had a rare touchdown reception – a 58-yarder from Cousins – in what turned out to be a 37-30 loss.
Vikings fans have probably had enough of this trip down memory lane. However, their strangest trip was their last one to Seattle in 2020. With the 12th Man locked in their homes due to COVID-19, the Vikings jumped out to a 13-0 lead at halftime. A Wilson touchdown to Will Dissly got Seattle back into the game, and a Cousins meltdown, including a fumble and an interception, helped Seattle score 21 points during a 1:58 stretch in the third quarter.
Minnesota regained the lead on two touchdown passes from Cousins to Adam Thielen. However, their failed two-point conversion left fans with an ominous feeling. Alexander Mattison filled in for an injured Cook and helped the Vikings drive inside the Seattle 10 with a chance to put the game away. Instead, he missed a hole the size of a Viking ship on a fourth-and-one with two minutes to play.
Seattle still had to drive 94 yards to earn the win. Unfortunately, this was the year that Mike Zimmer had a bad defense. Wilson converted a fourth-and-10 on a 39-yard pass to D.K. Metcalf, and Harrison Smith had one of the most iconic moments of his career when he screamed at Cam Dantzler for allowing Metcalf to catch the game-winning touchdown with 20 seconds left.
Following that 27-26 loss, Vikings fans put their trip to Seattle this season as an automatic loss when the NFL released their schedule. But perhaps there’s a case that this Vikings team has what it takes to break the curse – even if just for an afternoon.
The Vikings team that will arrive at Lumen Field on Sunday is different than the ones that came before. The 2002 Vikings were still finding themselves under Mike Tice. The 2012 Vikings made the playoffs, but the 2013 team was one of the worst in franchise history, leading Minnesota to fire Frazier.
Zimmer’s teams had a pair of chances to crack the code, but a quarterback who succumbed to loud noises, Cover 2 defenses, and competition at backup undid them. Mix in musical chairs at offensive coordinator, and it’s not surprising that the Vikings haven’t won in Seattle since 2006.
But these Vikings claim to be “situational masters” under O’Connell, and they’re facing a different Seahawks team than in years past. When the Vikings made their first trip to Seattle, they faced a core that would eventually go to the Super Bowl behind Alexander and Matt Hasselbeck in 2005. When they visited in the 2010s, Wilson and the Legion of Boom greeted them before winning the Super Bowl in 2013.
By comparison, the Seahawks are in the same spot the Vikings were in their trips to Seattle. Mike Macdonald is a first-year coach trying to figure things out, and he may have an injured Geno Smith or Sam Howell at quarterback. The Seahawks also have Ryan Grubb, an offensive coordinator who runs long-developing routes with a bad offensive line. He hasn’t adapted to his situation under a defensive head coach.
If the Vikings are a Super Bowl contender, they should be able to beat a team like the Seahawks. But Seattle has been a weird place to play, and it could send them off track on their road to home-field advantage in the NFC.