Instant reaction: Vikings win as red-hot offense bails out early defensive struggles
Kirk Cousins delivered a third straight outstanding performance
By Sam Ekstrom
MINNEAPOLIS — The Vikings offense continues rolling, and now they have a desperately-needed victory to show for it.
A shockingly punchless Seattle secondary had no answer for Kirk Cousins and the Vikings receivers as Cousins threw three touchdowns en route to a 30-17 Minnesota win. With the train somewhat back on the tracks, the Vikings can even their record and, in essence, hit the reset button if they even their record up next week against Cleveland.
It’s seeming likelier that the Vikings will need to win games in shootout fashion like they did Sunday, and almost did the previous week at Arizona. The defense still has questions to answer, but the offense is in mid-season form.
Without Dalvin Cook, Alexander Mattison turned in an admirable performance while Cousins spread the ball around for 323 yards. The Seahawks, meanwhile, were miles away from Vikings receivers all afternoon, only sacked Cousins once and failed to force a turnover. After a horrid first half in Week 1, Klint Kubiak has had the Vikings operating on all cylinders since.
Amazingly, at one point the Seahawks held a double-digit lead in the game after another leaky start by the Minnesota defense, which seemed perplexed in the early-going by Seattle’s no-huddle.
The Vikings defense offered next to no resistance on the opening three Seattle drives, only managing to hold them to a field goal once because the Seahawks stifled their own drive with a block in the back penalty. That field goal was sandwiched between a DK Metcalf touchdown against a porous Bashaud Breeland and a 30-yard Chris Carson run where he was hardly touched.
Maybe Mike Zimmer made the correct adjustment, or maybe the efficient Minnesota offense just kept Russell Wilson off the field enough to slow the Seahawks. From the time Seattle went up 17-7, they only got one meaningful drive (not including pre-halftime) for the next 18 minutes of game time — a missed Jason Myers field goal. That was Seattle’s best chance to score the rest of the game as they were shut out for the final 41-plus minutes.
It took the Vikings until late in the third quarter to force a punt, aided by Everson Griffen’s second down sack. But playing with a bigger lead seemed to spark the defense late as they forced another punt and a turnover on downs in the fourth quarter before the Seahawks’ garbage time drive to end it.
The shift in momentum was stark after early Seattle dominance. The Seahawks generated over 200 yards of offense on their first three drives before falling apart the rest of the way.
Seahawks fans will look back at a key third-down penalty as a turning point when they led 17-7. A defensive holding call on a failed third down gave the Vikings new life while trailing by 10. From that point on, it was all Minnesota.
In fact, it’s hard to figure out what Seattle did right defensively. The lack of run defense set up everything for the Vikings, who got a career high 171 all-purpose yards from Alexander Mattison, who was also active in the screen game with 59 yards through the air. That set up Cousins to pick apart the struggling Seahawks defensive backs with manageable down-and-distances.
Tyler Conklin was his most involved yet, catching seven balls for 70 yards and his first touchdown of the season. Justin Jefferson was likewise at his best in 2021, hitting over 100 yards on nine catches while catching the go-ahead touchdown just before halftime.
The Vikings converted nine of 13 third downs, including a 3rd and 13 to Adam Thielen for a touchdown in the second quarter. It was that kind of day for Cousins, whose worst mishap of the day was throwing his shoe before a play in the first half. His 128.4 passer rating was a touch better than his 122.4 mark in Arizona the week prior.
Despite the 1-2 record, Cousins is off to his best start as a Viking. With the offense producing 24, 30 and 33 points in the first three weeks without any backbreaking mistakes by the quarterback, Minnesota might be onto something with Kubiak, Cousins and Co.
Seattle, meanwhile, might be in serious trouble as they’re already squarely in last in a competitive NFC West.
Sunday’s win for Minnesota furthered the narrative that was established after the Arizona game. There could be a lot of points scored in Vikings games this season, and the offense will have to carry the load as it did against the Seahawks.
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Cousins can win me back if he gets vaccinated.. maybe he did, saw him hugging people without mask on the sidelines, so one can hope!! That aside he's played really well.
Great read Sam, this is the best I've seen Cousins play since he came to MN. If he keeps this up I'll have to change my opinion about being 'good' vs. 'great'. The O-line was equally solid. Impressive actually. I thought the game calling was excellent. In specific review:
Defense was completely outclassed in the first QTR. Terrible run defense.
Westbrook is a liability, he overestimates his skill and looks inadequate to the task on fielding returns.
On the other hand Griffen's play was excellent and he should not start opposite of Hunter. That personal foul call was almost as tacky and the holding call on Bradbury.
CJ Ham was outstanding!!
Madison was outstanding!!
Cousins, again, outstanding!!
O-line, outstanding!!
Klint game calling, outstanding!!
Receivers, outstanding. I wouldn't have scored them that high but they blocked consistently. That quad of Theilen, Jefferson, Osborn, and Conklin is very good.
I'm still shaking my head with how well Cousins played. He should get considerable accolade for that effort!!
SKOL Vikings!