Seahawks escape with 10-9 win over Vikings after Walsh miss

“At first it was a shock of how cold it was, but you get over it and focus on the task at hand”.

The Vikings were headed for what seemed like a certain victory, having driven to Seattle’s 10-yard line to set up a 27-yard field-goal attempt that would have put Minnesota up by two points with just over 20 seconds left. He also connected on a 22-yard field goal in the first quarter and a 47-yarder near the end of the third quarter that pushed the lead to 9-0. In a postgame interview with NBC’s Michele Tafoya, Seattle safety Kam Chancellor said, “I didn’t think he was going to make it….” That stings. I will be working hard to erase that from my career but it will take a while. The rest of the first half went by with both teams being forced to trade punts.

With this victory, Seattle moves on to the NFC Divisional Round of the playoffs to setup a date with the No. 1 seed of the NFC, Carolina Panthers (15-1).

“It’s a chip shot”, Zimmer said.

Yet in a game where the temperature at kickoff was minus-6 degrees Fahrenheit, the Vikings were ready this time.

A bad snap helped turn around the game for the Seahawks in the fourth quarter.

Holder Jeff Locke referenced the laces of the ball facing in when Walsh took the kick by saying he “definitely could have spun the ball better” despite wearing gloves because of the cold weather.

Walsh, 26, has been one of the NFL’s more accurate kickers since entering the league as a sixth-round pick out of Georgia in 2012, converting 85.2 percent of his attempts.

Redskins coach Jay Gruden, like Mike Zimmer, is a product of the Marvin Lewis coaching tree. While Doug Baldwin has been Wilson’s top target with 11 TD receptions in his last six games, the buzz in Seattle revolves around the availability of running back Marshawn Lynch, who returned to practice for the first time since undergoing abdominal surgery on November 25. Walsh had made kicks under 30 yards 97 percent of the time before Sunday, and it is not very often that a quarterback can avoid a sack when the ball is snapped over him, let alone complete a 35-yard pass. The former N.C. State product loss track of the ball and then recovered it and then hit his receiver twenty yards down field to set up the lone Seattle touchdown. Blair Walsh missed the go-ahead field goal. Peterson gained only 45 yards on 23 carries Sunday, and couldn’t break a run longer than 13 yards against the team that held him to 18 yards on eight carries five weeks ago.

Pete Carroll’s team played strong defense the entire game, but allowed Minnesota to drive down at the end of the game.