The Seattle Seahawks (7-5) will try to win their fourth straight game in a row when they host the Minnesota Vikings (6-5-1) under the prime-time lights of Monday Night Football.
This is the second straight road game for the Vikings, who have lost two of their last three games and are coming off a 24-10 loss to the New England Patriots. The Seahawks meanwhile scored a season-high 43 points in last week’s win against the San Francisco 49ers.
Kirk Cousins, on his first year with the Vikings, is having one of the best seasons of his career as he’s already thrown for 3490 yards and completed 71.3 percent of his passes.
The Vikings like to throw the ball a lot and Cousins has a dangerous receiving core at his disposal, including Adam Thielen, who leads the NFL with 98 receptions, seventh in receiving yards (1,166), and sixth in receiving touchdowns with nine.
Wide receiver Stephon Diggs is another solid receiver on the Vikings roster that has 84 receptions on the season and is averaging nearly 10 yards per catch.
The Seahawks, 7-2 on Monday Night games since Pete Carroll took over, will need to polish their tackling. Last week they gave up 386 passing yards to 49ers quarterback Nick Mullens and if those mishaps continue, they will pay a much higher price as this week they face a much more talented team.
Although the Vikings are keen on throwing the ball, you can expect them to try to get back to running the ball more against Seattle. Look for running backs Latavius Murray and Dalvin Cook, who are both averaging 4.2 yards per attempt, to have plenty of carries in this game.
The Seahawks offensive line will be without guard D.J. Fluker who suffered a hamstring injury in last week’s game, making an already tough test even tougher. The Vikings pass rush already has 36 sacks this season led by defensive end Danielle Hunter, who has 11.5 this season.
The Vikings will need all the pass pressure they can generate as they try to contain Russell Wilson, one of the most mobile quarterbacks in the league. The Vikings need not only to get after Wilson constantly, but to actually put him down on the ground and harass him as much as possible.
Wilson is on a hot streak as he has 11 touchdown passes in the last four games, but that success has a lot to do not only with the great protection up front, but also their great running game, which ranks as the best in the league.
Look for the Seahawks to benefit from Wilson’s great scrambling ability to nullify the Vikings pass pressure and win this crucial match.
Prediction: Vikings 17 – 27 Seahawks
