The Sports Xchange
Dec 6, 2015
MINNEAPOLIS -- The Seattle Seahawks scored five touchdowns in six drives and dominated the Minnesota Vikings 38-7 at TCF Bank Stadium on Sunday.
Russell Wilson accounted for four touchdowns on the day and threw for 274 yards for the Seahawks, who won their third consecutive game and moved to within a game of the Vikings in the NFC wild-card standings.
Minnesota was embarrassed on its home field for the second time in three weeks; the Vikings lost 30-13 to the Green Bay Packers on Nov. 22. The loss dropped Minnesota into a first-place tie with the Packers atop the NFC North at 8-4 with a road game against the NFC West-leading Arizona Cardinals on the docket on Thursday.
Wilson had three touchdown passes to stake Seattle to a 21-0 halftime lead.
Wilson hit running back Fred Jackson with a 5-yard scoring pass on their initial drive of the second half, then connected with Doug Baldwin on a 53-yard strike later in the quarter, bumping Seattle's lead to 35-0.
Minnesota's Cordarrelle Patterson ran the ensuing kickoff back 101 yards for the Vikings' lone touchdown.
Seahawks running back Thomas Rawls finished with 97 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries. His 5-yard scoring run gave the Seahawks a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter.
Wilson ran for a score of eight yards on Seattle's next drive to make it two-score game, capping a 13-play, 98-yard drive that took more than six minutes off the clock.
Vikings quarterback threw an interception on Minnesota's next possession and Wilson hit Baldwin from 20 yards for the duo's first scoring play of the day on the next play.
Baldwin finished with 94 yards on five receptions and has 24 catches for 433 yards and six touchdowns over his last four games.
Minnesota's offense finished with just 125 total yards and as both Bridgewater and running back Adrian Peterson struggled to get much of anything going. Peterson had five carries for 10 yards at halftime.
Bridgewater finished 17-for-28 for 118 yards and an interception. Peterson finished with 18 yards on eight carries and caught four passes for six yards.
NOTES: Vikings LB Anthony Barr left the game in the first quarter with a groin injury and did not return. ... Vikings S Harrison Smith left the game in the first quarter with a hamstring injury and did not return. ... Seattle will look to extend its winning streak to four games next week with a road game against the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium.