Vikings players didn’t hold back after Blair Walsh missed a game-winning field goal in the 2015-16 Vikings-Seahawks wild card game.
Who is ready to dredge up old Vikings wounds? No better time than just before the 2023-24 season kicks off.
In a recent episode of Skor North’s The O-Line Committee podcast, former Vikings linemen Jeremiah Sirles and Alex Boone rehashed the 2015 loss and how players reacted to Walsh’s miss.
“I was inactive for that game, it was my first year in Minnesota,” Sirles started. “I was standing next to [Vikings general manager] Rick Spielman because he had come down out of the booth and we were all going to celebrate. And [Walsh] missed it [field goal kick] and Rick looks at me, looks back at the field and goes ‘What the f***?!’ and just turned around and walked away.”
The Vikings had struggled all afternoon to move the ball with quarterback Teddy Bridgewater throwing 17 of 24 for only 146 yards while Adrian Peterson rushed for only 45 yards against the league’s No. 2 defense. Despite the lack of offense the Vikings were trailing the Seahawks by one point when Walsh missed a 27-yard chip shot with 26 seconds left in the game.
“It was the classic, in the locker room after the game, where [Vikings head coach Mike] Zimmer was like ‘Hey, it’s not on Blair. It’s on everyone,'” continued Sirles. “I can’t remember who it was, it might have been Everson [Griffen], who was in the back, goes ‘The f*** it isn’t!’ and started freaking out.
“Because, like, the season’s over, it’s done and everybody is sitting there. Zimmer tried to use the ‘We lose as a team, we win as a team’ rule and there was a couple guys that were just not having it. Like, they were like ‘Nope. Nope, that’s fully on three’s [Blair Walsh] shoulders.’ It got bad. That was probably the worst ending to a season I’ve had because people were so pissed.”
