Blair Anderson is a Vikings superfan who convinced Bring Me The News to give him a blog.
It was in the fall of 2002 and the Minnesota Vikings were beginning their descent into irrelevancy after the complete overhaul that was the 2001 season. To enjoy a Sunday night matchup with the Seattle Seahawks, a couple of friends of mine decided to head down to Buffalo Wild Wings and hopefully watch a Vikings victory.
Thirty minutes later, Seattle workhorse Shaun Alexander had five rushing touchdowns in the first half and everything was ruined.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51s7Aqf_llY
Maybe it was the pitchers of Grain Belt we were drinking or the fact that my friend was going up against Alexander in our fantasy league, but he absolutely lost his mind while staring at me in a trance.
“Leeeeeaner, meeeeeeaner, greeeeener Seahawks!”
At first, it was funny, but he kept repeating it with the intensity growing every time he said it. Eventually, he ripped off his shirt and the next thing I knew, I was banned for life from Buffalo Wild Wings.
So why would I tell you this story? Because weird stuff seems to happen every time the Vikings cross paths with the Seahawks.
In recent history, the Seahawks haven’t necessarily dominated the Vikings, but something quirky always seems to happen. Seattle has won the last five meetings, with the Vikings‘ last win coming in 2009. To make matters worse, the Vikings haven’t won at CenturyLink Field since 2006.
The most notable loss, of course, came in the 2015 NFC Wild Card game where Blair Walsh lined up for a 27-yard field goal and the next thing you know he kicked it into the Mississippi River.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb_eXyhlHaA
I was at this atrocity and the reaction of Walsh’s miss was something out of those war movies where there is an explosion and all you can hear is a ringing sound in your ears (or in this case, the ruffling of snow pants and the occasional Vikings fan screaming “F@#$ YOU, BLAIR!!!”
This continued last year when John DiFilippo finished off his tenure with the Vikings by calling a kick-ass offense that would make Brad Childress blush. With Kirk Cousins looking like a deer in headlights, Frank Clark took his lunch money and proceeded to eat his lunch in front of him while Cousins dinked and dunked his way during a barrage of useless three-yard passes.
This game had the added bonus of being played in Seattle where everything is just weird overall. It’s always cloudy and/or raining. People listen to Nirvana and Pearl Jam on repeat. My other friend went there to check out CenturyLink Field last year and when I asked how he liked the stadium, he didn’t even recall walking in. In fact, he has a video of his wife crying during the fourth quarter and saying “I JUST WANT IT TO END!!!”
Odds are the rest of the Vikings felt the same way as they sat with an easily attainable 6-0 deficit, but were shut out for the first 58 minutes of the game before scoring. Again…weird stuff happens in Seattle.
So that leaves us with this Monday night matchup. With the Green Bay Packers having the uncanny ability to draw flags (aka “Lambeau Magic”), the Vikings need to win this game to even have a chance at winning the NFC North. It may be tough considering Adam Thielen has already been ruled out, but like I said, stranger things have happened in Seattle.
