MINNEAPOLIS — A feel-good story for 59 minutes, The Blair Walsh Project turned into a horror film for the Vikings here Sunday afternoon.
The usually reliable Minnesota kicker was left kicking himself after his woeful shank of a 27-yard field-goal try with 26 seconds left handed the Seahawks a 10-9 NFC wild card playoff victory at frigid TCF Bank Stadium.
The third-coldest game in NFL history — it was minus-six degrees at kickoff and minus-21 with the wind chill — will be remembered more for Walsh’s incredible gaffe than the mind-numbing temperatures.
The shocking, wide-left misfire, which came after Walsh shrugged off the brutal conditions to connect on 47- and 43-yard field goal tries earlier in the day, sent Seattle to face the Panthers in the divisional round next Sunday.
It also left the Vikings in agonized dismay at such a golden upset opportunity gone to waste, considering the Seahawks had blasted them 37-7 on this same field just a month earlier.
“The snap spot was maybe a little high, but it’s a chip shot — he’s got to make it,” snapped Minnesota coach Mike Zimmer, whose team was on the doorstep of just its second playoff victory since the 2005 season.
The miss was completely out of character for Walsh, a former first-team All-Pro who had missed just one of 31 tries from 20-29 yards in his four-year NFL career before Sunday.
A contributing factor might have been holder Jeff Locke’s inability to get the laces spun away from Walsh because of the cold, but Walsh wasn’t hearing any of that during a standup display in the Vikings’ otherwise silent postgame locker room.
“I can tell you this: It’s my fault,” Walsh said. “I don’t care if you give me a watermelon hole, I should be able to put that through. I’m the only one who didn’t do my job there, and that’s on me.”
But Walsh was far from the only goat for the Vikings in their final game at the University of Minnesota’s outdoor stadium before a gleaming new dome opens next season.
Not only did Minnesota fail to score a touchdown despite getting inside the Seattle 10 twice, but NFL rushing champion Adrian Peterson was held to 45 yards on 23 carries and set up the go-ahead points by the Seahawks with a fumble midway through the fourth quarter.
Vikings kicker Blair WalshAPIt was Peterson’s eighth fumble of the season, the most of any running back in the league, and led to a 46-yard Steven Hauschka field goal with 8:04 left that gave the Seahawks the lead for the first time — and, ultimately, for good.
The Vikings could also blame cornerback Captain Munnerlyn, whose terrible angle on Russell Wilson on a busted played early in the fourth quarter led to a 35-yard completion that turned the game completely around.
Seattle looked dead in the water down 9-0 with 13:02 left when Wilson had the snap go over his head near midfield. But Munnerlyn whiffed badly on the easy sack opportunity, allowing Wilson to scramble and find Tyler Lockett for a 35-yard completion to the Minnesota 4.
The play added to Wilson’s resume of implausible poststeason heroics and led to a three-yard TD pass to red-hot receiver Doug Baldwin two plays later.
“It’s a rare play, but [Wilson] just does stuff like that,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “We have kind of come to count on it, and it’s been a factor for us. … There’s some real magic in there.”
When Peterson followed just two plays after that with his crucial fumble courtesy of safety Kam Chancellor, the Seahawks could feel the momentum turn their way.
For Seattle, The Blair Walsh Project had a happy ending.
“I’ll be working hard to erase that from my career,” Walsh said. “But it’ll take awhile.”
