Seahawks perfect versus Vikings under Pete Carroll but will it last?

The Seahawks record vs the Vikings has been perfect under coach Pete Carroll. This doesn’t mean they’ve been unbeatable, though. Can they keep it up?

I imagine all good little 12s know this as part of the catechism of the Seahawks faithful. In case you were unaware of this nugget, your heroes have never lost to the Vikings under head coach Pete Carroll. To date, the Hawks record vs the Vikes is 12-5 overall, but a stellar 7-0 under the ageless one. Hey, did you hear he turned 70? Crazy, right? Thank goodness for bored broadcast teams…

Well, I don’t think they’ll be bored during Sunday’s contest. The Seahawks 7-0 record hasn’t always come easily.  Sure, there were a few laughers there, but the last two games were pretty tight. That includes last year’s one-point squeaker that needed a Wilson to Metcalf score with 15 seconds on the clock to secure the win.

Will Seahawks remain perfect versus Vikings since Pete Carroll came to town?

That doesn’t include the harrowing one-point wild card win in Minnesota that saw the Seahawks shut down until the fourth quarter. 7-0 looks great – okay, it is great – but it’s been anything but easy to take the Norsemen down. That game doesn’t exactly apply to this weekend’s contest, as the Vikes have a different quarterback, star running back, and kicker, among other major personnel changes.

At QB, the Seahawks will have to contain Kirk Cousins. He hasn’t had the best record vs Seattle himself, going just 1-4 with a 92.5 passer rating. He’s only thrown for seven touchdowns against the Hawks, but has only been picked off twice. Cousins averaged just under 253 yards passing per game. Those are respectable numbers, but not what it usually takes to beat Seattle.

Running Back Dalvin Cook hasn’t had much success vs the Seahawks either. He’s averaged just under 50 yards rushing and exactly 29 yards receiving vs the boys in college navy and wolf gray. Cook’s best output was in last year’s game, where he totaled 89 yards and scored a TD. The Hawks haven’t been able to keep him out of the end zone, though, as he’s scored once in all three games vs Seattle.

I would talk about the Vikings kicker, but despite coach Mike Zimmer’s vote of confidence, they may have another guy lining up before this get published, so why bother? I would link to another article, but as it mentions Blair Walsh, I didn’t want to trigger any seizures among our beloved 12s. Suffice to say, the kicking game isn’t exactly stable in Minnesota.

What does all this mean for the Seahawks and Pete Carroll? Admittedly, maybe not too much. The Vikings are probably better than their 0-2 record shows. A bigger issue in this game is that the third time Carroll will lead his Hawks in Minnesota. That includes that tense wild card game in 2016. Bottom line: despite this being a rare road game in the frozen north, I still see a Seahawks win.