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Takeaways from Seahawks' shutout Week 13 victory vs. Vikings

The Seahawks' defense put together its most dominant performance of the season in a 26-0 victory.
Connor Benintendi|
Nov 30, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks linebacker Drake Thomas (42) celebrates after a tackle during the second half against the Minnesota Vikings at Lumen Field.
Nov 30, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks linebacker Drake Thomas (42) celebrates after a tackle during the second half against the Minnesota Vikings at Lumen Field. | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

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Seattle Seahawks

Handing the Minnesota Vikings their first shutout loss in 18 years, the Seattle Seahawks rolled to their second-straight victory, 26-0, on Sunday, Nov. 30, at Lumen Field.

It wasn’t an efficient day for the offense, but Seattle’s defense showed up in a big way to deny undrafted rookie quarterback Max Brosmer any glory in his first NFL start.

The Seahawks (9-3) kept pace in the NFC playoff race, while the Vikings (4-8) dropped their fourth straight game.

Here’s what we learned from Seattle’s thumping of Minnesota at home in Week 13.

Defense does its job, and then some

This shouldn’t come as a surprise on a Mike Macdonald-led squad, but the Seahawks’ defense is hitting its stride — still with multiple backups in the lineup — at the perfect time.

The Seahawks’ offense can be explosive and exciting, but we’ve now seen multiple games this season where they struggle to put points on the board. It’s Seattle’s defense that has propped the team up when the points aren’t coming.

Sound familiar? Pete Carroll’s Super Bowl teams with the Seahawks had a defensive strength for nearly a decade, and they were competitive regardless of what the offense was doing. This unit is solidifying itself as the best Seahawks defense in a long time.

Sure, Sunday’s win was against an undrafted rookie quarterback making his first start, but these are the opportunities the Seahawks have to capitalize on, and they did that.

The Seahawks had four interceptions, a fumble recovery returned for a touchdown and four sacks. Minnesota had just 162 total yards of offense, and Brosmer finished 19 of 30 for 126 yards and four picks.

Minnesota had not been shut out since 2007. Regardless of who’s quarterbacking the team, that’s a monumental win for the defense.

The Seahawks beat the Tennessee Titans (1-11) by just six points in Week 12, raising some questions about why they didn’t dominate the NFL’s worst team. Against the Vikings, Seattle proved it can flush bad teams easily.

Seahawks’ offense is far from invincible

There is a formula to halt the Seahawks’ explosive offense. The Los Angeles Rams cracked the code in Week 11, and the Vikings — also with an excellent defense — similarly stopped Seattle.

The difference against Minnesota was that Sam Darnold only turned the ball over once, instead of four times, and the Vikings have a dysfunctional offense. That’s what created the massive difference on the scoreboard.

Seattle struggles to finish drives against good defenses. That results in frequent field goals instead of potentially taking a big lead. Seattle’s games against the Rams and Vikings are eerily similar, aside from the result.

Week 11 vs. Rams (21-19 loss): 12 total drives; 4 FG, 1 TD, 4 TO

Week 13 vs. Vikings (26-0 win): 10 total drives; 4 FG, 1 TD, 1 TO

Sam Darnold completed 14 of 26 passes for 128 yards and was sacked four times in his first game against the Vikings since leaving in free agency this past offseason. Jaxon Smith-Njigba had a season-low two catches for 23 yards. The Seahawks had their fewest total yards (219) since Darnold became the quarterback.

It wasn’t the revenge game Darnold hoped for personally, but the difference on the scoreboard should help ease that pain.

Still, they have to find consistency against good teams to take some pressure off the defense. Offensive inconsistency remains their biggest concern heading into December football.

How does slow day impact Smith-Njigba’s pace for all-time record?

Smith-Njigba now has 82 catches for 1,336 yards and seven touchdowns on the season. That does put him behind the pace for the single-season receiving yards record of 1,964 yards, set by former Detroit Lions star Calvin Johnson in 2012.

Following the season-low performance, Smith-Njigba is on a 17-game pace of 116 catches, 1,892 yards and 10 touchdowns.

It’s just the fourth time all season that Smith-Njigba has finished with fewer than 100 receiving yards, and the second time he’s had less than 90 yards. With five games remaining, however, there’s still plenty of time for him to get back on track.

Top of NFC playoff picture is muddy as ever

The Seahawks got a gift from the Carolina Panthers early on Sunday after they upset the Rams, 31-28. Following the win, Seattle is now in a three-way tie for first place in the NFC with a 9-3 record.

The Chicago Bears, Rams and Seahawks are all vying for the No. 1 seed through 13 weeks. However, with the San Francisco 49ers also sitting at 9-4, the Rams and Seahawks could head to the playoffs with a much lower seed depending on how things shake out the rest of the way.

It’s been a race between two divisions. The NFC West and North have six of the conference’s top eight teams. This is shaping up to be one of the more interesting NFC playoff races in years, and the Seahawks are in the thick of it.

Up Next

Seattle will be on the road for the third time in four games, travelling to face the Atlanta Falcons (4-8) at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 7. Atlanta has lost six of its last seven games.

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Connor Benintendi
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