Photo Credit : Dean Rutz/ The Seattle Times

After last week’s narrow win, the Seattle Seahawks blew out the Minnesota Vikings 26–0 Sunday at Lumen Field, improving to 9–3 on the season. It was Seattle’s first shutout since Week 3 of the 2015 season against the Chicago Bears,ironically, also by a score of 26–0.

But yesterday’s game was a little unconventional. The Seahawks’ offense didn’t play very well at all. Sam Darnold threw for only 128 yards and zero touchdowns. And for the first time since I’ve been writing these articles, I’m not talking about how great Jaxon Smith-Njigba played, because he finished with only two catches for 23 yards. He didn’t record his first catch until the end of the third quarter.

I have to give credit to the Minnesota Vikings defense and defensive coordinator Brian Flores, who had Sam Darnold under duress the whole game and was the biggest reason the Seahawks weren’t able to establish an intermediate or deep passing attack. This also leads me to the question, why is Anthony Bradford still starting? He is clearly the weakest point of our offensive line, and other defenses know it as well. Multiple times, Bradford completely missed a block, allowing a defender to get to Darnold untouched.

Bradford exited the game in the second half with an injury and was replaced by Christian Haynes, who may end up being a long-term replacement if Bradford is sidelined for long.

Now to the reason the Seahawks won this game — the defense.

The Seahawks have had multiple great defensive performances this year, but with the Vikings having to start Max Brosmer, an undrafted rookie making his NFL debut, he was going to need all the luck he could get. Spoiler alert, he had absolutely none.

If you read my game preview, my number-one key to a Seahawks win was stopping Justin Jefferson,  and what I meant by that was not letting him go for 150 yards and two touchdowns, taking over the game. The Seahawks held Justin Jefferson to two catches for four yards. The worst game of his career. Why, you may ask? Because the Seahawks defense had Brosmer in quarterback hell. He finished 19/30 for 126 yards, four interceptions, and four sacks, with a passer rating of 32.8. For context, if you spike the ball on every single play, your quarterback rating is 39.6.

The game was essentially over when Brosmer threw a pick-six to Ernest Jones midway through the second quarter. Demarcus Lawrence sniffed out the Vikings’ rollout play on fourth-and-one, had Brosmer in his grasp, and Brosmer flung the ball right to Jones. That was Jones’s first of two interceptions on the day, bringing him to five on the year,  tying him for second in the NFL. Coby Bryant and Tariq Woolen also had interceptions of their own.

Demarcus Lawrence made one of the best hustle plays you’ll ever see when he was pushed to the ground away from the play, got up, and forced a fumble from Aaron Jones in the third quarter, giving Seattle the ball back. You could tell very early in the game that the Vikings had no chance, as the Seahawks defense was imposing its will on Brosmer.

Now, my biggest gripe with the Seahawks is their time management. I already mentioned that their offense was sloppy, but they had a great opportunity at the end of the first half to execute a two-minute drive and put a touchdown on the board to go up 17–0 at halftime. Seattle sacked Brosmer on third down with 1:58 left on the clock, and with all three timeouts, Mike Macdonald decided not to use any, letting the clock wind down while running conservative plays and settling for a field goal.

The Seahawks have been one of the more conservative offenses in the NFL, which is surprising considering how efficient they’ve been. But I’ve said many times before: I want Seattle to be more aggressive, especially when there’s an opportunity to put six points on the board instead of three.

Zach Charbonnet had Seattle’s only offensive touchdown of the day, on a drive where they went for it on fourth-and-one and converted. Initially, it looked like the Seahawks were going to settle for another field goal, but they didn’t.

In the end, the defense won this game. The Seahawks are now 9–3, and after the Los Angeles Rams lost to the Carolina Panthers, Seattle still has a chance at winning the division. The Seahawks head to Atlanta next week to face off against the Falcons on Sunday.