The Seattle Seahawks host the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday Night Football in Week 5 of the NFL season looking to extend their undefeated start to the season.
The Seahawks can improve to 5-0 for the first time in their history with a win on Sunday night, while the Vikings are looking to put an end to a five-game losing streak against Seattle that stretches all the way back to November 2009 and notch a second consecutive road win after defeating the Texans in Houston in Week 4 to improve to 1-3.
Here's all you need to know ahead of Sunday Night Football.
- Kickoff time—The Seahawks host the Vikings at CenturyLink in Seattle, Washington. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:20 p.m. ET on Sunday, October 11
- TV channel—NBC
- Live stream—NBC's digital platforms, the NBC Sports website, fuboTV and in selected markets on SlingTV
- Odds—FanDuel and William Hill have the Seahawks as a seven-point favorite and 19/20 to cover the spread, while in moneyline terms Seattle is a 3-10 favorite and Minnesota is a 27-10 underdogs. The over/under line in terms of points scored is set at 57.5
- Series history—Seattle leads the series 11-5 and has won the last five meetings with Minnesota
For the second time in franchise history, Seattle has started the season with four straight wins. When the Seahawks first pulled off the feat in 2013, they went all the way to win Super Bowl XLVIII, the first and hitherto only time the franchise has held the Vince Lombardi Trophy aloft.
On the face of it, little has changed over the last seven years. The Seahawks are still coached by Pete Carroll and their fortunes still largely rest on the shoulders of franchise quarterback Russell Wilson.
That, however, is where similarities between the 2013 iteration of the Seahawks and the current vintage begin and end. While the team that triumphed in Super Bowl XLVIII was built on the Legion of Boom defense, the current Seahawks rank dead last in the NFL in multiple defensive metrics, including total yards—at an astonishing average of 476.7 yards per game—passing yards and first-downs allowed. The Seahawks ranks third-bottom in yards allowed per play, just below the Miami Dolphins and the Atlanta Falcons, who have a combined record of 1-7 through the first four weeks of the season.
On paper at least, that should provide solace to a Vikings offense that has struggled against the Seahawks in recent years, failing to score more than nine points in three of the last four meetings.
Seattle is also unrecognizable on the other side of the ball—but for all the right reasons. After years of having their colors firmly tied to the running game mast, the Seahawks have, to borrow a familiar refrain of the early weeks of the season, "let Russ cook". Wilson has passed for 1,285 yards, 16 touchdowns, a 136.7 passer rating—both league-best figures—and just two interceptions. His 16 touchdown passes through four weeks are the joint-best return at this stage of the season in NFL history, equaling the record set by Peyton Manning in 2013.
Inspired by Wilson, the Seahawks have scored 142 points in the first four games of the campaign, the second-best return in the NFL behind only the Green Bay Packers' 152 points. Should the Seahawks score at least 30 points on Sunday night, they would become only the sixth team in history to score at least 30 points in each of its first five games of the season. Of the previous five teams to have managed the feat, four—the New England Patriots in 2007 and 2011, the Denver Broncos in 2013 and the Los Angeles Rams in 2018—reached the Super Bowl.
Like the Seahawks, the Vikings have been similarly unimpressive on the defensive side of the ball, where the offseason addition of star pass rusher Yannick Ngakoue has been offset by the absence of two-time Pro Bowl defensive end Danielle Hunter. Minnesota ranks fourth-bottom in the NFL in both total yards allowed per game and passing yards allowed per game and opposing teams have scored on 60.5 percent of their drives—the worst figure in the league.
Unfortunately for the Vikings, their offense has been nowhere near the standards set by the Seahawks, with Kirk Cousins throwing as many touchdown passes as interceptions through the first four weeks.
However, running back Dalvin Cook has been a bright note and leads the league in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns with 424 and six respectively.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Dan Cancian is currently a reporter for Newsweek based in London, England. Prior to joining Newsweek in January 2018, he was a news and business reporter at International Business Times UK. Dan has also written for The Guardian and The Observer.
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