Vikings At Seahawks Final Score: Minnesota Gets Blown Out By Seattle, 41-20

Today's match-up at CenturyLink Field between the Minnesota Vikings and the Seattle Seahawks wasn't expected to be a terribly close match-up, but the Vikings. . .as is their wont. . .gave us a bit of hope as they went into the locker room at halftime. However, the NFC's best team turned on the jets in the second half, and wound up winning a laugher to the tune of 41-20.

Seattle led 24-13 at halftime, as Christian Ponder had a surprisingly efficient first half for the Vikings. He completed 9-of-13 passes for 114 yards and a 38-yard touchdown pass to Jarius Wright. But the wheels completely came off in the second half, as Ponder completed just four of his nine pass attempts for 15 yards, and capped his day by throwing interceptions on consecutive drives. The second of those was returned by Walter Thurmond for a touchdown. Ponder finished his day 13-of-22 for 129 yards, a touchdown, and the two interceptions. He was eventually relieved by Matt Cassel. Cassel wound up 5-for-13 for 78 yards and an interception. He also got a touchdown pass of his own, as he found Wright for his second score on the afternoon, this one from 21 yards away to make the final margin a little less embarrassing.

But only a little.

To their credit, the Minnesota defense was fairly solid. . .well, compared to what we've seen this season. . .for most of the day, and the Vikings actually won the time of possession battle, but the Vikings were just thoroughly whipped in every way in the second half. Russel Wilson, despite having the same number of completions as Ponder, threw for 100 more yards and two touchdowns. Former Viking Tarvaris Jackson came in for mop-up duty in the final stages of the fourth quarter.

The Vikings didn't get much from Adrian Peterson on the afternoon, as the Seahawks were really keying on him. He carried the ball 21 times, but managed just 65 yards. Toby Gerhart was actually the leading rusher for the Vikings in terms of yardage on the afternoon, with 67 yards on seven carries. Marshawn Lynch wound up with 54 yards on 17 carries for Seattle, but did get into the end zone twice.

The Vikings fall to 2-8 on the season, and face a trip to Lambeau Field next Sunday to take on the Packers, who are currently riding a three-game losing streak and may or may not still be without Aaron Rodgers at quarterback. Who will the Vikings be starting at quarterback next week? How will this game and everything else that happened around the league affect Minnesota's draft position? We'll have more on all of that going forward.