Seattle Seahawks at Minnesota Vikings: Key information and first quarter discussion

For the first time in nearly 21 months, your Minnesota Vikings are set to play a game that matters in front of fans at U.S. Bank Stadium. It’s time for the 2021 home opener for the purple, as they will play host to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 3 action in what is pretty much a must-win game this early in the season.

Here’s everything you need to know about today’s contest.

Date and Time: Sunday, 26 September 2021, 3:25 PM Central time

Location: U.S. Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Television Coverage: KSTP-9 in the Twin Cities, FOX affiliates around the country, DirecTV Channel 717

Radio Coverage: Vikings Radio Network, Sirius Channel 77, XM Channel 228, SiriusXM App Channel 820

Line: Vikings +1.5, over/under 55.5

Chris’ Prediction: Vikings 31, Seahawks 27

Three Keys

1) Contain Russell Wilson - Last week, Kyler Murray’s mobility gave the Vikings’ defense fits, and they see a similar quarterback this week in Wilson. His ability to extend plays and find his playmakers down the field is something that the Vikings are going to need to keep a cap on as best they can. They’re not going to be able to keep him locked down all day, but they do need to limit the damage as much as possible.

2) Keep last week’s discipline - After an embarrassing flag fest against Cincinnati in the opener, the Vikings had just three penalties for 16 yards last week against Arizona. They need to continue that trend today in order to keep the offense on schedule and not have themselves constantly looking at having 15 and 20 yards to go to convert first downs.

3) Get the crowd into it early - You know that the home crowd at U.S. Bank Stadium is going to be rowdy this afternoon, and the Vikings need to get off to a fast start in order to get them into things early. Hopefully the Vikings can use the crowd to help them mount their pass rush against this Seahawks offense, and hopefully being at home will help to limit the false starts and other penalties against the Minnesota offense.

Know the Foe: Field Gulls

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As always, we will be putting up a new Open Thread at the start of each quarter to keep things from bogging down. Be sure to keep your eyes open for those and keep the conversations moving along accordingly.

With that, here’s hoping that our favorite team can finally break through and get their first victory of 2021. . .and their first win over Seattle since 2009. . .in this one. In about three hours, we’ll know one way or the other.

SKOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL VIKINGS!!!!