Minnesota Vikings

NFL countdown: Vikings vs. Seahawks

Published Jan. 8, 2016 3:05 p.m. ET

Ryan Lund

The Minnesota Vikings take on the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.

It will be cold.

But despite a forecast that favors the Vikings' ground-and-pound sensibilities, the odds are stacked pretty decidedly against Minnesota.

The Vikings may have taken down the Green Bay Packers' ailing offense last week at Lambeau Field, but their date with a high-powered Seahawks offense that ran over the 13-3 Arizona Cardinals in Week 17 presents a different sort of challenge.

Seattle demolished the league's best defense with former castoff Christine Michael in the backfield, as a running back who spent three games on the bench in Dallas and a month on Washington's practice squad racked up 102 yards on the ground.

Unfortunately for the Vikings, Michael will likely spend most of Sunday's game on the bench.

"Beast Mode" is back, boss.

Marshawn Lynch practiced in full on Wednesday and Thursday, setting up a showdown between the soft-spoken bruiser and the league's regular-season rushing champion.

3 THINGS TO WATCH

-- A rash of injuries may have conspired to keep Lynch's numbers down this year, but the Seahawks starter can still grind out yards with ease. Since 2007 only three running backs have more total rushing yards than Lynch (9,112), while his 74 rushing touchdowns trail only one other back. Fortunately for the Vikings, the man at the top of both lists is on their side.

-- Peterson was effectively bottled up in his last meeting with the Seahawks, rushing for just 18 yards on eight carries. And while that performance can also be attributed to game flow, as Minnesota was forced to abandon the running game after falling behind 21-0 at halftime, Seattle's run defense has been among the league's best all season, and is currently allowing just 81.5 rushing yards per game.

-- Despite forcing a fumble and grabbing a crucial fourth-quarter interception against Aaron Rodgers last week, the Vikings defense still allowed nearly 300 passing yards to the Packers' depleted passing game, while veteran wide receiver James Jones put up 102 yards receiving. And while Rodgers' play has been pedestrian at best down the stretch, Russell Wilson has been playing out of his mind. The fourth-year pro has accounted for a league-leading 24 passing touchdowns since Week 11, while completing 70.9 percent of his passes and racking up 1,906 yards through the air.

2 THINGS TO REMEMBER

-- Teddy Bridgewater hasn't exactly carved up a defense this season, but heading into last week's matchup with the Packers his numbers were looking good. From 335-yard performance against Arizona, to a 231-yard win over Chicago, Bridgewater was looking like an effective, intelligent passer.

Not so much in Green Bay.

Bridgewater threw for just 99 yards against the Packers, while lobbing an inexplicable interception in the third quarter that nearly cost Minnesota a lead that their defense had built. Bridgewater will need to shrug off last week's performance against a secondary that is far more dangerous than Green Bay's.

-- The Seahawks have been brilliant over the last few months, but they haven't been flawless. An aggressive Rams defense found a way against Seattle a few weeks ago, building up a big lead early after forcing a fumble and capitalizing on their limited opportunities, and despite a furious Seahawks comeback attempt it worked. The Rams sacked Wilson six times in that game, a 23-17 win. Expecting the Vikings' offense to beat Seattle is a difficult ask, but with a healthy defense that excels at chasing down mobile quarterbacks they could have a shot.

1 KEY MATCHUP

The Vikings defense vs. Russell Wilson

The Seahawks are 6-1 during Wilson's recent surge, and have scored fewer than 30 points just once over that span, a 23-17 loss to St. Louis. To beat the Seahawks Minnesota's pass rush will need to put Wilson on his heels early and often, just like they did against Rodgers and the Packers. The offense will still need to keep pass with Seattle's dominant defense, making a gun fight with the Seahawks all the more inadvisable.

Limiting Wilson will be crucial to Adrian Peterson's effectiveness as well, as a big deficit would force Bridgewater to test Seattle's secondary with a receiving corps that has struggled all season to get separation.

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