MINNEAPOLIS — A pair of late scores allowed by Minnesota in the first half kept the Vikings from being who they wanted to be in the second half on Sunday.
A 21-point halftime deficit impacted the game plan in what turned into a 38-7 home loss for Minnesota (8-4).
Running back Adrian Peterson had five rushes for 10 yards in the first half, and three for eight yards in the second because of the gap.
"I felt like we were out of sync," Peterson said of the Vikings offense. "Give credit to Seattle. They did a great job of coming in and forcing us to do things differently."
After falling behind by 14 with 2:04 remaining, the Vikings went into hurry-up offense, trying to get a score before the break and change momentum.
Teddy Bridgewater, however, overthrew intended receiver Stefon Diggs. The rookie got one hand on it, but the ball deflected to Earl Thomas, who returned it 25 yards to the Minnesota 35-yard line.
"The ball just got away from me," Bridgewater said. "[Stefon] Diggs did a great job on the route, offensive line did a great job on the protection. The ball was a little high, and it was out of reach for Diggs."
A 15-yard facemask penalty was added to the end of the run, and Seattle scored on a touchdown pass from Russell Wilson to WR Doug Baldwin on the following play.
"Once the score got to 14-0, then we throw an interception," Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer said. "A poor throw from Teddy, and then it was 21-0 at halftime. Then we still couldn't get anything going offensively."
Bridgewater threw the ball 28 times and completed 17 passes for 118 yards.
Peterson is averaging 125.6 rushing yards in the Vikings victories this season, but has been limited to less than 50 rushing yards in three of the four Vikings losses this season.
"After the third quarter started and they scored again it was looking kind of rough," Peterson said. "Especially not being able to establish anything offensively. It's one of those games you don't want to be a part of, but we have to move forward."
The Vikings visit Arizona to play the 10-2 Cardinals on Thursday Night Football.
