Top Seahawks takeaways from 26-0 win over Minnesota Vikings

The Seattle Seahawks earned their first shutout victory since 2015 with their 26-0 rout over the Minnesota Vikings. After playing to a draw to conclude the first quarter, the Seahawks had built a 13-0 lead going into halftime. From there, the game was essentially over. Minnesota had absolutely no answer for Seattle's defense and could barely move the ball in any capacity.

As for the Seahawks, it may not have been pretty, but a win is a win and any time you prevent your opponents from scoring it's a great day at the office. Overall a bit of a weird game, yet the end result had every 12th Man, Woman and Child leaving Lumen Field quite happy.

Here are the top takeaways from Seattle's 26-0 victory in Week 13 of the NFL season.

No. 1 - Seahawks move into a share of first place in the NFC West

Before all 15 Rams fans in existence start furiously typing away at their keyboard... yes, I am aware that if the season were to end this minute, the Rams would be NFC West champions due to a head-to-head tiebreaker. That being said, it does not negate the fact the Seahawks and Rams are now tied atop the division with identical 9-3 records. Los Angeles fell 31-28 on the road against the Carolina Panthers earlier in the day on Sunday, giving the Seahawks a prime opportunity to match them with a win over Minnesota. The Seahawks took full advantage of this opportunity and regain complete control over their own destiny to conclude the 2025 season.

No. 2 - DeMarcus Lawrence proves to be one of the more underrated free agent signings of the year

All of Seattle's free agency hype understandably went to Sam Darnold and hometown hero Cooper Kupp. What went largely overlooked was signing linebacker DeMarcus Lawrence away from the Dallas Cowboys. I get it, Lawrence has been often injured in recent years and only played in four games due to a foot injury. But folks never talked about how Lawrence recorded three sacks in those four games. Health was a question, productivity never was. Against the Vikings, Lawrence had two tackles, a sack, and forced a fumble that was recovered by Seattle.

No. 3 - Sam Darnold was bailed out from his fumbles

Sam Darnold has been extremely loose with the football in the past several games. He cleaned things up in Nashville last week without any turnovers, but fell back into some unfortunate habits. Darnold had two fumbles, one was recovered by Cooper Kupp, and the other was recovered by Minnesota. Thankfully, neither fumble ended up mattering at all, because the one the Vikings snagged was given right back to the Seahawks after Max Brosmer threw an 85-yard pick-six to Ernest Jones IV, which was his first defensive score of his NFL career. In fairness to Darnold, he was under unrelenting pressure, which leads me to my next takeaway...

No. 4 - Seattle's offensive line had a tough day

The Seahawks' o-line has actually been pretty good at keeping Sam Darnold clean overall this season. That protection Darnold has enjoyed broke down big time on Sunday. The Vikings brought pressure early and often, which resulted in four first half sacks of the Seahawks quarterback, including his two fumbles. Of course, the prime culprit was right guard Anthony Bradford, who had yet another outing that invited mockery online. On one of the sacks, Bradford had three Vikings defenders to choose from and ended up making contact with a grand total of zero of them. Bradford was replaced due to an elbow injury, of which Mike Macdonald said wasn't serious. We'll see if a new competition between him and Christian Haynes re-opens this week.

No. 5 - Seahawks ground attack found the most balance of the season

Seattle's rushing game is starting to take shape into something more consistent. On Sunday, it was perhaps the most balanced we've seen from them this season. Often times throughout 2025, either Kenneth Walker III or Zach Charbonnet would go off while the other made little impact. Against the Vikings, Walker had 13 carries for 56 yards while Charbonnet had 14 carries for 52 yards and a touchdown. Seattle rushed for 125 yards on 32 carries as a team. Getting the rushing attack going is going to be critical for the Seahawks' success for the remainder of the year.

This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: Seahawks vs Vikings: Top Seattle takeaways from NFL Week 13