Enemy Reaction 2025: Minnesota Vikings

The Seattle Seahawks had a somewhat unclean performance against a bottom-dwelling opponent for the second week in a row. However, unlike last week’s 30-24 win over the lowly Tennessee Titans, the Seahawks didn’t have to be sharp across the board to easily handle the Minnesota Vikings. While the offense sputtered at times, the defense was sparkling and ruthless in shutting the Vikings offense down, clinching a 26-0 victory and a first shutout since the 2015 season. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that the Seahawks have won three straight home games and have already surpassed last year’s meager win total at Lumen Field. Getting more home games in January will surely have to involve winning their final two regular season home dates versus the Indianapolis Colts and especially the Los Angeles Rams.

We’ll have plenty of time to dissect those matchups. What better way to start a December to remember than an Enemy Reaction? Daily Norseman is our source of opposition game thread goodness, and while we try and show positive opposition reactions to good plays by their team, this one was admittedly a little hard to pull off.

Sam Darnold strip-sacked by Dallas Turner, Vikings recover (3-0 SEA)

Max Brosmer commits Looney Tunes pick-six, Ernest Jones gets the TD (10-0 SEA)

Aaron Jones fumbles the ball, Seahawks recover (13-0 SEA)

Max Brosmer overthrows his man, Coby Bryant comes up with the pick (16-0 SEA)

Ernest Jones gets his second interception (19-0 SEA)

Zach Charbonnet scores Seattle’s only offensive touchdown (26-0 SEA)

Riq Woolen picks off Max Brosmer, fumbles it right back to the Vikings (26-0 SEA)

Drake Thomas sacks Brosmer on 4th down to preserve the shutout (26-0 SEA FINAL)

Post-Game: Here’s the Ernest pick-6 again, but with Vikings radio voice Paul Allen

Post-Game: The Vikings can’t run it back next year (Dustin Baker, Vikings Territory)

The Vikings can’t realistically fire Adofo-Mensah because there’s almost no evidence that dismissing a general manager while keeping the head coach leads to organizational success. And moving on from O’Connell makes even less sense; if fired, he’d be hired immediately and almost certainly thrive elsewhere. It could mirror the mistake of letting Sam Darnold walk.

Staying the course with McCarthy is its own gamble, because, without exaggeration, McCarthy has been one of the worst statistical quarterbacks in league history through six starts. He might simply be a miss, no different than Josh Rosen, Trey Lance, Zach Wilson, and other first-round quarterbacks who never developed. Busts happen.

Keeping everything intact — same front office, same coaching setup, same quarterback — risks inviting a near-identical result in 2026 and drifting into the “definition of insanity” territory.

As for signing a free-agent quarterback in March, that path is familiar. It’s the same method that brought Kirk Cousins to Minnesota, and any veteran available on the open market arrives with a limited ceiling. That’s precisely why the Vikings never reached a Super Bowl with Cousins or Darnold. Other teams let those quarterbacks leave for a reason, and the Vikings shouldn’t expect a different result by recycling the same formula.

Post-Game: Max Brosmer not put in position to succeed (La Velle E. Neal III, Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

He was asked to start a game on the road. Every road game has some sort of hostile forces awaiting. Seattle’s are like walking into a real-life Matrix, in a stadium designed with acoustics in mind, a decibel counter running for 60 minutes of play and 11 Agent Smiths lined up against him on every play.

And the Vikings needed Brosmer to be Neo.

Instead, Brosmer went 19-of-30 for 126 yards and four interceptions in the Vikings’ 26-0 pasting by Seattle. It is the Vikings’ first shutout loss since Nov. 11, 2007, when Green Bay ripped them apart 34-0 at Lambeau Field. The Purple’s quarterback that day was the affable Brooks Bollinger, who was 16-of-26 for 176 yards and only one interception.

Even a middling performance under these circumstances, leading perhaps to a more competitive game, would have been a commendable achievement for Brosmer. Instead, it was a forgettable performance that, unfortunately for him, will be remembered for a while. Brosmer and the Vikings ran just 50 plays on Sunday, averaging 3.2 yards.

Post-Game Video: This is a new low for the Vikings (Purple FTW! Podcast)

Enemy Reaction BONUS: LA Rams lose to Carolina Panthers!

Enemy Preaction: Atlanta Falcons

While the Seahawks still have a lot of work to do to win the NFC West and potentially the top seed in the conference, their path to a playoff berth is within touching distance thanks to taking care of the teams they’re supposed to take care of. There is a somewhat realistic path that could see them lock up a postseason spot before the Week 16 Rams rematch, which would at least ease any lingering concerns about some sort of collapse. I suppose for some who are still not over the first Rams game, it makes that loss sting harder knowing they could really be in control of the division right now.

Up next are the Atlanta Falcons, who are 4-8 and sagging, but they have a pass rush that is finally fierce again. Unfortunately, in landing James Pearce Jr, they also gave the Rams next year’s first-round pick, so the Rams still found a way to win this weekend. Beating Atlanta only helps the Rams in April, but I don’t care about how the Rams will benefit in April. I care about winning in December to get home playoff games in January. If all breaks right, San Francisco 49ers fans could be tormented by Seattle’s presence on the field at Levi’s Stadium in February. At this point, with no clearly super dominant team in either conference, why shouldn’t Seahawks fans believe a deep run is possible?

Thanks for reading and go ‘Hawks!