Despite taking wildly different paths, the and found themselves in strikingly similar situations on Monday night. After mi Jansen Harkins Jersey sing the playoffs for the first time since 2011, " saying goodbye to mainstays like , , and . The Vikings, in the aftermath of a crushing defeat in the conference championship game, reloaded by giving a fully guaranteed mega-contract and plucking away from Seattle. Yet each team entered Monday night's Week 14 matchup trailing its respective division leader by a substantial margin, while remaining in control of one of the two wild-card spots the NFC has to offer. Monday night's victor would take one giant leap toward securing the fifth playoff seed while the loser would provide a target for Neither team looked championship worthy in a low-scoring affair induced by both dominant defensive play and horrific offensive execution, but it was the Seahawks who took a stranglehold over the fifth seed with a 21-7 win, stretched their winning streak to four games, pushed their record to 8-5, and extended their lead over the now 6-6-1 Vikings to one-and-a-half games with three weeks remaining on the schedule. The Seahawks should be the top wild-card team in the NFC when the playoffs begin. The Vikings are still in good shape, but questions about Cousins' ability to get them over the hump remain. Credit the Seahawks' defense, which , for making Cousins look nothing like the , stymieing two of the sport's top receivers in and , shutting out the Vikings for 58 minutes and 50 seconds, and scoring a touchdown of their own. But also blame Cousins for -- once again -- . Blame offensive coordinator John DeFilippo for suspect at best play-calling. Blame the offensive line for failing to hold up. And blame Cousins one more time for his wretched quality of play. It was an ugly game, and the defenses weren't entirely responsible for the lack of points. At halftime, the Seahawks led 3-0 even though they were outgaining the Vikings 175 to 61. Cousins and Ru sell Wilson both struggled to complete pa ses downfield, going a combined 11 of 20 for 71 yards in the first half, Jack Roslovic Jersey which ended in hilariously awful fashion when Wilson threw one of the worst interceptions of the season to . These two plays -- one from each quarterback -- provide a succinct summary of the first half. Kirk Cousins. Deeply dedicated to establishing the run. Field Yates (@FieldYates) Ru sell Wilson tries to throw it away but is there to pick it off! : on ESPN NFL (@NFL) Not much changed on the other side of halftime. Three punts began the second half. Finally, with four minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Vikings cro sed into Seahawks territory for the first time all game. But the drive stalled at the 40-yard line when got stuffed on fourth-and-1. The Seahawks maintained their 3-0 lead heading into the fourth quarter. They had twice as many yards as the Vikings (220-110). But after settling for another field goal from in close, they led only 6-0 with 13:22 remaining. Down 6-0, Cousins finally took a deep shot, lofting up a jump ball to Diggs downfield. Diggs came down with the 48-yard reception, providing the best offensive play of the game. But the Vikings came away with no points.After earning Teemu Selanne Jersey a first-and-goal from the 4-yard line, the Vikings got blanked on four straight plays and turned the ball over on downs for a second time. On their next series, they watched their field goal get (controversially) blocked. The Seahawks went on to score the game's first touchdown to effectively end the game, and then Cousins handed the Seahawks' defense a touchdown of their own to add even more insult to an already horrific injury. !The return the Cousins fumble for SIX!: on ESPN NFL (@NFL) Cousins did, at least, pad his stats with 70 yards and a touchdown in the final minutes of the game. But don't let those fraudulent yards and touchdown adorn an otherwise dreadful game. The Seahawks' defense, led by and his team-high nine tackles as well as cornerback and his two pa s breakups, induced yet another nightmare outing from Cousins and the Vikings' offense.It's emerged as a theme of the Vikings' season. Another dud from Cousins by throwing check down after check down, questions about his ability to play well in big games persisted. It was a question that followed him from Washington to Minnesota, and he's done nothing this season to prove that the question is a dumb narrative that only exists because he played on mediocre-at-best teams before signing with the Vikings. In four "big games" before Monday night (against the , Patriots, , and ), Cousins completed 71.3 percent of his pa ses, averaged 6.9 yards per attempt, threw eight touchdowns and five interceptions, and posted a 93.3 pa ser rating. The Vikings went 0-4 in those games. Cousins' woes continued on Monday night. Even after that garbage-time drive, Cousins finished 20 of 33 for 208 yards (6.8 yards per attempt), one touchdown that didn't matter, no interceptions, a fumble returned for a touchdown, and an 89.0 pa ser rating. Cousins continued to serve his role as captain checkdown.He started shaky, feeling pre sure before it arrived, checking the ball down like crazy, and nearly throwing an interception during the first series of the game. Later in the first quarter, Cousins turned down a downfield pa s to Thielen in order to throw the ball backwards.Kirk Cousins. Deeply dedicated to establishing the run. Shawn Matthias Jersey Field Yates (@FieldYates) I don't know, Thielen probably wasn't open enough. Cian (@Cianaf) The Vikings' offensive line struggled to provide Cousins with adequate pa s protection, but Cousins didn't help matters by lacking any sense of pocket awarene s or the ability to navigate the pocket. Behind a bad offensive line, Cousins stood there like a statue. At halftime, Cousins was 4 of 8 for 27 yards. He didn't target Thielen once. At one point early in the third quarter, Seahawks offensive tackle had more catches and targets than Thielen. Thielen didn't get a target until nine minutes into the third quarter, when Cousins hit him on a quick screen. Cousins continually refused to explore his options downfield, turning down opportunities to target Diggs and Thielen deep and instead, limiting himself to targets near the line of scrimmage. There's plenty of blame to go around. Blame the Dale Hawerchuk Jersey offensive line. Blame Cousins. And blame DeFilippo, who might be coaching his way out of a head coaching job after entering the season as an enticing candidate. After the Vikings finally cro sed midfield in the third quarter, they ran the Jason Garrett of fourth-and-1 play-calls by going jumbo and calling for a dive up the gut. It's like trying to climb through the keyhole of an open door. Cian (@Cianaf) It didn't work. Until the dying moments of game, nothing did. Down 6-0 in the fourth quarter, Cousins finally took a deep shot and his aggre sivene s was rewarded with 48-yard gain via Diggs, who bailed out an underthrown b