Five reasons why the Seahawks will beat the Vikings

No team that lost in the Super Bowl the previous season has earned a repeat trip the following year since the 1992-1993 Buffalo Bills.

The Seattle Seahawks should be moving one giant step closer to ending that streak by winning Sunday's first-round playoff game at Minnesota. Here are five reasons why I expect Seattle to weather the cold and emerge victorious.

RUSSELL WILSON

Starting at quarterback in the past two Super Bowls already helped elevate him to elite status, but Wilson took his game to an even higher level in 2015. Wilson's development as a pocket passer placed an even greater strain on opposing defenses that already had to worry about his running prowess. No other player in NFL history has strung together four consecutive games with a quarterback rating of 138.5 or better like Wilson did in Weeks 11 to 14 following Seattle's 39-32 loss to Arizona. Wilson's favorite target down the stretch was Doug Baldwin. He caught 11 of the 24 touchdown passes Wilson tossed in the final seven games.

MARSHAWN LYNCH

Wilson won't have to carry the offense by himself anymore now that Lynch is set to return from an abdominal injury that required surgery and sidelined him for the final eight games of the season. Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll told the media last Monday that Lynch should be able to handle a full workload. "He's ready to rock," Carroll said. That means Minnesota's defense may be rolling backward with Lynch having fresh legs from his long layoff. Thomas Rawls rushed for 101 yards and one touchdown on 19 carries when replacing Lynch in Seattle's 38-7 blowout of Minnesota in Week 12. "We didn't stop the run the first time," Minnesota head coach Mike Zimmer told Vikings media Wednesday. "I'm sure (Lynch) is licking his chops."

DEFENSE

The Seahawks are now on their third different defensive coordinator in four years (Kris Richard) but the unit's dominance hasn't changed. For the fourth straight year, Seattle led the league in scoring defense with the opposition averaging 17.3 points a game. The last NFL team to hit those heights was the Cleveland Browns from 1953 to 1957. The 2015 Seahawks probably would have been even stingier if strong safety Kam Chancellor hadn't missed the first two games in an unsuccessful contract holdout. The Seahawks surrendered 61 points in those losses to St. Louis and Green Bay before righting themselves when Chancellor returned.

MORE PLAYOFF EXPERIENCE

More than half the active roster (29 of 53 players) was on last year's Seahawks team that reached Super Bowl 49. Twenty-six players also were on the squad that won Super Bowl 48, including many of the key starters. In comparison, the Vikings have 23 players on their roster with postseason experience, 16 of whom were with the team during Minnesota's last playoff appearance during the 2012 season. The combined number of playoff starts on Minnesota's roster is 29 compared to 167 for Seattle. Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll also has excelled in getting his team ready for postseason action. The Seahawks have won all five of their opening playoff games during his six-year tenure. As for the Vikings, this will be Mike Zimmer's first playoff game as a head coach although he was an assistant on 10 other playoff squads. Zimmer was on the losing end of the past seven playoff games he has coached with his last victory coming when he was defensive backs coach for the 1996 Dallas Cowboys.

CONFIDENCE

Seattle's widest margin of victory this season (31 points) came on the road against the Vikings. In the four games that followed, the Seahawks went 3-1 and scored more than 30 points in each of those wins. Don't blame Seattle's defense if it's salivating for another shot at the Vikings. Minnesota could generate just nine first downs and 125 total yards in last month's matchup with the lone score coming on a Cordarrelle Patterson kickoff return for a touchdown. The Seahawks limited NFL rushing leader Adrian Peterson to a season-low 18 yards on eight carries and allowed Minnesota to convert only two of 10 third-down attempts with quarterback Teddy Bridgewater struggling mightily in the passing game. Thoughts of a second-round trip to a warmer climate like Carolina or Arizona should help keep the Seahawks warm with the high temperature Sunday in Minneapolis forecast at zero degrees.