Winners and losers: 5 takeaways for the Vikings in Week 16 win over the Seahawks

After watching the Detroit Lions take an easy 34-17 win over the Chicago Bears in the early window of the Sunday slate, the Minnesota Vikings entered their late-afternoon matchup with the Seattle Seahawks knowing they needed a victory to keep pace in the race for the NFC North.

In addition, with the Philadelphia Eagles taking a 36-33 loss to the Washington Commanders, Kevin O'Connell & Co. also knew a victory could help them in the race for the No. 1 seed in the conference.

And while the Seahawks certainly didn't make things easy, the Vikings ultimately got the win they needed, overcoming a late deficit to pull out a 27-24 victory, thus upping their winning streak to eight and improving to 13-2 for the season.

With the win, Minnesota continues to control its own destiny heading into the final two weeks of the season. If the Vikes can score a victory over the Green Bay Packers next Sunday and then knock off the Lions in the regular-season finale, they'll win both the division and the top seed in the NFC.

But let's not jump too far ahead. For now, let's focus on the biggest winners from the Vikings' Week 16 win over the Seahawks. We'd generally throw a loser or two in here, but as there weren't too many major concerns outside of some offensive line issues, we'll stick to the positive side of things.

Winner: Sam Darnold

Sam Darnold continues to give the Vikings' front office a lot to think about this upcoming offseason, as he delivered yet another brilliant performance on Sunday against Seattle, including yet another game-winning drive in the fourth quarter to help Minnesota improve to 8-1 in one-score games this year.

With the Vikings trailing 24-20 with 4:21 remaining, the soon-to-be free agent took his team 70 yards in just 30 seconds and hit Justin Jefferson with an incredible 39-yard touchdown pass to give Minnesota a 27-24 advantage.

The TD pass was Darnold's third of the day, marking the 11th time in 15 games that he's thrown for multiple scores. In completing 22-of-35 passes for 246 yards, this was also the 10th time he's amassed at least 200 passing yards and also the fifth time in six games in which he had zero interceptions. And with a passer rating of 112.3, Darnold has now been at 100 or better a dozen times this season.

Winner: Justin Jefferson

After failing to reach the end zone in six consecutive games, Justin Jefferson now has five touchdowns in the last three weeks after scoring a pair against the Seahawks.

In addition to his 39-yard game winner in the fourth quarter, the three-time Pro Bowler also had a 14-yarder in the second quarter, which gave Minnesota a 14-7 lead.

Jefferson was targeted a game-high 13 times, catching a season-best 10 passes for a season-high 144 yards.

Winner: Ryan Wright

While punters don't often get mentioned in these types of pieces, it'd be wrong not to give the Vikings' Ryan Wright his due here.

The third-year man out of Tulane punted the ball six times on the night for an impressive 300 yards, including a 63-yarder that turned out to be one of four he put inside the Seahawks' 20-yard line.

Winner: Theo Jackson

After Seattle kicker Jason Myers missed a 60-yard field goal that would have tied the game following Jefferson's second touchdown, the Seahawks got one more crack at it after their defense forced a quick three-and-out.

But on the very first play of that possession, Vikings safety Theo Jackson chose the perfect time to record his first interception of the season, picking off Geno Smith with just 49 ticks remaining to secure the victory.

Also adding four total tackles and an additional pass defended, Jackson earned an 85.3 overall PFF grade for his performance, his best mark of the season.

Winner: Andrew Van Ginkel

After notching 9.0 sacks in the Vikings' first 11 games, linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel failed to record one in each of Minnesota's last three games and only registered one QB hit during that stretch.

But the former Dolphin gave the Seahawks' offensive line all it could handle on Sunday afternoon, generating seven pressures and recording a pair of sacks to up his season total to 11.0, good for a tie for sixth in the league alongside Jonathan Greenard.