Vikings' Blair Walsh takes blame for 'ridiculous' miss

Blair Walsh accepted full responsibility for the stunning missed field goal that cost Minnesota Vikings a playoff victory over Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, but received plentiful support from his team-mates.

Having successfully split the posts on three occasions earlier in the game, Walsh appeared set to send the Vikings through when he stood over a 27-yard attempt with just 26 seconds on the clock and the Seahawks 10-9 ahead.

However, the kicker, who led the NFL with 34 field goals in the regular season, sensationally dragged his effort wide of the left-hand post to provide Seattle with an unexpected reprieve.

Questions were duly raised over the placement of the ball's laces in the hold by Jeff Locke, but Walsh excused the punter of any blame.

"It’s so quick - I have no idea what happened. I have to look back at the film. But I can tell you this: it's my fault." Walsh is quoted as saying by the Vikings' official website.

"I don't care if you give me a watermelon [in the] hold, I should be able to put that through. I know Jeff did his job, and [long snapper] Kevin [McDermott] did his job, and I'm the only one that didn't do the job here.

"It didn't feel good off my foot - I kind of knew right away. It's just ridiculous. You have to do much better than that, and I didn't.

"When I really pulled it to the left like that, I didn't stay long enough with the kick and commit through it enough - that's what I didn't do. I had done it all day, so I'm not sure why I didn't there. It's frustrating, no doubt.

"I'll be working hard to erase that from my career, but it will take a while."

Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr was among those who jumped to Walsh's defence.

"He's the reason we were in the game in the first place," said Barr. "You make some, you miss some. It's a make-or-miss league.

"Obviously, we'd like to have it, but there are no hard feelings toward [Walsh]. We win as a team, we lose as a team.

"He’s a great player, a great kicker. I still have all the confidence in the world in him, and we'll bounce back next year."

Those sentiments were echoed by safety Harrison Smith, who said: "He's stepped up for us and won games for us in the past, so we're not going to abandon him now."

Meanwhile, Locke added: "Blair, Kevin and I are a unit, so it's on all three of us. I feel like I missed the kick – that's what I feel like."