The Seahawks are only one win by the Packers away from getting eliminated from the playoffs – whether they beat the Cardinals on Sunday or not. That state of affairs is eerily similar to the end of last season, when Seattle needed a similar assist from Detroit in order to make the postseason. This year they will be relying on the Bears to upset Green Bay, provided they can take care of business in Arizona.
Regardless of what happens in this final week of the season, it should be clear by now that there is something seriously wrong with this team.
Last season the Seahawks’ greatest weakness was their run defense – a glaring flaw that cost them several games against inferior teams. This year Seattle appeared to have righted the ship – putting together one of the league’s stingiest run defending units in the league the first several weeks of the season. However, over time their ability to stop the run devolved, and since Week 11 they have unquestionably been the worst run-defending team in the entire NFL.
There have been far-worse losses this season, but Sunday’s 30-23 loss at home to the Steelers was arguably the most-revealing game of 2023. For all their talent, this is a grossly underachieving team that keeps getting beat in the same ways – and not just week to week – but season to season.
The guy who’s responsibile is at least accepting the blame. Speaking on the radio yesterday head coach Pete Carroll said that his emphasis on limiting the *checks notes* explosive passing game of Pittsburgh’s offense was to blame for players overcompensating and not focusing enough on the run. Here are his full comments.
Discussing the run defense, Pete theorized that his emphasis on limiting Pittsburgh's explosive passing game got into his players' heads and negatively impacted their run D. Says he takes the blame for that, and noted that run D was better in 2nd half. pic.twitter.com/05Zq41iChc
— Dugar, Michael-Shawn (@MikeDugar) January 2, 2024
Naturally, that answer didn’t sit well with a lot of Seahawks fans, many of whom seem to be ready for a major change at the top this offseason.
Here are some replies that illustrate how Seattle fans are feeling.
Seahawks totally reset their offensive line in this 2024 NFL mock draft