By: Eric Yin
Published 2022/01/30 at 5:35 PM
SEATTLE – It does not feel that long ago the Seahawks and 49ers were in the 2013 NFC Championship Game duking it out to see who got to face the Denver Broncos in the Superbowl. That was almost a decade ago. Back then the Legion of Boom still reigned supreme, and the playoffs still ran through Century Link. Colin Kaepernick was still in the league, the 49er’s defensive front seven was led by NaVorro Bowman instead of Nick Bosa, and the Rams were in Saint Louis. While nine years may have passed and much has changed since the 2013 NFC Championship game, we once again find ourselves with two NFC West teams in the Championship game, just this time it’s the Rams instead of the Seahawks.
And therein lies the bitterness for Seahawks fans. Watching two NFC West teams duke it out for the championship just leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Just one year removed from a 12-4 season, the Seahawks suddenly find themselves in the dead-end of the NFC West. The Rams look legit with Matthew Stafford as their quarterback, and the Rams have historically dominated us over the past decade even when their teams are bad. The 49ers just made it to the conference championship with Jimmy Garoppolo as their quarterback. If Trey Lance is any better than Jimmy G, the 49ers might find themselves back in the Superbowl in 2022. That’s not even getting to the third team in the NFC West, the Cardinals. The Cardinals with Kyler Murray went 7-0 to start the season, and at one point in time were easily the best team in the league and had the front runner for league MVP. Their season only ended because they ran into another NFC West team. In fact, in the playoffs, NFC West teams only lose to other NFC West teams. Cannibalism at its finest. So despite the Seahawks being one year removed from a 12-4 record, tied for the first seed in the conference, the Seahawks are looking like the odd man out.
Unlike the other teams, the Seahawks are regressing fast. Russell Wilson just had the first major injury of his career. Bobby Wagner and the old offensive line is regressing fast. Only 2 high draft picks in the past decade have amounted to anything (Darrell Taylor, DK Metcalf). And a roster filled with bloated contracts for overrated players like Jamal Adams. Two years ago, Russell Wilson was the clear best quarterback in a division with Jared Goff, Blaine Gabbert, and Josh Rosen. Now his division has 2 former number 1 picks, and the number 3 pick in the draft. For the majority of the late 2010s, the Hawks could be confident going into every game that they had a top 5 quarterback. Now he might be the third-best quarterback in his own division.
With a regressing Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner, whiffed draft picks, an over-bloated strong safety contract, and a rapidly aging offensive line, the Seahawks are not poised for success like the other NFC West teams. Even though in theory the Rams and 49ers making it this far justifies our poor record, it also goes to show the talent gap between the California teams and our beloved Seattle Seahawks.
It wouldn’t be far-fetched to say that the NFC West has been yanked out from underneath the Seahawks. Even though the Rams and 49ers would occasionally score a division title here and there, this division has ran through Seattle for the large majority of the 2010s. Prior to this season, the only NFC West team to hoist a trophy was the Hawks, despite the fact the Rams and Niners both made it to the big game multiple times this decade. With the Rams winning the Superbowl and the Niners looking at Trey Lance to take them to the next level, the treading water won’t be good enough for the Seahawks. They need to improve, fast.
Yet there appears to be no sign of improvement anytime soon. Russell Wilson has been vocal about his complaints, and the Hawks have largely twiddled their thumbs in the off-season rarely striking big deals. And the big deals they do strike (i.e: Jamal Adams and Jimmy Graham), tend to not work out in the long run. With Wilson coming up on a contract extension year, the cap situation won’t get better anytime soon.
With that said, we’ve been in positions like this before. In 2016 after a disastrous 9-6 season, where Wilson missed the postseason for the first time in his career, pundits were espousing the end of the Seattle Seahawks. In 2018 after losing to the Cowboys in the first round, they once again proclaimed the Seahawks a team that peaked and were on the downturn. So perhaps this is another instance where Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson will prove to the world that you never count out Seattle. Hopefully it’s that, rather than Seattle’s plunge back to the bottom of the NFC West barrel.