After a rousing overtime victory over the rival Rams to close out the regular season Sunday afternoon, the Seahawks were treated to a raucous upset in Green Bay on Sunday night.
And thanks to the Detroit Lions, the Seahawks got to celebrate an unlikely playoff berth.
Their reward?
A wild-card playoff game on the road against the hottest team in the NFL, the San Francisco 49ers, the NFC West division champs who swept the regular-season series against the Seahawks in convincing fashion.
And it’ll be a quick turnaround for the Seahawks this week, with kickoff set for 1:30 p.m. Saturday in Santa Clara, California, for the first game of the wild-card weekend.
Before all that, Seattle Times beat writers Bob Condotta and Adam Jude answer four key questions about the Seahawks in our weekly Four Downs Q&A. Let’s get to it:
1. Have the Seahawks done enough to deem this season a resounding success?
Condotta: Given the expectations and the way things are set up for the future — three picks in the top 38 and the fifth pick overall — yes, yes, and yes. How many people realistically thought Seattle would finish with a winning record and playoff spot on March 8, the day Russell Wilson was traded and Bobby Wagner released? And now, along with those picks, Seattle currently has the seventh-most cap space available for 2023. You’d much rather have both Seattle’s present and future right now instead of either the Rams or Cardinals. And who was saying that 12 months ago?
Jude: Absolutely. This was supposed to be a rebuilding year. Pete Carroll never publicly acknowledged that, and he would never allow himself to think that way, but the uncertainty and skepticism about this team was warranted after the offseason roster overhaul. They moved on from all-time greats at quarterback and linebacker. They handed the offense over to an unproven journeyman QB. They overhauled the defense. And they relied heavily on rookies all over the field. It was all so improbable, which has to make the accomplishments of a playoff berth all the more satisfying for Carroll and the organization. And if Carroll was given a dose of truth serum, the hunch here is he would acknowledge this as his most satisfying season in Seattle.
2. Is this Pete Carroll best season in Seattle? And is there a case to be made for John Schneider as the NFL’s Executive of the Year?
Condotta: Carroll isn’t likely to get any serious consideration for Coach of the Year with the jobs that the likes of Philly’s Nick Sirianni, the Giants’ Brian Daboll, Jacksonville’s Doug Pederson and even the 49ers’ Kyle Shanahan have done this season. But given the remade roster — losing the team leaders on each side of the ball and with just seven players who started Sunday having started the final game of 2021 — this has to rank among Carroll’s best coaching jobs with the Seahawks. He reshuffled the defensive coaching staff in the offseason, then got his team ready to pull off the week one upset that set a tone, made adjustments to the defense when it faltered early on, kept his team afloat during the late-season slump of five losses in six games, and somehow has Seattle in the playoffs for a 10th time in 13 years. He may be 71, but there’s zero evidence he’s lost anything off his coaching fastball.
Jude: Schneider, somehow, has never won the executive award. That ought to change now. Schneider made the difficult decision to trade Russell Wilson, a deal hotly debated for months (and one that maybe, in hindsight, Schneider should have pulled off a year or two earlier). The massive return for Wilson could very well end up being the most lopsided trade in NFL history, and Schneider obviously deserves a ton of credit for that. He used two of those picks from Denver to put together the Seahawks’ best draft class in a decade, and it just keeps getting better. The Seahawks own the Broncos’ first-and second-round picks this year — including the No. 5 overall selection — and it’s reasonable to expect the Seahawks to be right back in the playoffs again a year from now.
3. What’s going on with Geno Smith? Are there signs he’s capable of turning things around against the 49ers?
Condotta: Smith by his own admission played his worst game Sunday — Pro Football Focus agreed, giving him his lowest grade of the year. And it could have been worse had Quentin Lake held on to the potential pick-six he dropped. But it’s worth noting again that injuries have depleted the receiving corps with Seattle on Sunday going with previously little-used Cade Johnson as its third receiver. Smith at times feels like he’s forcing it to DK Metcalf when Metcalf is heavily covered — both of his interceptions Sunday were on targets to Metcalf. But given the overall state of the receiving corps, it’s hard to blame him for wanting to get it to Metcalf as often as he can. Smith, though, may need to go back to reining it in just a little more — the 49ers were tied for the lead in the NFL this year in interceptions with 20.
Jude: Yes, Smith is being too aggressive at times, forcing things, trying too hard, etc. But if you want a positive spin, it’s not hard to find. Just look at that third-quarter touchdown pass to Tyler Lockett. It was perfect. Perfect touch. Perfect placement. Perfect timing. Smith, generally, has not been as good in the second half of the season as he was early on, but he’s still plenty capable — with his arms and his legs — and the Seahawks will obviously need him at his best Saturday in Santa Clara.
4. Do the Seahawks have any chance at pulling off an upset Saturday?
Condotta: No doubt this game on paper has a little bit of a feel of being careful what you wish for. It’s nice to have made the playoffs, but Saturday is going to be a really tall challenge as the 49ers led the NFL this year in both fewest points and yards allowed and were top six in both most points scored and yards gained. Any position-by-position analysis would give a hefty edge to the 49ers. But the big X factor in the playoffs is always the play of the quarterbacks, and this is a really unique matchup of a 32-year-old Smith making the first playoff start of his career vs. a 23-year-old rookie Brock Purdy who was a third-teamer when the season began making just the sixth start of his career overall. The Seahawks have to somehow make Purdy’s overall inexperience a factor.
Jude: Sure, they have a chance. A great chance? No. The 49ers manhandled the Seahawks in their two regular-season games, and they’re probably the smart pick right now to win the Super Bowl. All that said, the Seahawks will find out a way to use the “nobody believes in us” feeling as motivation and figure out how to keep it close. They can’t fall behind 21-3 again like they did at home to the 49ers a few weeks ago. The blue print, as it’s always been for Carroll, will be to keep in close (and ugly) early on and try to win it late. Easier said than done on the road as a major underdog, but that’s the Seahawks’ best path to an upset.