Alright, you’ve aired your grievances over some Seattle Seahawks seasons you don’t ever want to relive. Hey, they can’t all be great when you’re talking about 49 years worth of football.
Let’s narrow things down a bit further with a topic we’ve done before, albeit one that is three years old and thus one that can be updated. Unlike last time, I’m tightening the screws just a tad and discounting Super Bowl XLIX because that was a great, well-played game with a horrible ending. I’m looking for shitshows, snoozefests, disasterclasses, and embarrassments that made you feel awful for having sat through the game and potentially paid money to see in person. Games the Seahawks won (or tied, and that means that one game in 2016) can count if you were so disgusted that the game felt like a loss.
The 6-3 stinker against the Cleveland Browns back in 2011 is likely to still be the most popular answer because, well, it was 6-3 against the eventual 4-12 Cleveland Browns. Any remaining hype Charlie Whitehurst had left pretty much evaporated that afternoon.
Some recent abominations that could be added to the list from the last open thread we did on this: the 37-3 disaster vs. the Baltimore Ravens in 2023 (on my birthday, no less), last year’s 31-10 embarrassment against the Buffalo Bills, the 29-20 home defeat to an atrocious New York Giants squad, and last season’s 6-3 win over the Chicago Bears that ultimately was meaningless given Seattle was eliminated from the playoffs that weekend. I’d even add losing 30-23 to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the mix because of how easily Pittsburgh’s offense dominated the Seahawks defense with the season on the line; this was also ultimately Pete Carroll’s final home game.
My answer, after some careful consideration, is the 42-7 thumping versus the Los Angeles Rams in 2017. The division title was at stake and the Seahawks were down 40-0 at home. Todd Gurley scored an untouched 57-yard touchdown on 3rd and 20 right before halftime. Pharaoh Cooper almost had two punt return scores and actually had more combined return yards (180) than the Seahawks had total yards on offense (149).
The Rams didn’t even have a single scoring drive longer than 46 net yards due to all the great field position they enjoyed. Russell Wilson was sacked seven times and had some horrendous fumbles. Pete Carroll pissed me off beyond belief that day by not pulling Wilson in an obvious blowout until he put Austin Davis in for three handoffs. That was as huge a team-wide failure as any Carroll-led Seahawks team has ever managed. We saw major changes to the coaching staff and key departures on the roster after the 2017 season, although I’ve been a part of this site long enough to know that Carroll exiting was desired as part of that mess.
This was what I wrote for Winners and Losers that day:
The season isn’t over, but my mind is already focused on what the future of this Seahawks team will look like. There doesn’t need to be a full-on rebuild like they’re the Browns, there does need to be a complete rethinking of how this team is structured and if their current philosophy for success is still viable.
Man. That was therapeutic. Your turn!
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