The 2 most-recent division titles

The Seahawks win the NFC West every 4 years maybe?

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By losing 7 games this season, including to the Rams in overtime, the Seahawks are helpless tonight and can only hope for the Arizona Cardinals to upset L.A. at SoFi Stadium on Saturday. A Cardinals win will keep open the door (the strength of victory tiebreaker feels meaningless because it is so close to impossible) for Seattle to win the NFC West if they can beat the Rams in next weekend’s season finale.

If the Cardinals win this week and the Seahawks win next week, Seattle will win:

• 12th division title in franchise history

• 10th NFC West title since 2002 realignment

• 1st division title under Mike Macdonald

• 2nd division title since Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan were hired

The last fact is perhaps the most relevant, as the second half of Pete Carroll’s tenure will always be marred by the Seahawks apparent inability to outplay and outlast two coaches in the NFC West who felt so diametrically opposed to him.

Young, offensive-minded, playcallers.

Pete wasn’t an expert on offense, he didn’t call plays, and relevant or not, he hasn’t been young in decades; perception is reality and Jody Allen’s answer was to hire the new “youngest head coach in the NFL”.

The Seahawks are nearing the end of their 10th season since losing the Super Bowl to the Patriots and that interception has seemed to resonate for a decade:

• 2 first place finishes (2016, 2020)

• 4 second place finishes (2017, 2018, 2019, 2022)

• 1 third place (2023)

• 1 last place (2021)

From 2012-2020, the Seahawks never finished worse than second in the division (they’re guaranteed to finish first or second this week because of their tiebreak advantage over Arizona) but something with the team was clearly broken at that point, whether it was Russell Wilson’s thumb or his ego or something else, because this is Seattle’s best opportunity to win the division in the last four years.

Maybe the Seahawks winning the division title will come around as often as the Olympics or the World Cup or Leap Years:

• 2016: 10-5-1 wins division, Seahawks beat Lions in wild card

• 2020: 12-4 wins division, Seahawks lose wild card to Rams

• 2024: ???

2016: 10-5-1

The Seahawks were not a great team that year. Christine Michael led the offense with 469 rushing yards, Wilson posted the lowest passer rating and QBR of his entire Seattle career (92.6, 57.1), and it would be the last we’d see greatness from many of the franchise’s stars. By 2017, names like Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, Michael Bennett, and Cliff Avril were either gone or on the way out.

The reason the Seahawks won the division was largely because no other team in the NFC West had a winning record, hence the 49ers fired Chip Kelly (2-14) to hire Shanahan and the Rams fired Jeff Fisher (4-12) to hire McVay.

Seattle’s immediate gain was essentially L.A. and San Francisco’s long-term success.

Though the Seahawks did finish third in points allowed in 2016, maybe Pete Carroll didn’t quite respect how bad the offense had become and would get since parting with players like Max Unger and Russell Okung. As Seattle also lost many defensive stars from this era, both sides of the ball would suffer for the next few seasons.

What do you remember about 2016?

2020: 12-4

I’ve tried hard to forget this season because of how disheartening the offense got in the months after “Let Russ Cook” was proven doomed to fail.

First 8 games:

• 274 points (1st)

• 28 pass TDs (1st)

• 2,385 pass yards (1st)

• 117.1 passer rating (2nd)

Last 8 games:

• 185 points (16th)

• 12 pass TDs (15th)

• 1,556 pass yards (27th)

• 91.4 passer rating (17th)

Going into the wild card, the Seahawks hadn’t passed for 200 yards in any of their last 3 games and hadn’t passed for over 240 yards in any of their last eight. Seattle stayed afloat that year because of their second half defense, but then the Rams marched into the game with a mediocre team and still held the Seahawks to 11 first downs, 142 passing yards, 2 turnovers, and 20 points for an easy victory.

The next 3 seasons would provide the 3 worst defenses of Pete’s entire Seahawks career, save for except maybe 2010. The team just got discombobulated by trying to build the plane around Wilson and the franchise is still trying to recover: The Seahawks have a combined point differential of -1 in the last 4 seasons.

Fittingly, a Week 18 win would either tie or put Seattle over the hump.

But that win won’t mean much unless the Cardinals beat the Rams for the second time this season, but only the fourth time since McVay’s hire in 2017.

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Are the Seahawks ready to re-combobulate?

Seaside Joe 2129