Seahawks usually reach the Super Bowl when they have a season like this
2025 is fitting right into the context of a normal Seahawks Super Bowl season
“Whenever things don’t go well the quarterback gets too much of the criticism and when you’re going great he gets too much of the credit. But the quarterback has got a big job to do in there. He’s got to hit people when they’re open. And when people aren’t as open as they should be, some way, somehow he’s got to find a way to make a play.”
October 23rd, 1983 was a historic day in the annals of the Seahawks. Can the team historians remember what happened?
I’ll give you a hint: That quote above is by Chuck Knox and it was told to reporters on October 24th, 1983.
The Seahawks were coming off of a 27-21 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in which Jim Zorn was benched after going 1-of-8 for 2 yards and an interception. It would be Zorn’s final start for Seattle, the end of an eight-year career that began at the genesis of the franchise in 1976.
Though Knox was hesitant to tell reporters that Zorn was about to be benched for Dave Krieg, that’s exactly what he did the following week against the Raiders. Krieg started the final eight games and went 5-3, averaging 8.8 yards per pass attempt. Now compare that to Zorn, who averaged 5.7 Y/A on the same team.
In addition to the history that Krieg made by helping Seattle reach the playoffs for the first time that year, and going as far as the AFC Championship game, his 8.8 Y/A still stands as a franchise record.
(Conversely, the only Seahawks QB with a lower Y/A than Zorn’s 5.7 is Rick Mirer, who averaged 5.6 Y/A in 1994; how’s that for knowing when benching a QB might really be necessary?)
Going into the penultimate regular season game of 2025, Sam Darnold is averaging 8.7 yards per attempt. Darnold and Drake Maye (also 8.7) are the only QBs this season over 8.1 Y/A. With a late push, Darnold could tie or break Krieg’s franchise record, but in a way he’s already beat it because Krieg only played half of a season in ‘83.
If we’re only counting half-seasons, then Darnold averaged 9.6 Y/A going into his ninth start of 2025.
The only other Seahawks QB to average over 8 Y/A is Russell Wilson and he did it four times (2013, 2015, 2018, 2019) and none of Seattle’s other quarterbacks are particularly close. Darnold’s 8.7 Y/A is 1.2 yards higher than Geno Smith’s in 2022 and 2024.
That can be the result of a multitude of factors (OC, supporting cast, opponent, etc.) but here’s what I’m certain of and you can forget the context:
When the Seahawks can pass for a lot of yards per pass attempt, good things happen.
1983: Seahawks reach AFC title game
2013: Seahawks win Super Bowl
2015: Seahawks probably should have performed a lot better than they did
I’m not making excuses for Seattle’s 2015 loss to the Panthers in the divisional round, but it’s really just more evidence that the Seahawks are tough to beat when they’re passing the ball efficiently: Seattle lost too many games early in the season, but when things finally clicked in the second half of the year and Wilson averaged 8.8 Y/A with 24 TD/1 INT, the Seahawks appeared unstoppable.
Or what about the lone time that Matt Hasselbeck averaged over 7.5 Y/A? That would be 2005, when Hasselbeck averaged 7.7 Y/A.
The NFL’s leader in Y/A in 2005 was Ben Roethlisberger, by the way.
Efficient passing offenses are great, but teams that can combine an efficient offense with a top-tier pass defense are historically great. Well, Seattle doesn’t just lead the NFL in Net Y/A on offense in 2025, they’re also third in the same category on defense and they have the number one rushing defense in the league by any measure. The Seahawks are allowing a passer rating of 80.1.
The last two teams to average over 8 Y/A on offense and a passer rating under 81? The 2023 49ers (reached the Super Bowl) and the 2015 Cardinals team that beat out Seattle for the division title that year and sent them to Carolina in the divisional round.
These stats are just maybes, ifs, and “that’s nice!”s until the Seahawks prove to close out the season with the fourth trip to the Super Bowl in franchise history. Long term, nobody really cares if you put up fancy numbers in the regular season and then go to the playoffs and need a miracle shank by Blair Walsh just to win one playoff game and then go down 31-0 the next week.
Just ask Zorn: One day you’re making history, the next day you are history.
This newsletter today is a rundown of some of Seattle’s historic context of what has happened in 2025 so far and where it ranks in the annals of Seahawks history. This is the “most games with” version as opposed to a season totals version which could come at the end of the year if people are curious.
For example, the Seahawks are 9-1 when they hold opponents under 40% third down conversions in a game. This is the fifth time that Seattle has won at least 9 games when holding teams under 40% on third down:
2005*: 9-1 in those games
2007: 9-0
2013*: 10-2
2014*: 9-1
2025: 9-1
*Reached Super Bowl
Similarly, the Seahawks are holding teams to 3.7 yards per carry and allowed 8 rushing TDs. Seattle has always reached the Super Bowl when they’ve held teams under 3.9 yard per carry and fewer than 10 rushing touchdowns:
Can the Seahawks hold the Panthers and 49ers out of the end zone on the ground, at least not more than once? Here are other ways in which the Seahawks are making Seahawks history…
Holding teams to under 300 yards:
