This is Why the Seahawks Could Miss the Playoffs
Seahawks fans give their top-2 reasons that Seattle could miss the playoffs
For the first time that I can remember, Seahawks fans don’t think the offensive line would be blamed for Seattle’s downfall. Instead, the culprit is far simpler and all too common.
Injuries.
In a poll of Seahawks fans last week, I asked the question:
“If the Seahawks miss the playoffs, the biggest reason will be (fill in the blank)”
In the words of Steve Harvey, “Number one answer…”
Too Many Injuries.
Seaside Joe Community’s Top-4 Answers:
Defense suffered too many injuries: 45.6%
Brian Fleury experiment failed: 33.7%
NFC West too tough: 12.2%
Sam Darnold reverted to Jets days: 5.4%
Out of the six possible answers I gave you, “Defense suffered too many injuries” ended with a healthy (ironically) lead over “Brian Fleury experiment failed”.
I specifically point to defense, not offense or the entire team, because maybe that side of the ball has more suspects, unfortunately.
The average age of the defense is roughly two year senior the offense; Nick Emmanwori is already on the mend; Julian Love and Devon Witherspoon also both missed games last season; linebackers Uchenna Nwosu and DeMarcus Lawrence playing in almost every game was a little bit out of character.
An injury to the wrong player on offense could also be devastating, but less so if the defense and special teams is as good as they were in 2025.
In Seattle’s most injured game to the defense last season, Week 5’s loss to the Buccaneers, the Seahawks allowed 38 points and 426 yards.
Whether or not the defense has good depth is something to be determined when the games get real.
It’ll have to be proven by rookies, players who didn’t get to prove themselves last year like Rylie Mills and Jared Ivey, as well as vets like Noah Igbinoghene, Dante Fowler, and D’Anthony Bell.
If the Seahawks do miss the playoffs, taking too many hits on defense is a reasonable assumption. But if the Seahawks lose a lot of snaps to injury and do make the playoffs, it’s a reasonable assumption that Mike Macdonald should be the Coach of the Year.
And speaking of coordinators, the pressure has been on Fleury since the day he was hired.
Macdonald says he’s been learning from Fleury this year, Sam Darnold calls him “even-keeled” and “consistent”, and Grey Zabel is excited to start blocking the run for him.
In the worst case, not as many fans think Fleury would be a problem as those who believe it would be injuries, but the offensive coordinator got a lot more votes than any other options.
Just 12% of you think the NFC West is “too tough” despite sharing a division with the Super Bowl favorites and a 49ers team that fell one win shy of the number one seed last season. But just because a third-place NFC West team made the playoffs last year, it doesn’t mean that one will this year.
Do we think that the Seahawks will miss the playoffs?
No. 68% of you believe Seattle will be better than they were last season:
But in the event that missing the playoffs does happen, as it could to any team (most definitely including the Rams), I wouldn’t be shocked if a tougher division and a tougher schedule was the culprit.
The Lions went 9-8 last season and finished in last place, the Packers went 9-7-1 and made the playoffs out of the same division.
Finally, in the realm of “some votes”, Darnold holding back the team took just over 5% of the votes.
I threw in “Hard Knocks distractions” just to see how many fans actually think it’s a curse (only 2.4% of you believe it could be), but the biggest surprise of all was how much expectations have changed for the Seahawks offensive line.
Only 2 people voted that “the offensive line” would be the reason for Seattle missing the playoffs.
How many times in the last 15 years would that option have won the poll in a landslide?
I considered putting other options too, like “not enough skill player depth”, as the players other than Jaxon Smith-Njigba still do have a lot to prove compared to 2025. I think that’s fair. A game without JSN would be a huge test for Darnold, Fleury, and Rashid Shaheed, among others.
What options should I have included? Or is it pretty much injuries or Super Bowl?
Let me know what you think in the comments, unless voting was saying enough.