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Going into the final week of the regular season, the Seattle Seahawks find themselves in the exact same position as a year ago when they needed a win and a Packers loss to make the postseason.
The fact Seattle is in this spot yet again is an indictment on what’s gone wrong with this season.
Back in the summer, the tone was that this would be the season in which Seattle closed the gap in the NFC West and made the jump from surprise playoff participant to possibly challenging San Francisco as the best in the division.
Instead, the Seahawks (8-8) are already locked into finishing in third place in the NFC West and lost control of their path to the playoffs with Sunday’s 30-23 loss to the Steelers.
Rather than just needing a win over Arizona in the regular-season finale, the Seahawks must beat the Cardinals and have the Packers lose at home to the Bears in order for Seattle to reach the postseason for a second straight year.
“It just felt like a really crappy outing as we all saw that at a time we needed it the most,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said during his weekly radio show on Tuesday.
The Seahawks are without question a heavily flawed team. The regression of their defense throughout the season and the inconsistencies on offense have provided enough evidence of their shortcomings.
What the loss to Pittsburgh brought into question is the competitive desire of this group. Seattle had won two straight to gain control of its playoff path and then gave it all away over 60 minutes.
Even if Seattle beats Arizona and gets the help it needs from Chicago, there is little reason to believe a playoff trip this season will be any different than it was a year ago when the Seahawks squeaked in with help from other teams and then were blown out by San Francisco in the wild-card round.
“We’ve got to go out there in their place and make it happen,” quarterback Geno Smith said of Sunday’s game at Arizona. “We’re the type of team that’s going to always bounce back. We’ve got the right…
Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/seahawks-needing-help-to-reach-playoffs-shows-whats-gone-wrong-this-season
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Publish date : 2024-01-03 15:37:12
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