Closing Thoughts: Seahawks Clinging to Hope Following Gloomy Loss to Cardinals

Despite fans and media largely writing the 11-4 Seahawks off after and injury-marred home loss, the NFC West title is still within reach in week 17 clash against 49ers.

The story of the Seahawks 2019 story has yet to be written, but what exactly does Sunday’s 27-13 home loss to the lowly Arizona Cardinals foreshadow? Is this a potentially special season now about to be flushed down the toilet due to a rash of devastating injuries and questionable coaching decisions, or merely a bump in the road on the way to a triumphant comeback?

“The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall.” - Vince Lombardi

It would be easy to chalk up yesterday’s failures to a decimated roster. Already undermanned without six key starters due to injury and suspensions before the opening kickoff, the Seahawks then lost their starting right guard and top two running backs during the game. Chris Carson’s exit due to a hip injury was the sharpest blow, as he appeared to be on his way to a successful day finding holes against the Cardinals porous rushing defense. Mike Iupati’s brief absence was also a vicious uppercut to an offense already missing their best lineman, Duane Brown.

After an opening drive so well-scripted and flawlessly executed it made all of Seahawks fandom breath a sigh of relief (there will no talk of a trap game today!), nothing else worked. The defense was gashed by an 80-yard, game-tying run from Kenyan Drake and it actually got worse after that. The pass rush against dynamic rookie quarterback Kyler Murray was ineffective, and the offensive game plan (if there even was one) was a mess following that first possession. This game was so bad that Seattle never appeared capable of coming back even after Murray was ruled out in the third quarter with a serious hamstring injury.

So what now? After a day to process everything, what do we make of a team that 36 hours ago was in possession of the NFC’s top seed and a sterling 11-3 record but now looks like a tattered also-ran destined for a one-and-done wild card appearance?

Take a glance at social media and you would think the NFL should shutter Seattle’s season immediately. Put them, and their fanbase, out of their misery by just calling off Week 17 and handing their playoff spot to another, clearly more deserving team.

This just in: that’s not how football works.

Seattle's matchup this Sunday night against San Francisco is still on the schedule, and all eyes will be on CenturyLink Field as this NBC Sunday Night Football clash serves as the regular season league finale. To the winner goes the spoils in the form of the NFC West division title, a home playoff game, and a potential bye depending on what happens elsewhere in the conference over the next 6 days.

Yes, I’m saying Seattle can still win this game.

“The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back. That’s real glory. That’s the essence of it.” - Vince Lombardi

Imagine the glory on that field, in that locker room, in the stands and homes across the Pacific Northwest if the Seahawks could conjure up the most unlikely victory this Sunday. Talk about coming back after being knocked to your knees. With Brown, Carson, and his backup C.J Prosise ruled out for the rest of the season, and the status of Quandre Diggs, Jadeveon Clowney, Iupati, and others still uncertain, so many fans seem ready to give up on the season.

More than that, there are cries to fire head coach Pete Carroll for failing (again) to go for what looked like a logical fourth down attempt in the second quarter, for mismanaging the team’s timeouts (again), and apparently for somehow causing all the Seahawks injuries.

Okay that last part was made up, I haven’t actually seen anyone accuse him of that, but based on all the negativity, cynicism, denial, and doomsday talk surrounding the Seahawks today, it wouldn’t surprise me if I had.

Look, yesterday was tough for Seattle, and seeing a season that looked like another potential Super Bowl for this team disintegrate so quickly the last three weeks has been difficult to reconcile. But injuries happen to every team, it’s just a matter of who and when. Losing this many starters - key starters - at this stage of the calendar would be too much for just about any team to overcome.

“It would be great to not have any injuries and just go out and play football and have fun, but in life there are adversities, and it all just depends on how you overcome them.” - Donovan McNabb

Imagine the Patriots without Stephon Gilmore, Patrick Chung, Sony Michel, and James White in addition to their starting left tackle and best pass rusher. Or how about the Ravens minus Earl Thomas, Marcus Peters, Matt Judon, Ronnie Stanley, and Mark Ingram? You get the point, right?

And yes, I get the argument that the Seahawks coaching staff could have (should have?) done a better job of dealing with those injuries. The in-game decisions, the game plan, the eternally-chastised play calling could have been tweaked to mitigate the personnel losses.

I’m choosing to stay positive today. And while I write this weekly column to try and provide context and perspective to what we saw on the field the day before I try not to preach. Fans will fan however they want to, and sports carry different meaning for everyone. The Seahawks have an opportunity coming up - a chance to overcome massive adversity in the face of long odds and shock the sporting world by beating the 49ers and winning the division. Is there a chance this won’t end well? Certainly, there is. But allow yourself to imagine how glorious this could be if it does.

“I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy, I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it.” Russell Wilson

Despite how lousy you may be feeling today, wouldn’t you want to be a part of that?