The 2023-24 National Football League (NFL) regular season is rapidly approaching its conclusion, and a handful of teams have already secured their place in the lottery of the playoffs. Two AFC teams, the Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins, are guaranteed a playoff berth. For NFC franchises, the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions, and Dallas Cowboys have their hats in the ring. With only two game weeks remaining, the Seattle Seahawks‘ destiny is in their hands. Can the Seahawks cause an upset and navigate their way to Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas?
The latest NFL betting online markets price a Seahawks Super Bowl victory at +7500, far longer than the +3000 at the start of the season. Bookmakers do not fancy the Seahawks in their quest for glory, and history is not on the Seahawks’ side, but stranger things have happened in the world of American football.
Inconsistency Does Not Help the Seahawks’ Cause
The Seahawks go into their penultimate game of the regular season against the Pittsburgh Steelers on December 31 with an 8-7 record. Victory over the Steelers, who have an outside chance of reaching the playoffs, will all but lock in a playoff berth for the second consecutive year. Although the Seahawks go into the battle with the Steelers on the back of back-to-back victories, they endured four straight defeats before their mini resurgence.
Worrying for Seahawks fans is how the team struggles to compete against the stronger NFL teams. This season, the Seahawks have twice lost to the Los Angeles Rams, lost home and away to the San Francisco 49ers, and come away empty-handed in their clashes with the Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens.
With the much-fancied Philadelphia Eagles being the most likely team the Seahawks will face in the Wildcard round, everything points to the Seahawks falling at the first hurdle if they make it into the playoffs.
A Lack of a Running Game Will Hurt in Big Games
Every football knows the best teams have a solid running game to complement their passing game. A strong running game allows teams to manage the clock and gain vital short yardage, which is especially important when their receivers are having an off day or finding it difficult to get out of coverage.
The Seahawks have the fourth-worst rushing yards of the 32 NFL teams. They have gained only 1,354 yards from 342 carries, and 94 of those yards and 31 attempts have come from quarterback Geno Smith. Compare those figures to the high-flying Baltimore Ravens, who lead the league, and you can see the glaring disparity. The Ravens have 2,395 rushing yards from 484 attempts. The Ravens also have 24 rushing touchdowns compared to the Seahawks’ ten.
Kenneth Walker III is the Seahawks’ leading running back with 774 yards and an average of 4.0 yards per carry. Zach Charbonnet trails his teammate by almost 350 yards from 91 fewer carries.
An Average Passing Offense
Teams can sometimes get away with a weaker ground game if their passing is stellar, but the Seahawks’ passing offense is only the 15th-best in the league. On paper, Geno Smith’s statistics do not look too bad. He has 64.8% completion, 3,145 yards, and 17 touchdowns. However, his offensive linemen have not been doing their job, and Smith has been sacked 30 times across 13 games, with those sacks leading to 222 lost yards.
DK Metcalf, Smith’s preferred wide receiver, has been as consistent as ever, although he is hardly spectacular. Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba are dependable but, like Metcalf, are hardly setting the world alight.
Despite a well-rounded offense, the Seahawks have scored 20 or fewer points in nine of their 16 fixtures. Offensive coordinator Shane Watson needs to find the magic formula to allow the Seahawks to put more points on the board, mainly because the defense has allowed at least 24 points on seven occasions during the regular season.
The lack of a stand-out offense shows when one looks at the third and fourth down efficiency. The Seahawks have only improved on third down 66 times from 186 attempts, the sixth-worst in the league, and only six times from 16 fourth down attempts, the joint worst in the entire NFL.
What Next for the Seahawks?
The Seahawks host the Pittsburgh Steelers on New Year’s Eve, knowing a victory gives them an 88% chance of reaching the playoffs, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats. The Steelers need to beat the Seahawks in Game 17 and the Baltimore Ravens in Game 18 and hope other results go their way to qualify.
A Seahawks win looks likely, which sets up a final game on the road at the Arizona Cardinals, who are playing for pride at this stage of the season.
If that is how the season pans out, the Philadelphia Eagles should be awaiting the Seahawks in the Wild Card round. The Seahawks beat the Eagles 20-17 in Game 15, although the Eagles were uncharacteristically bad during that encounter.
Can The Seahawks Win Super Bowl LVIII?
Unfortunately, as much as it pains us to say so, the Seattle Seahawks will not be winning Super Bowl LVIII. Offensively, the Seahawks are lacking, particularly on the ground, while the defense is porous, a deadly combination.
The current Seahawks team is too inconsistent to mount a serious Super Bowl challenge, especially on the road, where four of the team’s seven defeats have happened. Some teams still in contention for the Super Bowl are in hot form and scoring points for fun. Stranger things have happened in the NFL, but the most likely scenario for Seahawks fans is a playoff place followed by an early exit. At least such a scenario allows head coach Pete Carroll to start the rebuild for the 2024 campaign.
