Repeating in the NFL is as difficult as it gets. It’s happened four times in the “salary cap” era, and while the Chiefs pulled it off just a few years ago, it had been a decade prior. Even the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick Patriots, despite all of their postseason success, managed it only once. So, um, do the Seahawks have a chance?
There is certainly reason to believe it’s possible. The Seahawks check many of the boxes that must be checked, and outside of losing offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak to become head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, there were no critical defections (Kenneth Walker is a nice running back, but they'll be plenty fine running the ball). Unlike so many recent Lombardi Trophy winners, there were also no overarching contract situations or holdouts or unrest to deal with. Anything but, actually.
Playing in the mighty NFC West will do them no favors, of course. Playing that deep into the postseason can take a toll the following year. But they also came out of that Super Bowl run incredibly healthy, and they aren’t dealing with any overarching rehabs bleeding into the regular season. Plus, they are a relatively young team and possess one of the more distinct home-field advantages in the NFL.
Seattle checks every box repeat champions need
So, yeah, I am buying them to remain one of the premier teams in the NFL with a very real chance of making it back to the final game, with the obvious caveats of cluster injuries potentially derailing any team at any time in this league. These are some of the reasons why execs around the league fancy their chances as well:
Mike Macdonald has solved the Rams
Wunderkind head coach Mike Macdonald, a defensive play-calling demon, seems to have some secret sauce to beat the Rams, and the Rams are the betting favorites to win it all who had quite the offseason. “He’s one of maybe three guys who can go head-to-head with [head coach] Sean [McVay] on that side of the ball,” one longtime advance scout, who has done a lot of work in the NFC West, told me. “I’m not going to say he has his number, but he gives him fits.”
That can go a long way. The Seahawks won two wild games against the Rams (including the playoffs), and McVay’s offense put up some numbers on them. But Macdonald also made some critical adjustments in the second half of those wins to aid comebacks. And they lost a low-scoring game to the Rams last season that could have gone either way.
Macdonald's defense has the chance to be historically significant, and if they keep finding ways to be a point or two better than the Rams, its going to go a long way.
Sam Darnold proved he isn't a question anymore
The Seahawks quarterback answered every lingering question about him in a postseason run. He has more than lived up to expectations. He ain’t seeing ghosts no more. He makes big-boy throws downfield, and with Macdonald’s elite defense, the Seahawks will remain a ball-control team that bleeds the clock. They don’t need high-volume passing.
Darnold needs to hit three to five downfield shots a game and expect even more from Rashid Shaheed and Jaxson Smith-Njigba is just entering his prime. His tight ends came on in the second half of the season. This isn’t somebody close to being near the end. He keeps improving.
“He’s underpaid,” one general manager told me of the free-agent deal Darnold signed a year ago. “[GM] John [Schneider] is so good at this, man. And he’s humble about it, too.”
Indeed, having Scheider build and maintain this roster is a superpower of sorts for Seattle and he will be primed to make a huge move at the deadline to help Darnold if need be.
Championship teams win away from home
Macdonald is 16-4 on the road in two years in Seattle. Best in the NFL. Because of course that is best in the NFL.
He has never lost consecutive road games. He has won four in a row or more on the road twice already. Did I mention he is only in his second year as a head coach? When you couple this with what The 12s bring to the home games, you have the makings of a monster.
Seattle has a +145 soring differential on the road, best in the NFL (the league average is -40.5!). He’s lost just once in the division on the road, the aforementioned, 21-19, loss at the Rams. You can build a special football culture coming out of the gate doing that away from home.
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