Getty Russell Wilson #3 of the Seattle Seahawks looks to pass during the second half against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on September 10, 2017 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Russell Wilson might be in the midst of his best season yet for the Seattle Seahawks, but the road now runs through a venue that hasn’t been kind to the veteran quarterback.
Wilson leads the Seahawks (11-5) into next Sunday’s NFC divisional-round game against the Green Bay Packers (13-3) with a 0-3 record in three career starts at Lambeau Field and numbers to match such a fruitless ledger. Across those three losses — which came in 2015, ’16 and ’17 — Wilson completed just 57.3 percent of his passes for three touchdowns and six interceptions, which negates any goodwill he garnered from averaging 8.6 rushing yards per carry.
To make matters worse, Wilson’s worst beat of the bunch came in nearly identical conditions to those anticipated for their upcoming game. He tossed five interceptions with just 240 passing yards in 26-degree December weather during their 38-10 loss in 2016 while the current forecast for Sunday in Green Bay projects to be nearly the same temperature, according to Weather.com. The question now is whether we will see the same Wilson.
Wilson had a scorching start to the season with 22 touchdowns and just one interception in his first nine games as Seattle jumped out to a 7-2 start. For a while there, it looked like he might run away with the league MVP award, but Wilson’s season began to lose some of its shine after Week 9. He tossed an interception in each of his next four games and saw his completion percentage and passer rating decline over his final seven performances.
If you could even call it a slump, Wilson seemed to have snapped out of it for the Seahawks’ first playoff win against the Philadelphia Eagles. He completed 18 of his 30 pass attempts for 325 yards and a touchdown while using his legs to keep numerous plays alive for Seattle. He also clinched the game with a 36-yard strike to rookie DK Metcalf in the fourth quarter.
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Outside of Lambeau, Wilson Has Owned the Packers
History tells a much different story when looking at Wilson’s other three career starts against the Packers when playing on his home field. He has averaged 106.8 passer rating across those games, tossing for two touchdowns in each one with no interceptions in any of them. And, of course, the most important thing: They all ended in wins for the Seahawks.
Last time out, Wilson helped the Seahawks overcome a big first half from Aaron Rodgers and threw numerous clutch passes down the stretch, including a 15-yard touchdown with 5:08 left to seal their 27-24 victory. It began the Packers’ longest losing stretch of last season that ended after three games with a loss to Arizona and the firing of former head coach Mike McCarthy.
Wilson Briefly Called Wisconsin Home
While his NFL history in Wisconsin hasn’t been great, Wilson played his final year of college ball as the starting quarterback for the Badgers.
Wilson transferred into the Big Ten from NC State after three standout seasons, winning his final game with the Wolfpack in the Champs Sports Bowl in 2010. The success didn’t stop once he arrived in Madison with him becoming the centerpiece of the conference’s best offense of the 2011 season. The Badgers won 11 games and scored 80 touchdowns, while Wilson broke the FBS record for the best passer rating (191.78) in a single season — which Baker Mayfield later broke for Oklahoma.
If you love the Green Bay Packers you still like Russell Wilson
The crown jewel of his collegiate experience came during the 2012 Rose Bowl game against Oregon, despite it ending with a 45-38 loss for Wisconsin in a rather unfortunate way. Wilson threw for two touchdowns and rushed for another in the first three quarters, but he was trying to give his team one final shot after getting the ball back with 9 seconds on the clock. A long completion brought the Badgers to the Ducks’ 25-yard line and restored hope, but Wilson accidentally let the remaining seconds tick away and spiked the ball too late.
Still, the Seahawks quarterback remains awfully fond of Wisconsin, as he mentioned in his postgame comments after Sunday’s 17-9 win over the Eagles.
“To go back to Wisconsin, that’s another home for me,” Wilson said. “To go back there is going to be great, it’s going to be cold (and) it’s going to be snowy most likely, but it will be fun.”
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