Getty Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith
The Seattle Seahawks Week 9 loss to the Baltimore Ravens may have exposed the NFC West squad. Seattle has played well this season, beat jumping out to a 5-2 record and looking like a playoff team again this season. However, the 37-3 blowout by the Ravens has changed people’s perception of the Seahawks ceiling, and at least one pundit doesn’t believe they have a shot at the Super Bowl after the big Week 9 blowout.
The Seahawks Didn’t Make the Grade After Week 9 Ravens Loss
In a 17-game season, Week 9 starts the second half of the NFL calendar. After starting 5-2 with wins over pretty good teams like the Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns, the national media was talking about the Seahawks as one of the best teams in the NFC.
Maybe they weren’t quite on the level of the Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, and Dallas Cowboys, but of the teams on that next level — teams that can win a Super Bowl if things break right — Seattle was right there.
The Seahawks Week 9 loss to the Ravens changed all that.
Head coach Pete Carroll’s squad didn’t just get beat on Sunday, Nov. 5. They got embarrassed. They got outclassed. And they got beaten up. Baltimore, admittedly one of the best teams in the league handing into the second half, looked like they were on a different level than Seattle.
And the media took notice.
On the morning after Bloody Sunday for the Seahawks, The Athletic’s Chris Branch handed out his midseason report cards for the NFL, identifying nine teams that can win a Super Bowl. His best teams are the Ravens, Eagles, and Kansas City Chiefs. Below that, on a level that many thought the Seahawks would be before Week 9, are the Lions, 49ers, Cowboys, Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, and Cincinnati Bengals.
The Seahawks were banished with the Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, Buffalo Bills, and Minnesota Vikings to the better luck next year list.
Is that fair after one loss (albeit a brutally embarrassing loss)?
Maybe it is for now, but the good news is that the Seahawks’ fate is still in their own hands and will either confirm Branch’s assessment or prove him wrong by the time the holidays hit.
Weeks 12 Through 14 Will Make or Break the Seahawks’ Season
In the NFL, the best teams shake off a big loss almost immediately in the days following and make the next team on the schedule pay for their nationally televised embarrassment.
Carroll’s crew should have a nice opportunity to do that with the Washington Commanders and Los Angeles Rams coming up the next two Sundays with a combined 7-11 record this season.
After that, though, it’s put up or shut up time.
From Thanksgiving night on Thursday, Nov. 23 to Sunday, Dec. 17, the Seahawks have a stretch of games that will ultimately prove definitively if they are contenders or pretenders. In those four weeks, Seattle gets the 49ers at home, the Cowboys on the road, the 49ers on the road, and the Eagles at home.
If the Seahawks can come out of that 2-2, the season will be on track, and the playoffs should be in their sites. Go 3-1 or 4-0, and the Seahawks become legit Super Bowl contenders in a month. Go 1-3 or 0-4 and the playoffs could become a pipe dream.
Get ready Seahawks fans. The 2023 season is about to get interesting.