SEATTLE — A week removed from a disheartening loss to Arizona, the Seattle Seahawks hosted San Francisco on Sunday knowing it might be a last-gasp chance to resuscitate their season.
With a 29-13 victory over the rival 49ers, Seattle showed there is still some life left.
Yes, the task is tall. In the NFC playoff chase, the 5-5 Seahawks are still on the outside looking in. But with a late-season surge — something Seattle pulled off in each of the last two Super Bowl seasons — there remains hope for a postseason wild-card berth and perhaps even an NFC West title.
“There’s a lot of football to be played,” said Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll. “We like what we’re seeing right now, so we’ll see if we can build on it. We have a chance to have a good team … (and) we’ve always had the opportunity to play real well. We’ve seen some good play throughout the season to know that, (but) it’s the consistency that needs to come to the front and the ability to close out the wins.
“It was a really good job of closing out today,” he said. “It was exactly like we wanted to do it. So we’ll take this to next week and see what happens.”
Seattle won with two touchdowns apiece from the rookie tandem of wide receiver Tyler Lockett and running back Thomas Rawls — with the latter rushing for 209 yards in place of injured starter Marshawn Lynch — and a defense that bent at times in the second and third quarters, but was stout when it mattered. The Seahawks, who surrendered fourth-quarter leads in all five defeats this season, kept the 49ers backed up in their end of the field for the entire final period.
Indeed, Carroll said, “I really liked the way we played across the board. It was important for us to play hard and tough here at home, and to (make it) feel like we’ve felt it in the past and to share it with our fans.” It was, he added, “a really good football game for us in that regard.”
Other Seahawks agreed. “We were just firing on all cylinders today,” said wide receiver Doug Baldwin. And safety Earl Thomas said, “For the first time (this season), the offense was clicking and we were clicking (on defense).”
Seattle started the game like it was going to blow out San Francisco. The Seahawks marched 61 yards for a touchdown on their first possession, 59 yards for a TD on the next, and then put together one of their best drives of the season on the third possession, with this one covering 91 yards to the end zone.
The 49ers, meanwhile, had just two first downs and 31 yards of offense to that point. But the visitors managed a touchdown drive of their own late in the second quarter, and then two drives that led to field goals in the third period.
But from there the Seahawks took total command, and by the end of the game “it just felt like old times again,” Thomas said.
With six games to play — home games with Pittsburgh, Cleveland and St Louis; road games vs. Minnesota, Baltimore and Arizona — Seattle could finish 11-5 with a season-ending winning streak. That would almost certainly clinch a playoff spot and, coupled with some timely Arizona losses, maybe even a division title. A 10-6 mark might even do the trick for the Seahawks, though 9-7 is no doubt a long shot.
“Right now,” said linebacker Bobby Wagner, “our margin for error is very slim. We can’t overlook any opponent that we have (in the coming weeks). We got this win and now we have to work on (preparing for Pittsburgh) next week.”
Going forward, added defensive end Cliff Avril, “we just have to build off this win and try not to take any steps backwards. If we just continue to better ourselves, I think the sky’s the limit for us.”
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