Yes, the concern is real.
The Seattle Seahawks opened the 2017 season last Sunday with 17-9 loss to the Green Bay Packers. On offense in particular it was an ugly defeat as the Seahawks were unable to score a touchdown, managed just 225 yards, and quarterback Russell Wilson found himself constantly under pressure. But it was also just the first game of the season, and it was a road loss to what’s expected to be one of the top teams in the NFC.
Based on that I was interested in how concerned the fans were based on that opening performance. Here’s what we found out:
POLL: What's your level of concern after the Seahawks' 17-9 season-opening loss to the Packers? Full context here: https://t.co/adUUAhLI1a
— Nick Patterson (@NickHPatterson) September 11, 2017
Add the two together and “moderate” concern received the highest vote percentage at 34 percent, followed by “low” at 27 percent, “high” at 26 percent and “none” at 13 percent.
What this says is that Seahawks fans as a whole did not consider last Sunday’s game a one-off. Only one-eighth of the responders expressed no concern, while 60 percent of responders said they had at least moderate concern following the loss to the Packers.
Is this reactionary, or is this prescient?
Well, if ever there were circumstances in which fears could be eased, this Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers should be it. Seattle comes back home to CenturyLink Field, where the Seahawks are 39-6 (including playoffs) since Wilson became the team’s starting quarterback in 2012. Seattle is facing a 49ers team that was 2-14 last season, managed just three points in its opener last week at home against Carolina, and lost to the Seahawks the past seven times (including playoffs) the teams faced one another. As of Friday morning Seattle was a massive 14-point favorite, the largest Week 2 spread in the NFL. So it’s widely expected that the Seahawks will get back on a positive track this week.
But if not and the Seahawks lose, then we won’t need a poll to measure fan concern next week. We can assume the concern would be high and that the vote would be unanimous.
