The Seahawks’ playoff picture?
It’s now dark. Gone. Done.
For the third time in four seasons, Seattle will not make the playoffs. That became official Sunday night, when the Washington Commanders beat Michael Penix Jr. and the Atlanta Falcons in overtime.
So ends an excruciating weekend of rookie coach Mike Macdonald, quarterback Geno Smith and the Seahawks watching other games they needed to go their way almost all go against them. And barely.
This is the first time the Seahawks have failed to qualify for the playoffs in consecutive seasons since the 2008 and ‘09 seasons. That was Mike Holmgren’s final one as Seattle’s coach, and Jim Mora’s only one leading the Seahawks.
The Seahawks (9-7) will play at the Los Angeles Rams (10-6) next weekend in the regular-season finale in Inglewood, California. The NFL announced Sunday night that game will be played Sunday, Jan. 5, at 1:25 p.m.
That game now means nothing to either team’s playoff hopes. The Rams are the NFC West division champions.
The Seahawks have won the NFC West once in the last eight seasons. That was in the 2020 season.
Seattle needed a combination of losses from teams Los Angeles has beaten this season to possibly win a strength-of-victory tiebreaker, should the Seahawks beat the Rams next week.
Four of the first five games the Seahawks needed to go their way did not. The final one was Washington beating Atlanta Sunday night. The Falcons missed a 56-yard field goal short on the final play of regulation before the Commanders won in overtime.
Maconald, Seattle’s first-time, first-year coach, knows the Seahawks had their chances before this. And they lost them.
The home defeat to the two-win New York Giants in early October, for instance.
“First, I would say if you’re not in charge of your own destiny, you’re always going to think of moments that you felt like you could have taken advantage of better to put yourself in a better position,” Macdonald said after his team beat Chicago 6-3 Thursday night. “But, that’s always going to be the case, otherwise, we’d be sitting here at 16-0 just thinking that we’re the best thing since sliced bread.
“So, that’s kind of where we’re at, and it’s not an ideal situation.
“But, I do feel that we probably wouldn’t have won some games as well or put ourselves in this situation if we didn’t learn, evolve, grow, stick together, and stick to the process of how we want to be as a team to be able to get through the ebbs and flows of the season.
“So yeah, absolutely, there are times throughout the year where we felt like we could have taken advantage of to put ourselves in a better position going into the last week.”
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